It is on 11th
November, and the whole point of it is that it is not a public holiday or anything like that.
Rather,
at eleven o’clock in the morning, the ordinary routine of daily life is
interrupted.
Or, at least, it used to be. It should be again.
I don't celebrate Armed Forces Day. I don't wear a poppy. I don't stop at 1100 on 11/11 if I can help it.
ReplyDeleteI remember the fallen from Iraq & Afghanistan, the suffering innocents from those countries & the men who fell so that others did not have to follow them on the one day that might possibly make some kind of difference...
Polling day.
Oh, I wear the poppy. The red one, not the white one.
ReplyDeleteThe red poppy was initially, and is still properly, anything but a glorification of war. The white poppy message to "remember all victims of war" is already included, and the red poppy no longer features the name of Haig.
White poppy money goes to the Peace Pledge Union, a campaigning organisation for absolute pacifism (a cause to which I do not subscribe), rather than to a welfare charity of any kind.
Wear your red poppy with pride. Because of what it really means.
As a serving Chaplain and as Chaplain to the National Memorial Arboretum I think you may have missed the point, and the difference, between the three events (for they are three in number) in that:
ReplyDeleteArmistice Day (11th November) and Remembrance Sunday (nearest Sunday to Armistice Day) are to do with Remembrance. It is a time when we remember those who have served and given their lives in conflict (where, as always with those who serve, the goal is peace - not conquest).
Armed Forces' Week, which sees the Saturday (yesterday) as the pinnacle of the events is a week where reservists (and others) will wear their uniform to work. It is week where celebrations and events of many different kinds will occur to celebrate those who serve (and those who have served) and is very much a distinct entity from the two (unless they coalesce) remembrance days.
Remembrance Sunday/Armistice Day has always also focussed on those who have lost lives, been wounded and have suffered from the terrors and pain of war - it is not a time to be jingoistic or to fudge the loss of life, civillian or uniformed, our or theirs.
As for the white poppy - time doesn't permit me to write of the original intentions or the abuses and self-serving use of it today (which thankfully generally fails just as those who witter endlessly on about Bomber Command and their memorial)>
Thanks for the thoughts though - anything that brings AFD, remmebrance and the like into the public gaze is always welcome.
Pax,
Vic the Vicar