Visibility Tells a Story

 

"Peace is not an absence of storms, but a belief you will survive the storm" - Ben Johnston

"If we are to create peace in our world, we must begin with our children." - Mahatma Gandhi

This is not exactly the blog entry I intended to write today. With Remembrance Day Ceremonies coinciding with a sharp, consistent rise in COVID-19 positive cases, however, it is the blog that is writing itself as I contemplate the weeks ahead while reflecting on the outstanding honouring by the children of our Veterans, as well as those currently serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, and in peace-keeping forces around the world. What has surfaced for me as I consider both these current events in juxtaposition to each other is how much visibility tells the story...

As I watched the final virtual Remembrance Day Ceremony the students from EHS presented on Tuesday - popping in to all the classes as they watched simultaneously - I was so moved by the investment of time, energy and thoughtfulness all of our students poured into this grateful acknowledgement of sacrifice they are just beginning to grasp the importance of in their young lives. It occurred to me that this was the 31st Remembrance Day I have acknowledged in the company of young children - and how absolutely grounding and amazing those experiences have been through the years.

I am a daughter from a Nova Scotian military family so I spent my young years attending ceremonies at the local cenotaph and Royal Canadian Legion with full military involvement. Moving to Alberta brought a different set of  Remembrance Day experiences into my life through the schools and I have learned so much from both teaching and honouring the purposes and events that inform and bring meaning to this holistic acknowledgement of sacrifice, commitment and desire for peace. 

The most important thing I've learned, I think as I reflect on 31 years of school-based Remembrance Day Ceremonies, is the incredible value of making stories visible. As we guide our children through the acts of creating ceremonies of acknowledgement, we are making visible gratitude for the sacrifices of previous generations who set in motion the democratic principles that have brought us to this time and place - the year 2020 and a pandemic - where good governance for the people offers hope in times of fear and sickness - as well as funding to research, produce and provide excellent healthcare and possible medications and vaccines. As we make visible these connecting through-lines from generation to generation, our children are reassured the world will soon stop tilting and we will be restored to the simple acts of every day living we so took for granted before a world wide illness stole our comfort zones away and brought us to the constant state of vigilance we now adhere to every day.

Remembrance Day offers us a moment, as educators and parents as well as a community and country united in recognizing sacrifice and valiance, to make these stories visible - stories of destruction and rebuilding, of hope and optimism even in the face of great despair and fear. Stories of restoration and re-alignment, of knowing all humans are capable of writing new stories and that changing landscapes will not defeat us but simply make us stronger, more innovative, aligned as humans to shape a better existence into an unknown future. 

Children come to the world with the faith that the adults who care for them will take great care of them - it is the most innate human characteristics to trust in our caretakers. They collectively (usually!) get up every morning with the belief that today will be a good day, and as the adults who take care of them, we strive to make that story visible to them as well, surrounding them with love and comfort and as much joy as we are able to muster! We reassure them, when we teach these stories of Remembrance Day, that the world is a resilient place that still cares for humanity and has faith in a future where humans can live safely and happily, secure in healthy living. 

I am so grateful to have 31 years of ceremonies from the hearts of children as they have embraced the stories made visible through honouring and celebrating veterans and our Armed Forces personnel on Remembrance Day.

And the connection to rising COVID-19 cases in Alberta?  Visibility tells a story.

Last week, following our school's contact with a positive case, we were visited and inspected to ensure our school is taking every possible precaution to ensure safe learning experiences for our students. We were recognized as taking EVERY possible precaution with recommendations to tweak a couple of small strategies. One of the things discussed during the inspection was the high level of compliance with masking amongst staff and students, as well as the presence of our hoola hoops being used as tools to remind students about appropriate distancing and the school posters depicting our 'healthy triad' (we all have bookmarks as well) of handwashing/sanitizing, physical distancing and wearing a mask.

As I reflected on the rising number of cases in Alberta, and the extraordinary precautions we are taking in schools to try and keep our children safe, it occurred to me our learners are willing and fully compliant with our strategies because we are making visible what needs to be done through our role modelling, our visible reminders in the posters, bookmarks and school-created videos we share every day and through the consistent practices we routinely follow - from lining up on the yellow 'x' spots to not mixing classes during outdoor breaks to ensuring every student has hand sanitizer applied before entering the building every time through the school day. We are sharing the story of how to be safe from the COVID-19 virus through our actions made visible to students.

If we want to reduce cases in Alberta, I believe we will all need to do our part to make this part of the story visible to everyone in our community, our city, our province, our country - not only in our schools. 

What if we all - teachers, students, parents, families, community members - made a conscious decision to visibly declare our safe strategies to the world every moment of every day? 

What if we wore masks inside and outside at every possible moment to demonstrate the value in keeping others - and ourselves - safe?

What if we intentionally moved a few steps away from our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues while we are chatting - even with our masks on - to exhibit our convictions physical distancing works to inhibit virus transmission?

What if we take the hand sanitizer out of our pockets or handbags and offer it to someone who is just entering or leaving a building as a strategy to encourage others to make sure they are not unsuspectingly transmitting germs?

What if we share stories of isolating and cohorting with our families at home rather than our latest outings?

Then we would be visibly telling a story that we are all capable, through the layering of simple steps, to interrupt transmission of the virus and we would be supporting each other to make our communities safer in these crazy times.

I am well aware so many of us already feel like we are doing everything possible to turn the tide of infections - or might even feel like we are doing too much already and it 's hard to make the decision between public health and making a living.  

Remembrance Day reminds us we are not the first generation to face tough decisions, to feel compelled to get involved and make a difference for the future of our country, our city, our community, our children. Remembrance Day reminded me we all have the capacity, the ability and the where-with-all to make a difference, even if it is not the first choice we want to make. 

We have the power to make this story - our story that we are currently living - visible. History teaches us that visibility tells a story. We remember the stories that brought us our superior quality of life generations after sacrifices were made to protect our freedom and quality of life.  Today, we have an opportunity to make our present-day story visible in an effort to maintain a healthy quality of life for everyone. 

Our stories matter and carry us forward into the future. 

I look forward to seeing more masks outside and inside, intentional distancing and family cohorting in our community - I know today's reflections have given me great pause. These are actions I am now committing to be more visible with outside the school as well as inside - and I hope all our families will join me in immediately making our stories of action much more visible.

Lorraine Kinsman

Principal