Sunday 8 November 2009

Remembrance Sunday

In an era where a large percentage of children in the UK believe that Adolph Hitler is a striker for the German national football team, where people who purport to be politicians deny the existence of the Holocaust, Remembrance Sunday has become such an incredibly important event.

The televised sight of the Queen and the Royal Family, followed by the leading Members of Parliament laying their wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the Last Post, the solemn march past by survivors of various armed conflicts to the strains of the service bands: all so important in reminding us as a Nation of our indebtedness to the few who gave so much.

For as long as cubs and scouts attend the church parade on the Sunday nearest to 11 November and silences are observed at the start of football matches which are close to that day, then young people will ask questions about the reason for this event.

Whilst parents switch on the radio or the television at 10.45 on the morning itself and stop what they are doing at 11am to remember, then the memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice will live on.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When I was in middle school (age 12 or 13 here in the US), I remember being moved by this poem during the phase in life when I was first discovering literature. Thanks for sharing these thoughts. How many of the younger set appreciate the importance of the fall of the Wall, either?

Helga Hansen said...

I was watching the concert at Royal Albert Hall last night, and crying my eyes out. While I abhor that we are in this conflict, I will always support those who choose to protect my life with theirs.

I will never forget, and my son continues in this tradition.

Walker said...

Some things are not worth remembering and some should never be forgotten.
To many people today take life for granted but don;t ask what the cost was for their freedom.
The author of Flanders Fields died not to long after he wrote that poem but he had seen the wreath that would mark the spot where he would rest and maybe it was his eulogy he was preparing for us all to remember him and his mates with.