What do you think about during the minutes silence?

[NCTDN]

I mean, honestly. I stood there thinking 'what should I be thinking about? I know I'll ask mn'.
But should I actually be thinking about something specific?

Oh @GetTheGoodLookingGuy that truly heartbreaking.

I think about my great uncles who died in the Second World War, my other great uncle who was a Japanese prisoner of war and survived. Both grandfathers who served and a myriad of cousins and friends, some who are no longer here and some who made it out the other side. Some ok, some still struggling.

I like to take the minute and thank them for their service and to reflect on their memories.

*This morning I thought about all the Syrian refugee children we have at the school I work at, naming them all in my head and marvelling at their strength and ability to come to school and just be normal after everything they've seen and been through.

I hoped they'd all be okay when we have a fire drill this week (last year one of them hid under a table sobbing "The planes are coming!" when the fire bell went off).*

Bloody hell. 😢

I'd like to properly think about those who served but usually I'm trying to make sure a load of beavers and cubs behave or I'm helping them dip the flags without causing devastating head injuries to anyone. Today I was supporting some of the weight of 2 flags the kids were holding and half way through the silence one of them let go completely so I had my hand half way along the pole and was trying to keep it horizontal. Fun times.

I think about everyone who has suffered through war and the evil that has been commited. I also wonder how any one could nowadays encourage their child to go to war.

This year during the silence I was being kicked by my unborn son, and I thought about all those other mothers’ sons and tried very hard not to cry.

I think about the two WW, the sacrifices, how uncomfortable and frightening it must have been, how brave they were, how I would feel as a mother if I had a DS who was called up, how grateful I am that we live with the freedom we do and how it all could have been so different like right now, today, if those people hadn't made the efforts and sacrifices that they did, and people in the forces currently making the effort and sacrifice to continue protecting us. Literally that's what I think about. It's not hard to spare 60 seconds thinking about that.

My Gran who was a WAAF plotter and also why just why

@Paraballa my grandad also went to Burma and never ever spoke about it. I'm glad other people's minds wander, I try really hard to focus and be grateful but do get easily distracted

Having been to the Normandy beaches, cemeteries etc, I find so much of it overwhelming and struggle to hold it together if I think too deeply.

All those young lads. Some of them only a few years older than DS1. And then I think of my three sons, and how young you could be to sign up, and that actually none of mine are really far off that age.
And all the mothers whose sons never came home.

@Lalallama your thoughts are mine too.

Today I was at a parade in a nearby town. During the silence I could hear a baby chattering, ducks quacking, magpies and seagulls screeching at each other and the river flowing over a wier.

I felt grateful to those who gave their lives so that we have the freedom to be quiet and listen to the world around us.

I hink about my great-uncles who were killed at Gallipoli, and my other great-uncles who were killed in the Irish war of independence.

I wonder if our dimwit vicar actually thinks God had a hand in the world wars, or whether war is one of the many things Anglicanism handwaves away with some platitudes about free will.

I think about why it is that it is primarily under-privileged young men from areas with few employment opportunities who are recruited into the army and put in the firing line.

I hope my seven year old doesn’t start tap dancing or drop the wreath.

Occasionally I wonder about how difficult it must be to play The Last Post.

I look at the list of names and try to imagine how terrified they must have been. Just try to imagine a single day or week at the Somme it Pashendale, being in a Wellington or being forced to march and work on the railway or live daily knowing there is an IUD waiting for you. It's beyond belief that we sent off two generations of young men to try and stay alive long enough to come home. It's beyond belief we still haven't learnt our lessons.

All of my dgps who were early 20s when ww2 began and wonder how it changed / affected them
But yes some less thoughts too
oh has it started. The vicars sermon was over a bit quick so there was an awkward silence of has it started for 2 mins then the bells rang for 11am then the silence officially started
Today was please ddog you've been amazing today please don't start barking
The kids in front are doing great in this service but I can sense them getting tetchy
That guy in the naval uniform to my right is rather attractive wonder if he's single

I thought about all the innocent children killed - and still being killed - during conflicts they have absolutely nothing to do with. And I kissed my baby daughter and prayed she'd grow up in a better, kinder world.

I was trying to keep a bunch of beavers and cubs quiet.
I don’t know anyone who went to war, my family are all farmers going back generations and they all stayed home to grow food, farmers weren’t allowed to enlist.

I think about my relatives who died, my relatives who killed, but most of all I think of the civilians we're killing right now in our proxy wars for oil.

I mean, honestly. I stood there thinking 'what should I be thinking about? I know I'll ask mn'. But should I actually be thinking about something specific?blush

You really don't know what Armistice Day is all about and why there's 1 or 2 minutes' silence OP? Have you been living under a rock, or did you think it would sound 'clever' . Maybe spend a while looking it up then you'd have more than enough to think about.

Yesterday I thought of what was going through my brother’s mind as he held his 2 minute silence. He did 2 tours in Afghanistan and lost a comerade.

Daisychain if you rtft you'll see what I've put. I'm not the only one who's mind wanders you know.

Nothing, I was napping on the couch

I always start by thinking of the loss of life, how terrible it is that there are jobs where you might have to kill others to defend the rest of us.

Especially the young and not so young who went off thinking how glorious it would be to die for their country. And were slaughtered, lions led by donkeys.

My thoughts often include those that return and end up relying on charity, however grateful that charity is in acknowledging the sacrifices.

Why do so many ex-service personnel end up on the streets, homeless?

I think of the rows and rows of white crosses in the many commonwealth War Graves I have visited.

And then I was praying that DS1 doesn't join the army because he might and it's always been a massive fear of mine.

Me too.
I’m ex-Army, my DH is currently still serving. We’ve both deployed to various operational theatres, both experienced our fair share of shite, and the idea of one of my babies choosing the same career path makes me feel sick to the pit of my stomach. Which is incredibly hypocritical of me, because I know my mum felt the exact same way when I strolled through the door at 16 with my application forms thrust at her and just casually said “oi mum, sign that for me please”