In memoriam...
60 years on, and we again commemorate those who died.
While this is a worthy affair, it’s also a somewhat painfully somber one. So I'm not sure why this should be the case.
I think the Irish have things right when they have a Wake, which I feel is much more appropriate.
I'd like to think that if I had died for my country all those years ago, people would remember my sacrifice with a laugh, a smile and a drink.
Let's face it, that's what these people were fighting for...
posted by Wayne Smallman at Monday, May 09, 2005
6 Comments:
I'll certainly drink to that :)
It makes me sad in this country that we seem to have forgotten how to celebrate - both life and death.
I went to the VE day concert in Trafalgar Square last night and it was fun but I couldn't help thinking it must have seemed like a fairly sterile event to the veterans.
The list of rules was so long! No jumping in the fountains, no climbing the statues, no bottled drinks, only 15,000 people (60,000 showed up the first time round). blah blah. I know it's all health & safety etc these days but still. I would have loved to have jumped in the fountain, bottle of vino in hand, to say thanks to the guys!
I agree.
And I agree that we should remember what happened, and the sacrifice these people made.
I do wonder though, when do we stop remembering the dead? There are a lot of people who died for 'us' before WWII, in WWI, and earlier (I'm not going into a history lesson here). What about the English who fought the Normans at the battle of Hastings? I'm not being facetious, this is a serious question.
We don't celebrate/commiserate/remember those who died hundreds of years ago, so, is there a defined time after which we can forget? Or is it only acceptable when society has gone through major changes?
I'm not saying we should forget the sacrifice these people made, just that maybe we ought to institutionalise rememberance of all the people who've died to make our society what it is today.
I guess a sombre celebration allows the people gathered to reflect upon the enormity of the wars, and the millions of lives lost. You wont be doing that if you are jumping up and down, like in a carnival. That said, I agree that a little bit of fun and frolic should do a lot of good in these things.
Abt. when we stop celebrating, I think it slowly tapers off. Right now, we still have soldiers from WW-II alive, so it is a sombre ceremony. Once all of them are dead, we will start having a little less formal one, as they ceremonies will only have the spouses (perhaps) of these soldiers, or their sons/daughters to recount the memories. Another 20-30 years, and the whole thing will get reduced to a history lesson. Patterns in U.S. civil war remembrances are of note here.
Lest we forget, indeed.
It's a good question because it's an uncomfortable one to ask, which is right up my street because I've always asked the awkward question that everyone else is usually thinking.
Sray got it right with the whole death thing. Once the last of the veterans and the various generations that grew up during the war have passed away, then the memory will no longer be a living one...
Oh a good ol' irish wake is the only way to go me thinks.
May we all be so blessed as to have people in our lives who'd care enough to do it.
People have forgotten the importance of the freedom which was so hard fought for - raise an eyebrow or two and smile on just to spite those who deem it unacceptable to find happiness in freedom.
We have entire generations of people who have little or no concept of what considerable losses we all suffered during the two last great wars.
I'm among one of those generations, as are most of you guys.
And further to this, it's unlikely that we've known the hardship our parents or grandparents suffered during those times.
Freedom is now an a right enshrined in legislature, but only after great conflict do people appreciate what they have.
Now we've got kids who couldn't give a shit about anything, yet should there be another war, they'd be among the first to be cowering in tears wanting someone to help them...
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