Glad to see you back, ora, even if it is briefly. There are precious few interesting posts on the forum lately.

Remembrance day was born from a need by those who served to remember those who didn't make it, and for the civilian families who lost someone in a foreign field and had no grave to visit. Remembrance was not an abstract concept, but a very literal act. You remember those you knew who war had taken from you, and you did this in the company of those who had likewise suffered, in the company of those who understood.

Most of us don't remember, or we instead we remember those who survived the war to become parents and grandparents, and we pretend this is the same thing. We pretend we understand. But we don't, not really. Those who do are thankfully few in the modern age. But to those few the day is as important as it ever was. The meaning unchanged, enduring.

To me it is those few who the day must always be about. It is that core meaning that must never be lost. And when the rest of us are buying a poppy because we're told it's what you should do, or standing in silence at a memorial and thinking of the horrors of war, of grim films and school history lessons, rather than friends we have lost to it, the question I ask first is does this help those few? Would they prefer to be stood with just those other few who understand, as everyone once understood. Do they prefer for the country to come together and to try and join in, albeit with our clumsy attempts at understanding, and our at times ridiculous tributes and speeches

I don't know. But what I do know is that it those few who must remain the heart and soul of remembrance day. The rest of us to do what we do, what we believe to be right, but always with the awareness that we are there as guests.

@Octavious, I took a cycle for peace to the grave of the first British casualty of the war (John Parr, Private, 4th Battalion, (Duke of Cambridge's) Middlesex Regiment) back in 2014.

We arrived at his grave 100 years to the day after his death, if records are accurate.

And I have to say, a lot of others remembering the war made me feel uncomfortable. I think remembrance is important, because we are doomed to repeat history that we do not remember. I do not seek to honour the sacrificed as most others seem to think appropriate, but instead to criticise the systems which sacrificed them.

I don't know if this politics is something you agree with, or would like in your sentiment. But it is how I feel. And I would note, I've never served, and my country takes a neutral stance on conflict, so even if I served it, I would only be deployed as a peacekeeper under UN resolution (like the Irish troops in Syria, who were deployed before the civil war to the Israeli border, Golan heights?). I think there can be honour in service but I can't honour those who died needlessly.

And if there ever was a needless war, it was the first world war.

MajorMitchell wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 23, 2018 9:53 am

Merry Christmas Octavious, just visiting WebDiplomacy briefly, I see the Almighty Mods have a vacancy, Maniac better apply promptly, but I can't see him surviving the Grand High Inquisitors & until I work out how, in Ancient Mediterranean to Convoy an army through the eye of a needle to the Promised Land I need not bother applyin'. .. Hi & Merry Christmas to Dipbro Brainbomb. Toodle~pip.

Vacation? Nobody told me.

& You're right Octavious, We have a sombre, respectful ceremonies for the fallen service men & women on November 11th, including a minutes silence at 11am in Australia. It ranks with our ANZAC Day on 25th April ( landings at Gallipoli in 1915 on that day)

Merry Christmas Octavious, just visiting WebDiplomacy briefly, I see the Almighty Mods have a vacancy, Maniac better apply promptly, but I can't see him surviving the Grand High Inquisitors & until I work out how, in Ancient Mediterranean to Convoy an army through the eye of a needle to the Promised Land I need not bother applyin'. .. Hi & Merry Christmas to Dipbro Brainbomb. Toodle~pip.

@ Telamor

I can sort of see your point, but have to disagree. You have to keep in mind that remembrance day was designed as a day for those who fought and lived to remember their friends who didn't, and for those who waved goodbye to their loved ones and never saw them return. It was only later that it also began to about those who weren't involved remembering those they knew who fought and survived and lived a long life before dying of old age.

For those of us who have served and know others who served and died, these words and the original meaning of remembrance day still carry great importance. It was for the fallen, and for the fallen it will always be until the day comes that no-one need fall.

Time is a strange thing. The Great War to us now is as distant as the Napoleonic was to them. I met a few who fought, but never knew them. But their influence is all around us.

I never liked "For the Fallen" as a remembrance piece. It always struck me as putting death on some sort if pedestal and in so doing kinda falls foul of the Owen verse:

You would not tell with such high zest,
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old lie: Dulce et decorum est,
Pro patria mori.

It feels absolutely strange that there is now a full century between the entirety of the First World War and today.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them.

I think it's worth giving Playdip credit for the respectful tribute from their site's leadership.

In honor of Veteran's Day (Armistice Day...) In Every Game all players should place 'hold' orders only.

100 years today.