![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In Flander's fields...
So I am thinking of rememberance day. Once upon a time, I did my duty, I wore my poppy, dutifully was respectfully silent at 11:00 for a minute, and soberly nodded at the thought of victims of war. I then got to a point where the idea of rememberance day chafed a little. I got to feeling that it was bordering on a hallmark holiday (I am being intentionally flippant to illustrate a point). People did their duty, and wore the poppy, and got a day off work if they were in the government.....and then what? Many people I am sure still kept the message to heart, but how many other people file it away for another year until the next Nov. 11th rolls around where they just do their routine once more?
I didn't want to be one of those people. I wanted to reflect on war, and it's victmis and survivors for no other reason than it's an important thing to think about. I didn't to do it because it said so on the calendar. In some ways, it's identical to my general opposition to valentine's day. I'd rather pay homage to the concept because it's the right thing to do, at all points of the year, not because the clock struck midnight into some mystical day of special importance. I think about the effects of war when I listen to news reports about the middle east, or read historical treatises on past wars, or speak to veterans or people that lived through the wars. I don't need a day for that, and in truth, I resist the notion of having a singular day for that. Now maybe we need it for those people that do ignore it. At least the ignorant people give a single minute's though during the year. Better than nothing I suppose. I am certainly not proposing scrapping rememberance day either. Maybe even, I should still follow rememberance day, because veterans appreciate the day. It's important to them. Maybe I should wear my poppy because it would make them happy. And maybe this year, I will for that reason. It will be the first time in ...... a great many years that I will have worn a poppy however.
A part of me still thinks it's not quite the right way to honour the dead. I would like to see someone avert a military solution in the middle east because they are aware of the suffering war can cause. That to me does far more honour to the deeds of past wars, and shows more wisdom in learning from them. I swear in George W shows up in a poppy, someone should call him a hypocrite.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Novermber 11th is vital to the effort of rememberance, and maybe I should return to promoting it. Maybe the poppy is an important symbol, and not just a traditional early november thing. I will make a deal with the world. I will wear my poppy, and give my minute of silence, if the rest of the world keeps this awareness of what war means the rest of the year. I know a whole heap of you do. I am sure![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iclysdale among many others probably does more good for the preservation of this memory than I or any plastic poppies do. I just think there are a whole lot of people in the world that treat Novermber 11th as a blip on the calendar, which I think is a shame.
..........................ok, that's it.
I didn't want to be one of those people. I wanted to reflect on war, and it's victmis and survivors for no other reason than it's an important thing to think about. I didn't to do it because it said so on the calendar. In some ways, it's identical to my general opposition to valentine's day. I'd rather pay homage to the concept because it's the right thing to do, at all points of the year, not because the clock struck midnight into some mystical day of special importance. I think about the effects of war when I listen to news reports about the middle east, or read historical treatises on past wars, or speak to veterans or people that lived through the wars. I don't need a day for that, and in truth, I resist the notion of having a singular day for that. Now maybe we need it for those people that do ignore it. At least the ignorant people give a single minute's though during the year. Better than nothing I suppose. I am certainly not proposing scrapping rememberance day either. Maybe even, I should still follow rememberance day, because veterans appreciate the day. It's important to them. Maybe I should wear my poppy because it would make them happy. And maybe this year, I will for that reason. It will be the first time in ...... a great many years that I will have worn a poppy however.
A part of me still thinks it's not quite the right way to honour the dead. I would like to see someone avert a military solution in the middle east because they are aware of the suffering war can cause. That to me does far more honour to the deeds of past wars, and shows more wisdom in learning from them. I swear in George W shows up in a poppy, someone should call him a hypocrite.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Novermber 11th is vital to the effort of rememberance, and maybe I should return to promoting it. Maybe the poppy is an important symbol, and not just a traditional early november thing. I will make a deal with the world. I will wear my poppy, and give my minute of silence, if the rest of the world keeps this awareness of what war means the rest of the year. I know a whole heap of you do. I am sure
iclysdale among many others probably does more good for the preservation of this memory than I or any plastic poppies do. I just think there are a whole lot of people in the world that treat Novermber 11th as a blip on the calendar, which I think is a shame. ..........................ok, that's it.