Remember, Remember... Part II

Today is Remembrance Day.

We mark today at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month; the moment that the First World War was officially over and armistice was declared.  This day has in recent years taken a back seat to the more 'popular' Remembrance Sunday.  I wonder how many people today observed the minutes silence at 11am.  Compare that with those that will observe the silence on Sunday and I think the figures will differ greatly.  Armistice day has succumbed to the flow of history and now we observe the more generic Remembrance Sunday which is in memory of all those who have died in military service and combat, right up to the present day conflicts.

Someone said to me today that they didn't feel effected by today because they were a pacifist and didn't agree with war and conflict.  I myself do not support war or conflict and am a borderline pacifist myself however, I think it is a great disservice to those that died in the First World War to not honour their memory.  Although their conflict was not as morally justified as the Second World War, many soldiers were conscripted and forced to serve in the military.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

***

I'm not a military zealot nor a hater.  I am at odds with a lot of things the military does and says, the things the government use the military for, the way the media portrays soldiers as heroes and reports their deaths with the same regularity that Big Ben chimes the hours.  It is a difficult, emotive and contentious subject.  It is also one that deserves open minded debate and probably a blog all its own.

So I will for now simply say I hope everyone gives a minute of their time to silence on Sunday and remember the fallen; even if you are a pacifist - remember those that gave their lives for a free and liberal (for the most part) Europe.