A Pittance of Time

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! Today, I'm playing a song called "A Pittance of Time," which was composed by Terry Kelly. He was in a store on November 11th when he noticed a man who refused to observe the 2 minutes of silence to respect war veterans. He managed to hold back his anger that day and direct it into a song instead. It reminds us that 2 minutes is just a "pittance of time" - a small sacrifice to honor those who sacrificed their lives. I hope you like listening to it!


Listen to the song here
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There's a lot of things you could decide to do today. You could try to go outside before the seasons change. You could decide to work on something you haven't finished. You could listen to a song like this one (which you're probably about to do, if you're reading this). But the question this song is asking you is, "What will you decide to do at 11:00?" 

Ever since World War 1 ended on November 11th, 1918, there's been a tradition of taking two minutes of silence at 11:00, to respect the soldiers who sacrificed their lives. In fact, if you think about it, there were 17 million people who died in that war - and the population wasn't as large as it is now. On top of that, even the soldiers who survived had to face threatening dangers at every turn, and they would have done things that they never would have decided to do on their own.

It wasn't until 1999 that Terry Kelly was inspired to write this song. While he was in a lineup on November 11th, 11:00 arrived. He noticed that someone in front of him asked the cashier to continue scanning his products. As the man left the store, his daughter told him that they should have been quiet for those 2 minutes. Thinking that his behavior was disrespectful to war veterans, Terry never forgot the experience, and he wrote this song a few years later.

Image by Roman Grac from Pixabay

The lyrics to Terry's song remind us of things we should never forget. Some of us might have a family member who died to free their land. Others might notice the part of the song saying that it takes courage to fight in a war - a war that you didn't even start. He recognized how big of a sacrifice it was to risk your life for your country: it's a much bigger sacrifice than 2 minutes every year.

I'm sure we all know someone who has made a big sacrifice to protect us. Our own parents, for one. The soldiers in World War 1, as another example. The least we can give them is two minutes - a "pittance of time."

Keep filling your teacup with music!

~Liya