To expect one's colleagues to respect the 2 minute silence for Armistice Day

[suebfg]

...and not make a phone call in the middle of the office?

Doing something noisy/disruptive during the silence doesn't just say 'I prefer not to observe the silence' - I think it also says, 'I don't care if I make it harder for you to observe the silence or if I upset you by being noisy.' That's what I was trying to express earlier (though my idiot brain would not cooperate).

If I'm in a situation where the silence is being observed I will observe it.

But I really, really hate the idea that this is something that is compulsory.

So I think YABU.

SDTG i didn't say i would do anything noisy or disruptive. have you read my posts? i wouldn't stop working and if that required taking or making a call i would do it. but i wouldn't go out of my way to make noise!!!

Heresthething, but you said you had no problem remembering the dead and that you remember them the rest of the year round - you jut dont like being told that you have to remember them during that 2 minutes - so it seems to me that you are purposely not observing the silence to make the point that you will not be dictated to you, even though you agree with what the silence stands for. I dont really see the point.

no, i dont observe the silence because sitting at your desk or wherever at 11 oclock doesn't put me in the most reflective mood. i'd far rather be able to sit and give my full attention to it when i was relaxed and not worrying about that phone ringing off the hook or that email i have to respond to just so i can throw a token two minutes to the memory of the dead.

"I dont really see the point"
that's because i'm not making one.

DH is taking DS to rugby practice tomorrow and they'll probably observe the 2min silence, but I'll be taking DD to the cenotaph to do the remembrance day celebrations. I call them celebrations because I don't believe in mourning death, but celebrating the lives others have given for the freedom we have these days. All those live are worth celebrating IMHO.

Sorry, HeresTheThingBooyhoo - I certainly didn't mean to imply that you would make a noise or be disruptive during the silence - I was making a general point about someone who would do such a thing on purpose. I didn't think for a moment that you would do that, and I apologise if I gave that impression.

I wonder how those who think op is BU would react if someone took a call during a funeral service (important call from work maybe??so just HAD to take it)

I know its not the same thing but the sentiment is still the same ,

Oh sod it!!!
No one should have to justify why they observe the silence
Should those that don't observe it justify why they don't ...no, but they sure as hell should aknowledge and respect the fact that others are "reflecting" in the same way they would at a funeral or memorial service.

fit2drop you know that isn't comparable. a funeral is not a place of work. if someone HAD to take a call at a funeral, the onus is on them to leave the funeral. if someone wants to remember the dead in a place of work and cant do that with noise then the onus is on them to leave the place of work.

Actually Altinkum, 'Lest we forget' is from Recessional - a poem by Kipling, and the lest we forget is a reference to a line in Deuteronomy about the Israelites being brought out of Egypt by God.

The MoD would be concentrating on the military - what do you expect? The MoD are the ones who deploy the Armed Forces and draw up strategy. I expect if you looked at the DFID web page, you'd find that besides sending the military to Afghanistan we also send a lot of money in aid. The reconstruction work that is done, and the aid that is given by the docs and nurses to the native Afghan population don't always get mentioned.

Who was the 3 year old blown up inb Hlemand blown up by? Was it the British military or did he step on an IED left by insurgents, who don't care whom they kill or maim? We lose people trying to clear these IEDs for both the Afghan people and the Military personnel there.

You are politicising this: Armisitice Day and Remembrance Sunday both predate the existence of the current MoD. The government does not only help those in the Armed Forces, you as a social worker should know that.

As for out troops 'getting housing'; we don't 'get' housing. We pay rent and council tax and bills for the often substandard accommodation we have to live in, in order to be near a place of duty. Our rents aren't paid by HB, they are straight out of salary. As for the medical care, it's abit hard to pop off to the GP or a walk in centre when you're under the water for two months, or in Helmand.