The Importance Of Remembrance

 I've been thinking about this a lot since Remembrance Day on November 11. Pisces and I always make the effort to mark the day by standing for the one minute's silence at 11:00 AM (We do the same for ANZAC Day). It's not hard to remember to do this on either day because the build up is covered widely in the media. On television and radio and in print and on social media there is extensive coverage and of course there are the poppies being distributed at shopping centres. Honestly you'd have to be completely oblivious to miss it - and yet, it seems some folk are.

I got to thinking about this specifically because just at the end of the minute's silence this year - when Pisces and I had both stopped what we were doing - the phone rang. I was somewhat shocked but answered it because the strident noise broke my concentration - it's hard to focus when a loud noise is screaming at you (our phone is set to the highest tone because Pisces is somewhat deaf). The person on the other end wanted to arrange a medical appointment for Pisces and was somewhat shocked when I pointed out that we were trying observe the one minute of silence. 

It's not the first time this sort of interruption has happened but it is the first time I've made it clear this is inappropriate. If the traffic in the city can be brought to a halt for a couple of minutes while buglers play and people stop to remember the horrors of war (in the city centre all traffic lights are turned to red so this can happen) why can't businesses of all sorts do the same unless there is a safety issue? I'm always appalled that our local shopping centre doesn't at the least announce the time and play the bugle calls over the public address system. It has never happened in my experience. 

The thing is the whole event takes only about three minutes and truth be told, however busy our lives are, we can spare that amount of time. These ceremonies are important because while we've heard the old adage about those who don't know their history being bound to repeat the mistakes of the past we need to be reminded of that. This is a way to allow us to reflect on our nation's past, a way for us to remember the waste of lives that war brings and just maybe we might remember that and avoid being rushed into a similar war in the future.

In memory of John Ellis, Robert Ellis and Horace King.