Remembrance

[Khandro]

You will have seen and possibly participated in the current AB poll about remembrance on November 11th. I just came across this article by Simon Jenkins, written 12 months ago, but going the rounds now, my view I will keep to myself for the moment, but what do you think of it?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/09/no-more-remembrance-days-consign-20th-century-history

[Peter Pedant]

// Why do you bring me into your posts. I have not contributed to this thread until now? // edited to make sense

because you pose questions in which you have no interest in the answers. Many times the answer is in the article you cite for discussion

oh and another thing since you asked - you are too preoccupied with the non-threat of being killed in your bed by brown skinned assassins.

but anyway - I hadnt realised the carriage in Compiegne was the personal property of Marshall Foch. The commentators were a bit coy about Hitler demanding the surrender of France was signed in the very same carriage 1940 and then had it destroyed.
Oh and did anyone notice - they both sat at right angles to the windows - so they didnt take up the positions of the original victor and vanquished

[naomi24]

PP to aog, //you are too preoccupied with the non-threat of being killed in your bed by brown skinned assassins. //

You've posted that nonsense several times ... but I don't believe anyone here has ever said it. Still, don't let reality stop you stirring.

[10ClarionSt]

Diddlydo, there will be other memorial events in the coming year, I'm absolutely certain of that. I will be involved in three of them. I would guess that other organisations will be doing the same. The majority of people in this country are proud and grateful for the sacrifice made by those who gave their lives, and those who fought and survived. The majority choose to show that appreciation to the country on Remembrance Sunday each year, but don't think that it all goes away on the Monday after, because it doesn't.
I just wonder what it is that makes anyone so ungrateful and unappreciative of the sacrifice and service that millions of people gave to this country.
What it does mean Diddleydo, is that those people fought so that you are now free to express your opinion and ingratitude. It's called freedom, democracy and liberty. It's quite clear to me that some people would chicken out if the need ever arose again to defend their country. I wonder if any of them are members of AB?

[diddlydo]

My views have nothing to do with "ingratitude" etc etc. I merely object to marking the sacrifice by public displays of military pomp.

[New Judge]

"Now that we've got to the centenary of the end of WW1 can we now please put it to bed along with all the military displays that accompany it?"

No. Because Remembrance does not only pay tribute to those who lost their lives in WW1. And even if it did, nobody should conveniently "forget" that sacrifice.

[tamborine]

With Macron's call for EU army against USA, Russia, China et al, we need to educate our youth of Remembrance

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-46108633

[Kromovaracun]

There are some aspects of remembrance that make me slightly uneasy. None of it is enough to dissuade me of the fundamental value of it as a ceremony and a part of our culture. But I think I do understand where SJ is coming from.

[Old_Geezer]

Got bored about half way down the article, but must say I have some sympathy with the general gist of it. There's a world of difference between remembering history and commemorating it every year as ritual. Whilst there are those still alive who experienced the events one can see why this continues. It's personal experience and the personal experience of one's elderly relatives. But there must be a time when it fades out. We don't go commemorating, for example, the English civil war, the victory for Oliver Cromwell, and recall the many who died in the battles before that ended. For now it's unsurprising it continues, but I'd doubt many will be attending the same ceremony 100 years hence.

[Khandro]

I didn't watch the Cenotaph service on Sunday morning, but I found watching the ceremony preceding the rugby international between England and New Zealand later in the day, a tremendously moving affair. With the New Zealander's forebears having paid a heavy price fighting for Britain and seeing them standing shoulder to shoulder with the English team, and remembering my own grandfather, badly wounded at the Somme and my father in North Africa, I confess, I had to reach for a hankie.

Simon Jenkins says, forget it, - no thanks.

[vetuste_ennemi]

//this means that what has happened in the past has no relevance to the present. Indeed those who forget history are not condemned to repeat it - but lead much more fulfilling lives. or -as Mauriac said - there is only one lesson in History - and that is there are no lessons from History ( paradox intended)

I would like examples of forgetting and consequent benefits - or ...//

Yes, I suppose you would. So much brain, so little of what matters.

[ChillDoubt]

My views have nothing to do with "ingratitude" etc etc. I merely object to marking the sacrifice by public displays of military pomp.
—————
Ironically, you know NOTHING of the meaning of sacrifice.
As for ‘displays of military pomp’ I don’t see battalions of troops marching through towns or squadrons of tanks rumbling past a la Red Square, but I do see lots of ex HM Forces and swathes of general public attending ceremonies to contemplate in quiet reflection ......but then every man thinks meanly of himself for never having been a soldier, as someone famously said.