I was dismayed to see how few places were selling poppies this year. It used to be that there was nowhere you could not buy one. This year, I had to look. And yet, in almost every town and village today, there will be poppies. Not just in this country, but in many others around the world. Paper symbols that defy the divisions created by borders and unite us in a common act of remembrance and gratitude for those who risked and gave their lives that the next generations might be born into a free world.
We do not remember some mythical conflict that glorifies the horrors of war. We remember those who fought, men and women, even animals. We remember that of those who went to war, many did not return. Some were volunteers, others conscripted…. to many were little more than children, just teenagers. All faced death, mutilation, and horror. All faced the same guns.
Violence, even on the level of nations, can never be right. It is not a good answer, though sometimes it has been seen as the only answer or defence against a greater evil. Today, that argument has no place. We are not remembering the policies or the politics of war… we remember those who gave all they were for their country, their homes and their people.
We remember too those whose battle was not fought with guns. The women who waited for their husbands, fathers and sons. The women who wept and cradled a photograph as they had cradled their babe. The children whose fathers and brothers never came home. Those whose homes and families were obliterated by bombs. Those who took in refugees from the cities and from overseas. Those who filled the gaps left in daily life by those who would not return.
In every town and village there is a roll of honour listing the names of the lost. Sometimes on a cenotaph, sometimes a book or a plaque in the parish church. Few, even the smallest hamlets, were left untouched. In the village where I live, the Roll of Honour lists 80 names, some as young as eighteen, many from families who still live here, whose names and youngsters I know. Today, the population is around six hundred households. At the time of the war, it was a much smaller place. Generations of men, fathers, brothers and sons, we killed, leaving a deep scar on the life of this one small village. Across the world, it is a story that was repeated. Few were left untouched and many of us knew those who had fought…and whose silences told more than their stories ever could.
We do not even know the full total of those whose lives have been lost to conflict since the onset of the First World War. The total is thought to be around 200 million lives, including those deaths listed as collateral damage, which are considered to be ‘an unavoidable, legitimate byproduct of waging war’. Men, women, children… just ‘collateral damage’…
Today we remember the dead, the wounded, the maimed… all who served, at home or overseas no matter what their country of origin, no matter what their faith or belief. We may think back and recall the stories we have heard of personal valour and heroism, of compassion and camaraderie, of kindness and resilience. It is there that the only glory of war can be found…in the heart of individuals, in humanity…and it is there that peace has its roots. Mankind is capable of greatness, but not through destruction.
For a little while today, we will stand in peace and unity to remember the dead. We remember them in the name of the peace they sought to win.
“At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
Laurence Binyon
Very, very nice.
Thank you, Jennie.
You are welcome, Sue!
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
A very moving tribute for Remembrance Sunday from Sue Vincent and some excellent reminders of who we are paying respect to.. people not events or glory.
Thank you, Sally.
We must never forget we must always be grateful!
Thanks, Willow.
“We are not remembering the policies or the politics of war… we remember those who gave all they were for their country, their homes and their people.” and “It is there that the only glory of war can be found…in the heart of individuals, in humanity…and it is there that peace has its roots. Mankind is capable of greatness, but not through destruction.”
So well expressed. I think I’ll also re blot this, there’s no way I could say it better.
Thank you, Claire, for you comment and for reblogging.
It was too good not to!
It is too important a moment not to write.
Agreed!
Reblogged this on Song Bird Songs and commented:
I couldn’t express this better. Well worth reading!
Lovely and moving, Sue. I can still recite “In Flanders fields the poppies grow…” One of my junior high teachers had all of her students learn it.
I know it too, Noelle, and we learned a good many of the war poems when we were young. These days war is not seen as a politically correct subject to study in school… which I believe is a momentous mistake.
Absolutely right. I am sick of those who refuse to buy poppies because they “glorify war”. I fear this is another area where political correctness has come to bear. We remember and we buy because, whatever the rights or wrongs of the conflict, thousands of men and boys younger than our own sons were sent out into hell as a duty to their country. And they did it, many never to return. Sometimes I look around today at effete or sloppy, indulged youngsters glued to their mobiles, and wonder how many of them could rise to the challenge. Thank goodness they haven’t had to.
Perhaps today’s youth would do better than we think… though I sincerely hope we never have to find out. War has changed, mechanised. But death, maiming and injury remain the same for everyone.
A touching and poetic post, Sue. Thank you for the remembrance of all who sacrificed at times of war.
The only way we can repay that is by remembering until we find a way to live in peace.
Yes, when we stop remembering the sacrifices made by those who fight and suffer in war, we are in deep trouble.
I agree, Diana. Deep trouble.
M.a.g.n.i.f.i.c.e.n.t. <3 <3 <3
Thank you, Tess. <3
Reblogged this on Stuart France.
Beautiful tribute Sue. <3
Thank you, Debby.
Sue, wonderful words for a sad day. Politicians are always the ones deciding who we have to take on but it’s down to our armed forces to make sacrifices. If enough people say time to end war will we live in peace with our neighbours? I’d love to think so and have been striving for a more just and peaceful world for everyone xoxo
In time of war, the armed forces and the people classed as ‘collateral damage’ are sacrifices… and I cannot see how that solves anything, Dave. xx
It absolutely doesn’t solve anything. The innocent suffer in times of war more than the politicians who start these things going.
Sadly that is always true.
Politicians are always the ones deciding who we have to take on but it’s down to our armed forces to make sacrifices. ❤
Indeed. I hate the very idea of war, but honour those who serve.