Soooooo, topical blog update for today, methinks. Obviously
today is Armistice Day/Remembrance Day/ Poppy Day so I thought I’d have my two
cents on the matter. I always ponder it quite strongly when it gets to this
time of year, so I may as well share with you folks.
For me, Armistice Day
is a very sombre and serious occasion; not because I personally knew anyone who
died in either of the world wars, nor did I lose any grandparents that way. Put
simply, I completely disagree with the idea of war and think that we should
remember those who gave their lives fighting for their country, wherever that
may be.
Interesting phrase, that: ”Gave their lives”. It makes it
sound like they had a choice at all times to lay down themselves as a
sacrifice. We know, of course, that that isn’t the case, especially with forced
subscription. There are some soldiers who did choose to give themselves
entirely to protect their friends and comrades, but many of them had the
“decision” forced upon them at one point in the process or another.
So today we are asked to remember those who died in the
First and Second World Wars, as well as all wars before and since. I think this
is a beautiful thing to do; so many families have been torn apart by war that
it makes perfect sense to have a day on which we honour the fallen. Plus, it’s
one of the few ‘special days’ in our calendar that has yet to be overly
commercialised; there are the poppies (of course), but they’re for charity. There’s
also the Remembrance Service on the Beeb on the Saturday night before Armistice
Sunday and parade, but I wouldn’t say that was commercial because a) It’s the
Beeb, and b) it’s an excellent idea for those who can’t attend a Sunday service
or march but still want to remember the fallen soldiers.
I think Armistice Day is an excellent idea because, as they say, lest we forget...
Hi Emma,
ReplyDeleteIt is rare for me to quote the Bible but your comments remind me of the words of St Paul to the Philippians (4:8), which I believe can have resonance even if you are not religious.
The way people look at war always interests me, especially when you see the way people look at the Second World War now. To the baby boomers, the struggle between Churchill and Hitler is almost akin to that of God and Satan in which everything the British did was glorious (You can tell by the music they play over videos from the war that many believe this). I often find that this obscures the reality of war that it is not a glorious thing, and that both sides committed atrocities for what they ultimately felt was a good aim. I am not saying that we should not have fought the Second World War, but I find that this glorifying of that war obscures the reality that this was a conflict which killed many innocent German, Japanese and Italian people as it did British, American and French people.
There is a line in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' which I also believe is resonant in this occasion: "Funerals are pretty compared to death". I feel that this represent how a lot of people feel about the Armistice celebrations, that they obscure the true reality of war. I agree with you that the suffering which people went to is worth remembering, but there are many people (veterans included) who disagree and see that Armistice Day almost makes war feel distant whereas as you say, war is something which ruined the lives of many people and will continue to (For good or bad means)
I am also interested by your quoting of "Lest we forget" and how it is used to remember the fallen, as it comes from the 1897 poem by Rudyard Kipling 'Recessional'. In this poem, it is seen that Rudyard Kipling saw imperialism as some Miltonic battle between good and evil, at the height of British and German imperial tensions. Whereas if you read his later poetry after the First World War such as 'My Boy Jack' you can see that he also understands the bitter sorrow which war brings to everyone (including himself). One of the things which I love about Kipling is that he was a man of conflict and that he saw the good and the bad in war (Although many critics think he sometimes glorified the bad)
I also think that fallen soldiers should be remembered, but I understand the view of others that they believe that Armistice Day makes the true nature of war seem trivial.
I see exactly where you're coming from on this one Tom, I've also just finished a research project about the remembrance of World War One in Flanders and can draw many parallels between what you have said and what I learnt. The aim of these monuments and formalities should be to remember the fallen and not to glorify or advertise war in any way; anyone who knows somebody who was/is in the army will tell you how terrible it really is.
DeleteI think you might find it interesting to read this article, posted a few weeks ago on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24610481
it definitely seems to be suggesting that we glorify WWI, but in a very different way to that which you talk about. I'm not sure I agree with what its saying, but it's certainly a very different perspective...
That article was really interesting in that, akin to Kipling's 'Recessional' it shows the follies of jingoism ("If we drunk with sight of power we loose wild tongues that have not we in awe/Such boastings did the gentiles use and lesser breeds without the law). Although Orwell and many other critics have observed in "lesser breeds" he was talking about the Germans, it is important as a general critique of obsession with imperial conflict and self-righteous belief that one is doing God's bidding by fighting in these wars.
ReplyDeleteThe idea on how British people commemorate the war can be seen as rather interesting in that I believe there is often an obsession nowadays with forming a national British identity. The idea being that one doesn't exist and that by commemorating wars we can relive our former glory. I personally don't believe this and think that there are other more relevant ways in which British identity is expressed (i.e through our literature, contributions to philosophy), but people seem to have this rather traditional view that launching war is a way of showing how great we are as a nation. I personally think that a national method of mourning war is something which shouldn't exist, as it constitutes telling people how to feel (which is what they do in North Korea)
I think that's a very true point, we should have a day to commemorate the deaths which have occurred in war, because there are so many people who have died that way, however, I agree that people shouldn't be made to mourn if they don't want to or feel they should. It shouldn't be compulsory to do something, but the opportunity should be there, just not as a celebration of the pain and suffering of war.
ReplyDelete