Rememberance

Yesterday I attended the first Remembrance Sunday service outwith any of the home churches (two) I've had over the years. Also, my placement church is only 40 years old, so there is no war memorial at it; my home church has 4!


The general service was very like what I am used to and expected. No poppy wreath was brought in, which I thought a little strange. Although my home church has 4 memorials, the wreath is placed at the front of the church. I feel it gives a little bit of ceremony and focus to proceedings, but that's just me.


I firmly believe the act of remembrance is very important. Throughout school I wore my poppy with pride and was very much in the minority. I also remember the white pacifist poppy becoming popular in the early nineties. I felt at the time, and still do, that I can be a pacifist and still wear a poppy and remember the people who sacrificed their lives in order that we may enjoy the freedoms we have today.


At the time of the white poppy movement, there was a great debate going on as the whether the act of remembrance should still take place. It was 45+ years since the end of WWII and 70+ since the end of WWI. There were fewer and fewer survivors of those conflict still alive. Shouldn't we stop looking back to a time of war and look forward to a time of peace (this was also around the time of the iron curtain coming down)?


Despite those arguments, I still believed remembrance is an important part of moving to peace. We can reflect on why conflicts happen; commemorate the dead; support the survivors; try to stop things getting out of control...


In particular, I feel I must commemorate those who fought during WWII. I dread to think the type of country I would be living in (if I had been allowed to be born) if fascism had won. As much as I firmly believe war is never ideal, sometimes it is necessary to overcome a greater enemy. Ultimately, though, when we stop remembering those who died and what they fought for, history has a tendency to repeat itself.