In 2 days time, most of the commonwealth will be remembering the fallen soldiers who fought and died for their country, a cause, or even a dream.
The Last Post is used by Commonwealth military funerals and ceremonies commemorating those who have been killed in war
When I grew up it was a staple part of November, to wear a poppy leading up to the day. Receipt or see someone receipting In Flanders Fields, To look at military heritage and the contributions of my Nation during WWI & WW2 and to contemplate whether or not we will ever have peace.
That was when I grew up, even then people seemed to have much stronger identities bother at a personal level and national level. Nowadays, violent protestors, loud dissidents and confused young people yell and scream and call you a racist or a bigot if you show any national pride or support for the military.
Don’t get me wrong. There is some merit to their misguided nature. Unlike the World Wars, though more particularly WW2, most modern wars were not really about freedom, they were about politics and resources. Sometimes we sit in our ivory tower that is the 21st century and snub our noses at the ancient world and their wars, forgetting that we are no different. The only difference is that it has evolved from bows and Arrows to bullets and cruise missiles but we are still fundamentally at war for the same reasons as they were most of the time. Politics and resources. So their anger towards the government and the military’s blatant disregard for the people of this world is justified.
However, and I said a big However. This does not mean you get to erase such days from our culture because you see it as warmongering. It’s not about war it’s about remembering the fallen and those who sacrificed.
Revisionist history is ok only when new facts or evidence were discovered, and the history books legitimately need to be updated. Revisionist history is NOT ok because you do not like some aspect of history or because you do not understand the concept of historical context. Who are you, Stalin?
Erasing history for the sake of ideology, politics or simple misguided stupidity is disgusting and wrong. On top of that, again, remembrance day is not about the governments and their wars, it’s about the soldiers. Thos who lived and died, Suffered and
Erasing history for the sake of ideology, politics or simple misguided stupidity is disgusting and wrong. On top of that, again, remembrance day is not about the governments and their wars, it’s about the soldiers. Thos who lived and died, Suffered and sacraficed.
You don’t have to agree with why the soldiers are fighting or who they are fighting or even what they died for, But they sacrificed their lives, their time and often their families.
Remembrance day is about the people, who served, only to be forgotten, ignored and thrown to the gutter. Governments in the western world in many cases find it far too easy to drop support for veterans and soldiers because the general populous doesn’t care . Thus they ignore those who sacrificed for political gain. The governments find it far too easy to forget what the right thing to do is, all in the name of getting elected next term.
In the end, it’s the people who are forgotten, Not the governments. Forgetting history is a disaster. The fact that most people I know barely know it, is already bad enough. But to allow a day such as a remembrance day to slip from our culture is beyond reprehensible.
Yes, I too would like a world without war, but that day is not today and will not be tomorrow. So in the meantime, don’t be childish and disrespectful to those who sacrificed and remember, remember the 11th of November and what its really about.
