Pomp

Pompous is not good but there isn't anything wrong with a bit of pomp at times. We do it at weddings these days bigtime. There are flowers and confetti and music and people striding about in elaborate, elegant attire they will wear only once. They rent halls and food preparers and servers and the champagne flows freely. Little expense is spared for the occasion. But today on television,  at a more auspicious occasion, the BC provincial Armistice ceremony, I saw crowds of public with uniforms spotting the hoards here and there, not in any special placement or order. A military band was squeezed onto a street side where only those in the immediate area could see them. The wreaths were made of ugly fake grass looking like someone ground them out in a plastic factory and mounted them on styrofoam.  A tiny space at the foot of a monument whose top feature, a soldier, the television audience never did get a chance to see on a zoom lens. The personnel standing at attention at each corner stood stock-still doing their work of honour, but media paid little artistic attention to them. Those laying wreaths did so in a miniscule space and while the guides leading them in their uniforms looked smart and did a fine job, their charges while placing the wreaths in the cramped area, struggled with the thin wire frames that were supposed to hold them. Noticeably, the wreaths were whisked away immediately by a partly visible hand that reached out and snatched them. Where did they go? Far away lined up so that they  were barely noticed, a row of gunnery, popped out once in awhile some loud reports. A distant view of the grand guns was seen through a misty display of recreational sailboat masts that blocked what they were, until one finally figured out that they were the saluting guns. The blob of those directly in front of the monument were squashed together randomly and of course, as always, the sound system broke down and was replaced with one that worked minimally until the real one blurted in  again. The ceremony petered out because there was no emcee to describe what was happening or when. In short, it was a tacky mess. Sorry, but the truth is, organization was missing. I am not one to like ceremony most of the time, but it seems that on this Remembrance Day occasion, a better job of managing it could have made it at least dignified.  The best part was  the military airplane flypast in formation. What was missing was "pomp". Couldn't the event be held in a large grassy area with grandstands and a ceremonial seating be set up? Everyone could see the marching bands, perhaps horse parades of the Mounties, veterans proudly honoured in a march passing the dignitaries. I realize that those presenting wreaths wanted to lay them at the monument but something representing it, could be placed for the occasion and wreaths in actual natural greenery be supplied and chosen by the various honoring bodies and that the offerings be later taken to the monument itself. The gunnery doing their salutes could be in view and the flags and trumpets and bagpipes and bugles could be seen and heard in proper order. It would give one the sense of honour in duty. Hopefully such an event would have been rehearsed proudly so the it all worked smoothly including the sound system. Poems and prayers and tributes could be heard and properly acknowledged. There is comfort in order. That kind of ceremony of honour would be satisfying and touching and worthy of remembrance and remembering.