On Thursday, December 17th a very special school wide assembly was held to unveil the school’s most recent project in social awareness and responsibility.  For the War Toys Project, Anmore Students contributed toys from their homes that promoted war play and mounted these toys on a large white hummingbird with words that inspire peace, cooperation and happiness. 

Councillor John McEwen was present to represent the Village of Anmore, as well as our Board of Education Trustee, Trustee, Holly Butterfield, and the Assistant Superintendent for SD #43, Sylvia Russell.  All had very positive and encouraging words to offer the elementary students on their roles in promoting peace around the world through their simple every day actions.

The assembly started with the Anmore Elementary School choir performing a beautiful version of the Beatles “All You Need is Love”, followed by a thought provoking speech given by Principal Sean Della Vedova:

” All you need is love? But is that enough. Is achieving peace that simple? Yes and no. Like tackling climate change, these challenges are vast and require many ideas and strategies.

Living in the comfort of our cozy Canadian home, it’s easy to think of war as something we only talk about on November 11. It’s also easy to think of war as something that happens in other places, in the movies or back in the 1940s. However, war is alive and well. 133 Canadian soldiers have died in Afghanistan since 2002. Because of how soldiers are depicted in movies and video games, I think we often have a view of men and women engaging in shoot outs with a faceless enemy. This stereotype is wrong.

When Lt. Justin Boyes was killed in October of this year he was mentoring an Afghan police officer – showing him how to help others

Cpl. Martin Dube died while trying to defuse an improvised explosive device – it was in a civilian area and could have killed an entire family – he died trying to save others

Private Blake Williamson was helping to build a road when he was killed by a rocket attack in 2006

These soldiers remind us that war is sometimes a painful part of the road to peace.

President Barrack Obama recently accepted a Nobel Peace Prize and yet his country is at war and he just agreed to send more troops to Afghanstan. It is clear that achieving peace is not without tough and conflicting decisions.

So you may wonder: how does my decision to not play with war toys affect a war in Afghanistan or the decision making of the world’s most powerful leader? I believe your individual choice does influence peace. Just like the environment, the actions of each person matter. When you choose to talk, rather than hit, speak rather than yell, create rather than destroy, include rather than exclude you make a difference. Our War Toy Artwork represents this daily commitment to peace.

This project began when Natalie Williams suggested Anmore Elementary School create a war toy inspired piece of art. Donations came in, Mrs. Whiffin drew a hummingbird, Mr. Merakian cut the wood and Mr. Klassen and I unsuccessfully tried to secure the soldiers. Mrs. Schindel and Mrs. Mueckel came to the rescue. The words representing peace come from our students in grades 4 & 5.

The hummingbird is the bird of Anmore and also inspired our work on Social Responsibility last year. A book entitled, the Hummingbird – a parable for the environment, reminded us that each individual doing what they can, makes a difference. I am proud of this piece of art and proud of the learning community that created it. I would like to express my gratitude to Mrs. Williams and all those who made this creation possible. Thanks to Ms. Holly Butterfield, SD#43 Trustee and Sylvia Russell, Assistant Superintendent for being here today – their presence reflects the importance of our work on peace. ”

The Grade 4 & 5 students concluded the presentation with an inspiring performance of the song “Wavin’ Flag” with images of children of war playing in the background.  The assembly was concluding with a class procession to the song of “Give Peace a Chance”. 

Thanks to the Anmore Elementary students for an amazing assembly and an inspiring message about Peace. 

VIDEOS OF INTEREST:

Haida-Manga “Flight of  a Hummingbird” Parable:

Beatles “All you Need is Love”

Wavin’ Flag Song by K’naan

John Lenon & Yoko Ono Give Peace a Chance