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Remembrance Day Posted: 11-11-07 18:42pm
Well its nearly over and it will all be
forgotten for another year. I did not don
sunday best and march to the local
cenataph behind toy soldiers, nor did I
view the spectical that is broadcast every
year on screens nationwide showing the
queen and her government placeing their
popies down. I find it a blatant
disrespect to those men who died and to
the men who are today dying at the hands
of these murderers, these monsters who
celebrate their grusome attrocities by
erecting monuments to their victims and
proudly proclaim them as "our glorious
dead" and still they have not shed enough
blood, still they send men and women like
cattle off to the slaughterhouses around
the world..... why?
They make the guns and the planes and the
bombs and they hide in offices and behind
desks counting their death tolls. These
great men of power, these "leaders" where
is the nation they are so proud of, dead
in the mud, killed by their bullets, their
guns and there bombs.....are we expected
to be proud of this madness, this
carnage?
Men of vision? Men of peace? Men of lies
and deciete!! Men of murrder and malice of
greed and contempt!
all the poppies in the world wont ever
bring back the men they have killed, how
they dare to show their faces in public!!
Green Fields of France
Well, how do you do, young William
McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your
graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer
sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly
done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only
19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you
died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and
obscene?
did you leave a wife or a sweetheart
behind
In some faithful heart is your memory
enshrined?
Although you died back in 1916,
In that faithful heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered
and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather
frame?
The sun now shines on the green fields of
France;
The warm summers breeze that makes the red
poppies dance.
and look how the sun shines from under the
clouds, there's
no gas, no barbed wire there no guns
firing now.
But here in this graveyard it is still No
Man's Land
The countless white crosses stand mute in
sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow
man.
to a whole generation who were butchered
and damned.
For young Willie McBride I can't help but
wonder, why
and all those who lie here oh why did they
died?
Did they really believe when they answered
"the call"
Did they really believe that this war
would end wars?
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory,
the shame
The killing, the dying, was all done in
vain,
For young Willie McBride, it all happened
again,
And again, and again, and again, and
again.
|
Birch
Moderator
Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 4038 Location: Bliss,
Thanks: 142
Thanked:13
Posted: 11-11-07 22:13pm
Guest, I will not disrepect your
sentiments but only add to them by
pointing out your misogynistic language.
I only do this because I know how you feel
about women already.
|
Rodge
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 905 Location: , England, UK
Thanks: 1
Thanked:0
Posted: 11-12-07 05:49am
Don't start on the Queen. She hasn't done
anything wrong.
The point of Remembrance Sunday isn't to
be proud of what we're doing. It's to
remember the people who have died, and I
can get behind that, even if I don't agree
with the current war.
The First World War was called 'the war to
end all wars' because nobody could believe
that it could ever get worse than that.
It's hard to believe now, but before 1914
war was different. And if we're sharing
favourite poems:
MCMXIV
Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;
And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;
And the countryside not caring
The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheats' restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;
Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.
-- Philip Larkin
|
marvel
Supporter
Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 1104 Location: Toronto, Ontario (but only a private message away)
Thanks: 50
Thanked:8
Posted: 11-12-07 10:55am
I take remembrance day very seriously.
It's my own personal day to remember the
sacrifices that people have made to make a
positive change in the world and those who
keep us safe. It doesn't even have to be
through full out war, necessarily.
I don't care about the people sending them
to war, that's not what the day's about.
It's about remembering those who have gone
before us regardless of the circumstances
they were sent to war in.
|
Jules
Moderator
Joined: 19 Aug 2006 Posts: 3789 Location: Merrie Englande, UK
Thanks: 85
Thanked:69
Posted: 11-12-07 11:54am
Guest, I went to a ceremony in my home
city and later watched the highlights of
the one at the Cenotaph in London. I had
to turn the telly off when it came to the
royals and the politicians laying wreaths
because it turned my stomach. I felt it
was hypocracy at its worst. Most of the
royals were in 'honorary' military dress
when they've never served a day in the
military and the politicians don't care
who dies as long as their pockets are
heavy and their houses large.
I am eternally grateful to all those that
have suffered and died to keep our
country, and many other countries, free
and I wore my poppy with pride. Bless
them all because I know I could not be so
brave.
|
sillyakchick
Moderator
Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2690
Thanks: 5
Thanked:0
Posted: 11-14-07 11:52am
The poeple who have served in any war
deserve our respect and honor. Even if I
abhor the war we are in and many in times
past, these people gave the ultimate
sacrifice, as did their families.
|
lonestarguy
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 592 Location: , Hoosierland, USA
Thanks: 10
Thanked:1
Re: Remembrance Day Posted: 11-14-07 12:21pm
Gu£st
wrote:
Well its nearly over and it
will all be forgotten for another year. I
did not don sunday best and march to the
local cenataph behind toy soldiers, nor
did I view the spectical that is broadcast
every year on screens nationwide showing
the queen and her government placeing
their popies down. I find it a blatant
disrespect to those men who died and to
the men who are today dying at the hands
of these murderers, these monsters who
celebrate their grusome attrocities by
erecting monuments to their victims and
proudly proclaim them as "our glorious
dead" and still they have not shed enough
blood, still they send men and women like
cattle off to the slaughterhouses around
the world..... why?
They make the guns and the planes and the
bombs and they hide in offices and behind
desks counting their death tolls. These
great men of power, these "leaders" where
is the nation they are so proud of, dead
in the mud, killed by their bullets, their
guns and there bombs.....are we expected
to be proud of this madness, this
carnage?
Men of vision? Men of peace? Men of lies
and deciete!! Men of murrder and malice of
greed and contempt!
all the poppies in the world wont ever
bring back the men they have killed, how
they dare to show their faces in public!!
Green Fields of France
Well, how do you do, young William
McBride,
Do you mind if I sit down here by your
graveside?
And rest for awhile in the warm summer
sun,
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly
done.
And I see by your gravestone you were only
19
When you joined the great fallen in 1916,
Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you
died clean
Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and
obscene?
did you leave a wife or a sweetheart
behind
In some faithful heart is your memory
enshrined?
Although you died back in 1916,
In that faithful heart are you forever 19?
Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,
In an old photograph, torn and tattered
and stained,
And fading to yellow in a brown leather
frame?
The sun now shines on the green fields of
France;
The warm summers breeze that makes the red
poppies dance.
and look how the sun shines from under the
clouds, there's
no gas, no barbed wire there no guns
firing now.
But here in this graveyard it is still No
Man's Land
The countless white crosses stand mute in
sand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow
man.
to a whole generation who were butchered
and blessed.
For young Willie McBride I can't help but
wonder, why
and all those who lie here oh why did they
died?
Did they really believe when they answered
"the call"
Did they really believe that this war
would end wars?
Well the sorrow, the suffering, the glory,
the shame
The killing, the dying, was all done in
vain,
For young Willie McBride, it all happened
again,
And again, and again, and again, and
again.
Guest--I can't say I disagree with your
sentiments about the administrators of
war, but read a little piece I wrote about
the people who died in defense of their
country and how they deserve our respect.
I personally think most of your posts are
off-the-wall religious crap, so maybe you
can read something worthwhile for a
change. As said above, Remembrance Day
(our Veteran's Day) is not the forum for
rants against the war leaders, but a
tribute to all those who were sent to war
and laid their lives on the line for
everyone, even you.
"This will probably be a long post. I hope
you read every word.
Sunday is Veteran's Day, where we honor
the men and women who have served our
country. I found out when I was younger
that the price of freedom is a high one.
All of us should thank every veteran who
has put his/her life in jeopardy so that
we have the freedom to say what we want
and do want we want.
There are some people that take freedom
for granted and those are the ones for
which I am writing. Freedom to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness is
not just a bunch of words. They are words
which you have to fight for. They are
words you have to sacrifice for. Many
before you have made that sacrifice. Many
have made the ultimate sacrifice.
No one wants to leave their girlfriend,
wife, children, mother, father, brother,
sister or grandparents to go to other
parts of the world and fight enemies to
our way of life. America is a great
country, where most people have a
comfortable lifestyle, but there seems to
be apathy towards veterans. They don't get
enough pay, enough support from government
and not enough help when they come home.
And some come home with medical problems
and even disabilities. As in all wars,
young men (some 18 or 19) make up the
majority of wounded and dead and they made
sacrifices unimagined by the typical
American.
Many do not agree with the
administration's policies and we are mired
in another pointless war. I am one who
does not agree. But please do not confuse
your feelings for the administrators of
war with your feelings for the soldiers
fighting that war. I was personally
involved in another unpopular war some 40
years ago and found out the depth of
hatred in people. I came back to America
and was spit upon by anti-war
demonstrators. That was a life-changing
experience and and a rude awakening.
As a result, I was reluctant to tell
anyone that I had served in the military.
But, over the years, time passed and I
came to realize that my service was
honorable and I did nothing wrong. Now, I
am proud to have served and I have had a
great life. But, I am an exception to the
usual young person who tries to return to
civilian life after serving in wartime.
When people tell you that "war is hell,"
don't believe it. War is worse than that.
War changes everyone in it because it
scares the crap out of you, every minute
of every day. Young men, full of
testosterone, go into war thinking nothing
can hurt them and they can never die.
Suddenly, they are faced with the stark
reality that they can be hurt and they
definitely can die. It's a severe
adjustment to any mortality contemplation.
Many come home more mature but they are
never the same inside and some poor souls
never recover from the shock.
When I think of Veteran's Day, I think of
my dad. He's gone now, but he was also a
veteran (WWII fighter pilot). I think of
him because he sacrificed a period of time
in his life that he was never able to get
back.
He always wanted me to go further in life
than he did. I have spent most of my life
trying to please him.
So, for this Veteran's Day, please think
of all the good things in your life and
show your patriotism. It is not a dirty
word and it will never become passe to be
patriotic. It just means you love your
country and that you support all the men
and women who have defended YOUR country
since the Revolutionary War. Fly an
American Flag or thank a veteran (maybe
one of your relatives) who served for
you."
|
Gu£st
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 20 Apr 2007 Posts: 767 Location: SUBMERGED IN TRUTH
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Posted: 11-14-07 19:19pm
Those men are best remembered by public
outcry at war leaders, those men would
recieve double honour if public out cry at
remeberance day prevented or ended just
one war. There deaths would not be invain.
|
Rodge
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 905 Location: , England, UK
Thanks: 1
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Posted: 11-14-07 21:34pm
There are at least 364 other days in the
year to yell at our glorious leaders for
being stupid. It doesn't hurt to take a
day to love the people who followed them,
whether they died or not.
|
lonestarguy
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 592 Location: , Hoosierland, USA
Thanks: 10
Thanked:1
Posted: 11-14-07 22:15pm
Agree with Rodge, you miss the point
again, regrettably, not a rare thing for
you. If you have any compassion in you,
the point of Remembrance Day will be
clear.
|
redeme
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 71 Location: australia
Posted: 11-14-07 23:24pm
i like to remember those people without a
day designed to do so. if you really
understand what those people gave for us
you would too. everytime i walk past a
memorial i look at stones of loved ones
and dead relatives from wars and battles
and dont need a day of the year to realise
what these people and others gave for us
and remember them in your own little way.
