November 11

[sartorias]

Thought about the date today while reading Blackout by Connie Willis. I'm about five/sixths done with the first book. So far, I find it difficult to tell the difference between the pairs of young female historians as they all seem to talk and act pretty much alike, without much of a glimpse into their pasts to differentiate them, which is

Comments

[la_marquise_de_]

IExhorting people to "Remember!" is the kind of finger-wagging I have always resented--it's too much like being ordered to be grateful.
I'm with you on this. And it pigeonholes things, too, so that they become ignored at other times. I'm with you on the meditative remembering over time and space.

[sartorias]

Yes, on the pigeonholing.

[heleninwales]

Being told to "Remember" never bothered me. Perhaps the tone of the exhortation is different on each side of the Atlantic?

The poppies -- one of which is sitting on my desk in front of me as I type -- in our Remembrance ceremonies hark back to the First World War and I always got the very strong sense that we were being asked to remember so that we would never let something like that happen again.

[sartorias]

I think the poppies is a lovely memorial symbol. (But then the first poem I ever memorized was "In Flanders Fields," before I had any idea what it was about. But the line "And in the sky the larks still bravely singing fly scarce heard amid the guns below" affected my little kid heart tremendously.)

[monissaw]

Same thing down in Aus, although the emphasis has changed over time but generally it's swung back that way.

A few years back, in a context I have since forgotten, someone declared it wasn't possible to commemorate ANZAC day if you were opposed to war, and yet the associated services, songs and writings have always had an anti-war message to me.

[sartorias]

Yes!

[anonymous]

from pilgrimsoul

I agree with you about the exhortations to Remember! but reminders to remember--and be grateful, too, are sometimes needed.

[sartorias]

Yep--and so we have these remembrance days, and we talk like we are now.

[marycatelli]

Yes, but they need to be effective. The gentle art of rhetoric must be deployed to actually remind, rather than tell people that they should remember.

[oracne]

I am hoping I can read both books all in one go. Well, probably not in one DAY, but you know what I mean....

[sartorias]

That's what I'm doing--as soon as I read the cumulative "cliff hanger!" howl last year, I waited until the new one was out, got both books, and commenced my read.

[marycatelli]

Wise!

[suzanna_o]

"So on days like today (and on other days) I like to sit here at my desk that someone else made, in my house built by people of the last generation, sipping my tea plucked by hands belonging to people who live on the other side of the world, out of a cup made by someone here, and glory in the gifts of civilization, struggling and precarious as it is."

I love this. That's the kind of hope we need to keep in our hearts. :)

[sartorias]

Hope, and find ways within our limitations to do our part.

Thanks for reading!