I only own Remembrance Bear, not the song, or the Care Bears, or the Holiday
The Song of Remembrance Bear
By: Wilson Kieran Kitsune
The white bear walked along dragging a large case behind him, he sat down for a quick rest then stood up again.
"I better hurry, or I will never get to my destination" he said and resumed the moving while dragging his case, he finally spotted what he was looking for, a Care Bear Cloud Car, empty for now.
"Finally" he hastily dragged his case over to the car as three of the Care Bears come out of the nearby house, they were Friend Bear, Secret Bear, and Cheer Bear.
"I'm so glad we were able to cheer him up" said Cheer Bear "Oh" she noticed the white Bear nearby "Hello who are you?" she asked.
"My name I will tell you later, but please look at me for now and tell me what you see" The three bears took a moment to look him over, from his heart shaped nose, and even.
"A tummy symbol" said Friend Bear "But that means…"
"I am a Care Bear" he said hastily hiding his tummy symbol for the moment "Will you take me to Care-A-Lot, there is something important I must do today, and do you know what time it is?"
"Yes" said Friend "and according to that clock over there it is 9:00am November 11th"
"Good" he said as he climbed into the Cloud Card and managed to stuff his case into the trunk "Please, let's go" Cheer got in the driver's seat while secret and Friend got in the back behind the white Care Bear, who was still hiding his tummy symbol.
When they reached Care-A-Lot, Secret whispered in Friend's ear and then Friend relayed his question to the newcomer.
"Secret wants to see your tummy symbol and know what it means" The newcomer revealed his symbol, a large cross like those found on gravestones with a red flower in the centre of the cross and several more of the same flower "growing" around the cross' base.
"My tummy symbol is a gravestone sross with a poppy in the centre and surrounded by more poppies, I'll tell you more later, at 10:00am get Noble Heart and True Heart to have a meeting to introduce me, I have something important to teach you all" with that, the newcomer pulled his huge case out of the trunk and began to lug it towards the Hall of Hearts. The three Care Bears who had brought him just stared for a moment, and then they split up, Friend and Secret going to True Heart's house and Cheer going to get Noble Heart.
When the newcomer got to the Hall of Hearts, he noticed it was deserted, he smiled.
"I'll just get my stuff set up for later" he said as he pulled his case over to cloth covered lump, he pulled the cloth up to find a crude stage, he smiled again.
"I can use this" he pulled his case up on the stage and then sat down on the stairs on one end of the stage "Now I just need to wait for the others to get here"
"A new Care Bear?" asked True Heart after she had listened to what Friend had told her had happened on earth "So let me clarify, he is white with a tummy symbol of a gravestone cross with a Poppy in the middle and poppies growing all around it?"
"Yes" said Friend "and he wants you to put together a greeting for him at 10:00am" True Heart looked at her wall clock, it said 9:37.
"We better round up the rest of the Care Bears and get Noble Heart and cousins here as well"
"That's alright" we got Cheer to go and get Noble Heart and the cousins as well" said Friend. True Heart nodded then the three of them left the house and gathered up the rest of their family.
After 20 minutes, the whole family was in the Hall of Hearts, the newcomer was sitting at the front of the room, in front of the stage where his case now was, in between True Heart and Noble Heart. True Heart stood up and called the rest of the family to calm down, which they did quickly.
"Thank you" she said "as you may, or may not, know, we have a new member to our family, will you tell us about yourself uhh... what is your name?"
"Let me talk" he said as he stood up "my name is Remembrance Bear, I am a peace bringer and I am here to teach you about the very important occasion Remembrance Day"
"What is Remembrance Day?" asked Birthday Bear.
"Remembrance day is every year in Canada on November 11th, you may have heard about wars among humans, but before we existed, there were two great wars known as the world wars, they were fought for freedom and Remembrance Day is the very day that the peace treaty was signed to end the first World War, today, people everywhere honor the dead soldiers by wearing poppies, the flowers you see on my tummy symbol, and by observing a moment of silence in respect"
"So should we celebrate Remembrance Day?" asked Tenderheart.
"Celebrate is the wrong word, uhh…"
"I'm Tenderheart Bear" said the brown ursine.
"Yes Tenderheart, a better word is honoring, because the war's end, while indeed cause for celebration, was also bitter for there wasn't a family that hadn't lost some member of the family, whether it be mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister, or even a close friend"
"That's so sad" said Cheer Bear "But why do we honor this day?"
"We honor it, so that we will never forget the consequences in war, so that it will never be repeated in such large devastation, now I have a something you must listen to" Remembrance Bear got out of his seat and took a stool from beside the stage then walked up it. He the opened his case and pulled out: an acoustic guitar, a harmonica, a harmonica mouth holder, a stand, a guitar pick and a large amount of sheet music. He searched through the music until he found what he was looking for, he set the rest down and proceeded to set up his stand and put the music on it, he then put the harmonica Holder over his head and put the Harmonica in it so he could just move his head forward a little to play it. He then picked up his guitar, and tuned it. All the Care Bears and their Cousins watched intently as he say down on the stool and spoke.
"This song is a very important one that will help you understand how serious Remembrance Day is" without another word he began to play and sing a heartfelt song.
Song-A Pittance of Time
They fought and some died for their homeland.
They fought and some died, now it's our land.
Look at his little child; there's no fear in her eyes.
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who went over.
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time.
God forgive me for wanting to strike him.
Give me strength so as not to be like him.
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips,
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists.
But two minutes I will bide.
It's a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who went over.
In peace may they rest.
May we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time.
Remembrance put his lips to his harmonica and began to play along with his guitar, until the next verse.
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home.
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own.
There's a price to be paid if you go, if you stay.
Freedom's fought for and won in numerous ways.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls all over.
May we never forget, our young become vets.
At the end of the line,
It's a pittance of time.
It takes courage to fight in your own war.
It takes courage to fight someone else's war.
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell.
They bring hope to foreign lands that hate mongers can't kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time,
For the boys and the girls who go over.
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It's a pittance of time
In peace may they rest,
Lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time.
When Remembrance finished his song, he saw that everyone in the Hall of Hearts, even Laugh-A-Lot, Funshine, Playful Heart, Cheer, and Grumpy, was either crying or teary eyed, he set his guitar down, took off his Harmonica Holder and spoke.
"That song is the best I way I can tell you about the seriousness of this day" he looked over at the clock and saw that is was 10 seconds to 11:00am "Please bow your head for the next two minutes in respect he said" right when he finished, the clock struck 11:00am. Every Care Bear stood up and bowed their head, not making a sound, not even Funshine, Playful, or Laugh-A-Lot made the smallest peep until the two minutes were up.
"Thank you" said Remembrance as he packed up his musical instruments "I am done now, I must be going"
"Wait" said True Heart "you can't go, you belong here"
"Pardon" said Remembrance as he pulled his instrument and music case along behind him down the stage steps and in the direction of the door.
"You are a Care Bear, you will like here, and you can perform here each year, you seem to care about the most important people not even we knew about, the dead who gave their lives to prevent evils such a slavery, It is important that we remember them even if they are dead" Remembrance smiled.
"I guess I will stay True Heart" he said "just remember, I almost never speak unless it is Remembrance Day, so don't expect much from me after today until next year, this day"
"We won't" said Noble Heart "Could you possibly sing again tonight, you really moved us with that song"
"Sure" he said "I'll do it at dinner
At dinner time that night, Remembrance once again dragged his case up the steps of the stage. After he had eaten, he sang a different song while he played his guitar and Harmonica.
Song- I Will Remember You
I will remember you
Will you remember me
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Remember the good times that we had
I let them slip away when things got bad
Clearly I first saw you smiling in the sun
Wanna feel your warmth upon me
I wanna be the one
I will remember you
Will you remember me
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
I'm so tired but I can't sleep
Standing on the edge of something much too deep
Funny how we feel so much but cannot say a word
We are screaming inside we can't be heard
I will remember you
Will you remember me
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
So afraid to love you but more afraid to lose
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose
Once there was a darkness deep and endless night
You gave me everything it had, oh you gave me light
I will remember you
Will you remember me
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
When he finished everyone was amazed. He stepped down and made a quick announcement.
"Just so you know everyone, I almost never speak except on this day, so please respect that, but I will perform a song this time of year to help us remember" and he was correct. He almost never spoke after that day, but on Remembrance day, every year after that, he always sang and played "A Pittance of Time" plus one extra song to remind the Care Bears about why they needed to care about the dead as well, he never once faltered in his promise to sing each year, and Care-A lot and its residents were always more respectful of those who died to give the world freedom after that day.