People
Lest We Forget
For Judy, Remembrance Day is an important day, one that she feels should be honoured.
“I take the words ‘lest we forget’ very seriously,” Judy says.
Judy is a participant in Communitas’ Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Drop-In group in Abbotsford and often organizes crafts projects for the group to do. She visited several crafts stores in Abbotsford and was surprised that she couldn’t find anything themed for Remembrance Day.
“All I saw was Halloween stuff on sale and Christmas stuff everywhere,” she says.
Needless to say, Judy was not impressed. So she went home and “put my brain-injured brain to work.”
She came up with a simple but beautiful sewing craft that – to her surprise – everyone in the group loved. Using pieces of red and green felt, as well as decorative buttons, the ABI participants sewed their own poppy lapel pins.
Poppies have long been the symbol of Remembrance Day. The flowers famously bloomed over the graves of soldiers in Flanders, France. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian Medical Officer during WW1, introduced the poppy to Canada when he wrote the now-famous poem “In Flanders Fields” following the death of a fellow soldier. Every year, people wear a poppy in remembrance and to honour of soldiers then and today. But for Judy, it’s about remembering more.
“I think it’s important to remember all the people who were impacted by war,” she says. “The medics, the nurses, the families who are at home waiting for their return.”
Judy’s grandfather was conscripted during WW1 and she has many friends and family members who have served in the military. As Remembrance Day approached, Judy wanted to find a way to do something meaningful with the ABI Drop-In group. She came up with the simple poppy craft and was gratified when everyone in the group made one. She hopes that when people see one of the group wearing their hand-made poppy, they’ll ask them about it and start a conversation.
“Remembrance has to start somewhere, right? Even when you live with a brain injury, you can still do something to show you care,” she says.
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