Armistice remembrance

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

I am saddened that whilst we stood in remembrance, the traffic carried on and people seemed to ignore the time..

I think if you make a pseudo-year 10 look at me statement like "..church blah blah blah it's all meaningless" then being patronised is to be expected.

Its not very grown up, is it?

I agree about the traffic though. Crazy.

How do you know they weren't observing the silence in their vehicles?

And stopping traffic in the road is just bloody stupid.

I'm rather old. And not British,

I'm old too and spent most of my life in other countries.

I wouldn't have dreamed of dismissing any country's losses, wars or mourning rituals so crassly, whether I agreed with them or not.

It's not always possible to stop for the silence. I'm sure some will have stopped conversations with passengers. Some will be observe a silence later and some will be at Remembrance Sunday events or observe a silence on Sunday.

I think if you make a pseudo-year 10 look at me statement like "..church blah blah blah it's all meaningless" then being patronised is to be expected

I have no clue what you are talking about. year 10 of what?

I said to some people it is meaningless. Which is true. That is neither dismissive or wrong.

And Rememberance Sunday is when most people do the "rituals", not the middle of a work morning.

For many of us we have much better ways of mourning the war dead and remembering what they fought for with action, not with ostentatiously stopping traffic and hissing at people to be silent. And not doing things like voting for Brexit and throwing away the actual thing most people fought for, a united Europe to remove the prospect of more war

I work in a hospital - last year we stopped, put a radio on in every single room to radio 4 and explained to the patients that understood what we were doing. All staff from management to domestics stopped and stood in the corridor for the 2 minutes - we just timed everything around it all morning so didn't expect anything at that minute.

The ward was packed as well, we had the engineering team up for a fire bell test just minutes before and then did a cardiac call test after, as everyone was present and listening for once!

I was wearing a poppy today; I still forgot. I was in a pub, meeting with a contractor and we carried on working. It doesn't mean that I don't remember and acknowledge though. I spent a long time at several poppy stands talking to the men and asking them about their medals.

If I'd realised the time, I would have stopped today but I didn't. I remember the men and women who fought for our country on more days than just 11th November as I'm sure many do.

Standing and stopping traffic is ridiculous on a busy road and very dangerous. It's very high-handed as well. Are you going to be actively thinking of the fallen and remembering their sacrifice whilst you're furiously gesticulating to drivers, BusyBeez?

Your post was dismissive.

I'm glad I was raised to respect other cultures and not describe anything of value to the country I lived in as 'blah blah blah, all meaningless."

That's what makes you sound like a year ten in secondary school.

And I have nothing more to say as, however old you may be, your posts make you sound a bit hormonal-spoiling-for-a-fight provocative rather than making any meaningful point respectfully.

Oh god competitive remembrance rears its ugly head. "I was remembering HARDER than you" etc etc

Exactly Kipkipkip. Ridiculous.

I didn't observe the minute today because of the situation I was in at the time. I have never missed attending the ceremony at the local Cenotaph on Rememberance Sunday in my entire 52 years and will be there on Sunday. I am also a Volunteer Poppy seller. There are many different ways of showing respect.

My grandparents and my great grandparents fought in all those wars. Photos of ancestors who fought in the Boer war. Great grandfather fought the Germans in France. Grandfather fought Japanese in SE Asia and was then part of occupation forces. My dad narrowly escaped being conscripted for Vietnam. I don't 'stop to remember' because not one of them ended up thinking they fought for our freedoms -just to make very rich old men even more ridiculously wealthy. The families of those who fought, and those who refused to, were decidedly worse off after the wars with mental health issues to boot. Issues that their grandkids still bear. I remember them everyday - not on some token date manned by sick fuckers who never fight (or only in some very reduced capacity) who would only too happily send us all again.

I haven't been in the UK long, and the last 2 years was back home in Ireland on the day. I honestly didn't know I was expected to observe 2 mins silence at 11am and was walking through a courtyard in London very confused at why there were several people standing to attention. I am quite happy to observe the tradition though.

I however was not happy to be asked by a colleague if I forgot to wear my poppy- rude I thought (second time this week she asked).

No-one is expected to observe the silence, no laws have been passed to demand everyone stop and remember. If people want to observe the silence they are welcome to do so. Those that don't doesn't mean they have any less respect for any of the people involved in any of the conflicts anywhere in the world.

Similarly, wearing poppies doesn't mean you're showing respect any more than someone who doesn't wear a poppy. What it does mean is that you have contributed to the Royal British Legion who support the living that have returned from conflicts who need greater or lesser support. Equally somone not displaying a poppy could also have donated, but has chosen not to display their Poppy.

We all remember and support in different ways. Please remember that and don't judge others.

Stopping on the 11th is not a modern thing. It is the recreation of a much older thing. After the war, remembrance was always the 11th, not the Sunday. That died out and is now being brought back.

I'm glad I was raised to respect other cultures and not describe anything of value to the country I lived in as 'blah blah blah, all meaningless

You do understand that this forum is not just for British people in Britain, don't you?

After the war, remembrance was always the 11th, not the Sunday. That died out and is now being brought back

No, it was officially moved to the nearest Sunday in 1939.

Remembrance Sunday is the day we have a 2 minute silence.

www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/how-we-remember/remembrance-sunday/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Sunday

(Hopefully the BNP wont be there to put a wreath on the Cenotaph this year.)

The drivers could have been tuned to Radio 4 with the 2 mins silence and be remembering even though they were still having to keep driving.

It's about being flexible and adaptable, life isn't perfect. People can still be respectful even while earning their living. That freedom is what all those heroic people sacrificed their lives for.

User the first war which was remembered in this way ended in 1918, so my comment stands.

Jelli

Both days

www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/how-we-remember/two-minute-silence/

I don't observe the silence because I choose not to. I am well within my rights to not engage, and i will not. I carried on working while the others (children in my class and the teacher teaching them at the time) observed the silence. If anyone had asked me to explain my position, I happily would have but no one did. Competitive remembrance is ridiculous and I refuse to carry on with the "our brave boys/heroes" mentality which is damaging in so many ways. Also, if anyone had tried to stop by car I would simply have reported them to the police for disruption. I bet they would side with me rather than them.

And not doing things like voting for Brexit and throwing away the actual thing most people fought for, a united Europe to remove the prospect of more war hmm I don't think they were fighting for a united Europe, and they were realistic that there would be more war. Quite how you think the EU would prevent war is beyond me; that's what NATO does and has done since 1949.

No, it was officially moved to the nearest Sunday in 1939. Depends where you are. Yesterday was a public holiday where I live and is when Armistice Day is remembered.

Bless you, do you not understand what NATO is or how it came about?

If you are not going to observe/disagree with a silence in a room of pupils and their teacher who are all doing so, then you should step outside for two minutes.
Making noise in a room when people are observing a silence is completely disrespectful to them, irrespective of what you think of the war dead.