Photo by Natalie Langmann

My son came home from kindergarten with a new trick up his sleeve. He knows how to draw a peace sign. He’s also been learning that Remembrance Day is for remembering those who fought in war. Every morning this week, he carefully pinned a poppy onto his shirt, just above his heart.

Today, as a swirl of images conjured by books and movies about muddy trenches and IEDs fills my mind, I hold fast to this image, a kind of counterpoint… of a small boy carefully drawing a peace sign in a glitter glue pen, and I offer my own prayer, borrowed from an ancient Sanskrit mantra, “may all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to happiness and freedom for all.”