Step Into The Arena

I originally published this in 2019. It has been a few years but I believe the sentiment is the same, the call to action remains unchanged. We all have a part to play. We can remember, and we can honour the sacrifice through our actions today.

On November 11, in Canada and in many places around the world, we stop to remember the sacrifices made by the brave men and women who have taken up the call to battle for freedom. Some of us attend school gatherings. Some attend ceremonies at a local cenotaph. Many go about their daily business but stop for a minute at 11:00 to silently consider the price of freedom.

There is no way for me to make a comparison between the courage it must have taken for these young people to walk away from everything they knew to fight in a war on the other side of the world and our own call to courage. To do so would be both insensitive and disrespectful. 

But what I will say is this… we live in a world where injustice and cruelty are often dismissed as just part of our society. But it doesn’t have to be. That is not the vision of Canada our young men and women fought and died for. We, too, can step into the arena. 

When I stop a young person from making a racist or sexist or homophobic comment, I am stepping into the arena. When we write to our politicians to insist on better funding for the services we deserve and which benefit our society, such as health care and education, we are stepping into the arena. When we have the courage to ask the person near us in the grocery store to honor the minute of silence at 11:00, we step into the arena. When we are brave enough to fight for what we know to be right and true, we step into the arena. 

Any time we step into the arena, that place where we are vulnerable and visible to all the spectators, where others may shame us for our faults, or laugh at us for our errors, we are taking up our call to courage. 

For those we honor on Remembrance Day, stepping into the arena meant literally putting their lives on the line. For us, stepping into the arena will likely not mean life or death. For us, having the courage to step into the arena is a choice to get messy, to possibly stand alone, and to speak up for what we believe to be true and good and right. For us, stepping into the arena will probably not be met with an enemy holding a gun. But we may be met with an enemy who uses our words against us, who reminds us of our past and asks, “Who do you think you are?” There will be critics. That I can guarantee. 

Step into the arena with me. Today, find the courage to speak up for what you believe in. Stand up for what you know to be good and true and right. Today, let’s honor all who are face down in the arena with us. Let’s lift each other and applaud one another’s courage 

The credit belongs to the [one] who is actually in the arena. 
– Theodore Roosevelt