In Charing Cross Station today, a man stood. He rattled a tin for charity, and his eyes pleaded with passers-by to donate. He even offered them a token, a symbol in return. Nothing much. But enough
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I am one of the people you described. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a pacifist, but I see war as an absolute last resort and I despise the almost casual way that countries sometimes enter into it. And taken purely as an institution, I believe that the Forces don't always have much to be proud of. They're big and impressive in their research budgets, but they ain't strategically clever, and the Army in particular has questionable practices in recruiting and training its new entrants. I don't at all like the way that 11th November is combined with that strange military circus (the Lord Mayor's Show? Parade?) whereby suddenly they're all in the Albert Hall shinning up ropes to prove how great they are. After the moving nature of the wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier, and the showing of footage of people DYING, and the reminiscences of war veterans, I find such a spectacle of military prowess quite repulsive. Put it with a military tattoo or something: it doesn't belong anywhere near a day to remember the dead.
But I do like the concept of remembrance. 11th November should work not to glorify conflict or to recall our victories, but to commemorate those who fell in battle or in simply keeping the peace in an area and to flag up the sheer horror and brutality of war. Every serviceman or woman killed is essentially a British life lost in the name of peace for his or her country, and that *is* something worthy of respect. I chose to serve my country by serving the government; I respect and admire the choice of others to go as far as laying down their lives for Britain. It's the leaders and the institutions that I question, not the individuals who serve within them. The Legion do excellent practical work in supporting those whose lives have been wrecked by war. My poppy goes firmly on each year, and I am proud to wear it.
I am one of the people you described. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a pacifist, but I see war as an absolute last resort and I despise the almost casual way that countries sometimes enter into it. And taken purely as an institution, I believe that the Forces don't always have much to be proud of. They're big and impressive in their research budgets, but they ain't strategically clever, and the Army in particular has questionable practices in recruiting and training its new entrants. I don't at all like the way that 11th November is combined with that strange military circus (the Lord Mayor's Show? Parade?) whereby suddenly they're all in the Albert Hall shinning up ropes to prove how great they are. After the moving nature of the wreath laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier, and the showing of footage of people DYING, and the reminiscences of war veterans, I find such a spectacle of military prowess quite repulsive. Put it with a military tattoo or something: it doesn't belong anywhere near a day to remember the dead.
But I do like the concept of remembrance. 11th November should work not to glorify conflict or to recall our victories, but to commemorate those who fell in battle or in simply keeping the peace in an area and to flag up the sheer horror and brutality of war. Every serviceman or woman killed is essentially a British life lost in the name of peace for his or her country, and that *is* something worthy of respect. I chose to serve my country by serving the government; I respect and admire the choice of others to go as far as laying down their lives for Britain. It's the leaders and the institutions that I question, not the individuals who serve within them. The Legion do excellent practical work in supporting those whose lives have been wrecked by war. My poppy goes firmly on each year, and I am proud to wear it.
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