Please Remember
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:08 am
#46
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 10,630
From: Red Deer, Alberta
Re: Please Remember
The Men and Women who signed up to the military don't get to chose where they serve - they are sent by the government. If they die doing the job they were sent to do they still deserve to be remembered. And those out there away from their families on a posting also deserve a thought on remembrance day.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:09 am
#47
Magnificently Withering
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,908
From: Oakville, ON
Re: Please Remember
Yes. That's the whole point. That is why, for example, the cities of Coventry and Dresden have in the past each invited inhabitants of the other to memorial services commemorating both military and civilian casualties in the firestorms caused by bombing raids, and why prisoners of the Japanese in SE Asia invited their captors to memorial and reconciliation services in the UK, Australia and Thailand a few years ago.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:10 am
#48
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 85
From: Antrim, Northen Ireland
Re: Please Remember
Yes, why not, they acted in good faith (generally) on the instructions of their leaders at the time. What's your opinion?
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:12 am
#49
Moderαtor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 30,771
From: Upstate South Carolina
Re: Please Remember
The point I think is that war is not a clean, or clinical business as portrayed in the sanitised media. People die. People are maimed. Unspeakable things occur.
If people and politicians on all sides would remember that more often, then perhaps there would be less conflict all round, and more effort put into diplomatic and economic solutions.
Perhaps there is a link between recent conflicts and the fact that none of the political leaders involved had ever seen active service.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:12 am
#50
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,020
Re: Please Remember
How depressing. One can only hope for a future where people have the wherewithal to stand up to their superiors and decide not to robotically obey every single command. If everyone did that - hurray! - no more war.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:15 am
#51
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,377
From: Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, BC
Re: Please Remember
This is a serious thread and it doesn't need your input
We are not here to debate the pros and cons of war.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:19 am
#55
Magnificently Withering
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,908
From: Oakville, ON
Re: Please Remember
Meanwhile, here in the real world, occasions like Remembrance Day, as Iain has said above, serve as a reminder that wars only happen when politicians fail. If politicians paid more attention to that, perhaps they wouldn't be so keen to commit troops to conflict.
However, given that politics does fail and wars do happen, it is only right that we should commemorate those who go to battle to uphold the political aims of their country, whether they agree with those aims or not.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:24 am
#57
Magnificently Withering
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6,908
From: Oakville, ON
Re: Please Remember
Hah! You think so? You're either more foolish or more naive than I thought.
No serious thinker has ever suggested that anarchy would result in anything other than mass disorder and huge numbers of casualties. Without rules, society breaks down. You simply cannot choose which sets of rules to obey and which to break. Even your relative who took to the hills in Wales was able to do so because there was provision within the "rules" of society at the time for pacifists and conscientious objectors to refuse service. In an anarchistic society he wouldn't have had the freedom to make that decision.
No serious thinker has ever suggested that anarchy would result in anything other than mass disorder and huge numbers of casualties. Without rules, society breaks down. You simply cannot choose which sets of rules to obey and which to break. Even your relative who took to the hills in Wales was able to do so because there was provision within the "rules" of society at the time for pacifists and conscientious objectors to refuse service. In an anarchistic society he wouldn't have had the freedom to make that decision.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:31 am
#58
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,020
Re: Please Remember
Even your relative who took to the hills in Wales was able to do so because there was provision within the "rules" of society at the time for pacifists and conscientious objectors to refuse service. In an anarchistic society he wouldn't have had the freedom to make that decision.
Nov 8th 2007 | 9:35 am
#60
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1,096
From: Cobble Hill, Vancouver Island
Re: Please Remember
I am so impressed with the Canadian attitude to Remembrance Day. Our local paper sums it up as follows:
"Every year on November 11 Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, our country during times of war, conflict and peace".
My grandfather fought in the Canadian Forces in both WW1 and WW2. My father fought in WW2. They were both volunteers who left their homes to help defend "the mother country" many thousands of miles away.They were both fortunate to return home safely.
I look forward to Remembrance Day as my first opportunity to actually be in Canada to take part in the remembrance of their service.
Canada gives the right emphasis to this occasion - it makes me proud to be a Canadian.
"Every year on November 11 Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve, our country during times of war, conflict and peace".
My grandfather fought in the Canadian Forces in both WW1 and WW2. My father fought in WW2. They were both volunteers who left their homes to help defend "the mother country" many thousands of miles away.They were both fortunate to return home safely.
I look forward to Remembrance Day as my first opportunity to actually be in Canada to take part in the remembrance of their service.
Canada gives the right emphasis to this occasion - it makes me proud to be a Canadian.
LEST WE FORGET.
