Armistice remembrance

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

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

Is it me or have people got more forceful about Armistice Day recently?

I always thought it was about private, somber contemplation on the horror of war. Now it seems to be competitive and glitzy. Some of the poppies are beautiful but I think they are slightly beautifying that which should be stark - 18 million lying dead, trench foot, rats, gangrene.

It's weird this has happened after the last of the WW1 soldiers have died.

I think we should respect the choices of others. People do their remembering in their own ways. We should not dictate what others do. The whole point of WW2 was in defence of freedom - that includes the freedom to remember in one's own way.

The recent pressure on people in the media (and others) to wear a poppy has become oppressive in itself, which is somewhat ironic.

#aintnothinbutagstring, bit of a bold statement about the RBL, what's your source for it? Not being antagonistic, just interested.

Well, the war dead gave you right to choose not to observe the silence. I too judge you.

It makes me sad that people don't get the concept that millions of people gave their lives in war and that people choose to have so little respect for the sacrifice they made. Utterly selfish.

'Lest we forget.' I think that in these times, more than ever, when our children see news about the atrocities in Syria and the like and can't understand why we can't just 'sort it out'...we have great freedom and we have that freedom at a great and ever unfathomable price. As each generation gets further and further from war times, it becomes harder to feel in any tangible way the sacrifice that our fallen made to secure the freedom we enjoy today and to protect the vulnerable nations who were being overtaken by Hitler's regime.

I'll tell my DDs about the wars, just as I've shown them pictures of the World Trade Centre - they need to understand that good people stand up to terrible acts and sacrifice themselves for the good of others.

Having said that, I agree completely that the greatest freedom is that to make your own decisions.

This thread makes me sad and happy in equal measure. ghost hope you're entirely satisfied with the experience you gave your class. Did they have any questions for you afterwards?

lougle that sounds amazing.

We have to remember everyone. Like the 20 million + soviets who died.
Twenty. Million. Military, civilian, men, women and children.
Imagine one in three people in the U.K. Unimaginable numbers.

But each to their own. Carry on marking jotters or writing posts on MN.

it is bigger today due to the centenary.

I was in the Sainsbury's café. They announced the 2 minutes silence, most people observed it but one couple talked throughout. I had an irrational rage listening to them. They were English and old enough for their parents to have fought in the second world war.

I'm pro choice. This year I used the silence to reflect on how far back we have gone globally towards fascism and racism and how close to ww3. Of course I also remembered those who lost their lives on all sides.

It's ridiculous to suggest traffic is stopped. One year I drove through the 2 minutes silence as my ds had just had an accident and I was crying and rising to a and e. Also you have to understand that not all understand the silence. Last year I was stood in debenhams when it was being observed. A group of Chinese tourists came up the escalators exited and chatty unaware of the silence. A few elderly couples broke their silence to start anl verbal attack on the tourists which I found very sad. I mean people died for freedom ffs. Live and let live.

TheLambShankRedemption

Well, the war dead gave you right to choose not to observe the silence. I too judge you

It makes me sad that people don't get the concept that millions of people gave their lives in war and that people choose to have so little respect for the sacrifice they made. Utterly selfish.

Please quote where on this thread people have shown that they "don't get the concept"

I personally judge competitive showiness and cheap one-upmanship.

This puts me in the mind of Soviet celebrations. At the end of speeches people would stand up and clap. For ages. Until their hands hurt. Because nobody wanted to be the first one to stop clapping - they could be seen as not eager enough or, ahem, enemies of the people. Of course the consequences of that could be serious... But I don't like the idea that during remembrance there are people focusing on what others are doing and choking in their judgey pants! Remembrance is not about that!

It isn't always possible to take part in a joined 2 minute silence, on Friday at 11 I had a patient too young to understand, who needed my attention during those minutes. But it does not stop me from reflecting and marking the time in another way. This morning I have been looking at photographs that we took when visiting my great uncles grave in a beautifully kept war cemetery in Germany. I have shed tears for this man who I never knew, who gave up his all for all of us.

To the pp above who asks why we it seems this marking of time is becoming more marked IMO it is because those lived through this are no longer here. When my grandfather and his brother died in their late 90s a few years ago it really hit home the sacrifice that my deceased great uncle made.

For me it does feel significant this loss of living memory.

Lest we forget.

I never observe the silence. It doesn't meaning anything to me. I was in a cafe and everyone carried on as normal. Never wear a poppy either. Expecting traffic to stop,- Waaf!!
Not everyone thinks like you. Also, there are many people on here who are not from the UK.

Nope genvon because they didn't notice. If I knew they'd have noticed I'd have maybe gone elsewhere but I knew they wouldn't (note: remained silent). However, I wouldn't have been embarrassed to have been seen because I know my reasons and am more well informed than many people who do this "because we always have" without any question. I wouldn't have had that conversation with the kids, but would have with the teacher.

You can think I'm selfish, no skin off my nose. I won't engage with an event engineered by the government to continue to generate approval for their current military actions. Spare the lives of millions more people (military and civilians) by showing your discontent and disapproval.

I respect anyones right to observe the silence or not, that is their concern. What really really fucks me off is the people who search for the blingiest poppy they can find, as a fashion statement and then talk through the silence. If you can be arsed to spend £15 on a poppy, you can stop wittering for 2 minutes FFS. It makes a mockery of the whole thing. A poppy is not a fashoin statement. Sorry for ranting.

For the first time on the eleventh I was in the Chair at the magistrates' court. The clerk said that it was the usual practice for us all to leave the court, and I said No, we would observe it in court and she said It's up to you in the tone of voice that means but you should not.

At 10.55 I said that at eleven o'clock we would be observing the two minutes' silence and at the precise moment I interrupted the prosecutor with All stand please which everyone did - the lowlife in the dock with a long string of convictions included. All stock still.

And at two minutes past I read the words of Laurence Binyon, and thanked all present, and we sat down and the work went on.

And I think I was right and the clerk was wrong.

I've just heard the parade come down from church to the War Memorial so will pop out shortly and join them.

I will be remembering my three relatives who died fighting for Germany in Russia, all young men who had no other option after their country was taken over, as well as my Scottish relatives who were lost in the merchant navy.

When I visit the Western Front I make a point of going to a German cemetery to remember my relations killed in the East fighting for Austria-Hungary. I find a Jewish grave and put a pebble on it, that being the custom.

It is to the honour of the Germans that during the Second World War they respected the Allied cemeteries from 1914-18. And so far as I know they left alone the Jewish graves from their own cemeteries which are marked by a stone instead of a cross.

The two minute silence is meaningless if you force people to do it by stopping cars etc. Perhaps it's just not talked about in some families, or in schools, so sadly many do not give much (or any) thought to it. I lived in Turkey for some time, and was amazed that every year, on 10 November, at 9.05am precisely, EVERYTHING stops for two minutes, in remembrance of when Ataturk died. Sirens blare, and everyone just stops - cars, trams, buses, and it's quite a moving sight. They don't have to, but they learn about it from being children, and I never met anyone who didn't care about it.

I think just because people accidentally miss 11 o'clock, doesn't mean that they don't have meaningful thoughts at a different time. It's very easy to forget what time it is.

A few years ago I worked in a care home and I'd been rushing about - I just didn't realise it was 11 o clock! A resident with dementia was sat talking to herself (she didn't realise either) and I sat and spoke with her, completely not realising why I was getting funny looks off visitors. I was so embarrassed, but it was a genuine mistake, and it does happen.

Is it me or have people got more forceful about Armistice Day recently?

Jingoism and insane patriotism is the order of the year, isn't it? "I'm more British than you, I'm better at this than you, I judge you..."

Not really what freedom is about, is it?

And millions didn't give their lives in sacrifice, they were taken and thrown away, most of them for nothing.

I talked through the 11am silence on Friday - I was in a cafe with a group and none of us realised the time until a man came over and shouted at us. I felt bad but I also knew I was attending a service plus the town centre procession today where I did the silence. Maybe people you saw today observed the silence on Friday, you simply cannot know so why judge?

I was in a cafe too mother and everyone was talking/ carrying on as normal if anyone had shouted at me I'd would have told them to fuck right off.

If you're going to stop what you're doing and be silent to remember the war dead, then at least spend that time remembering the war dead rather that looking about for people to inwardly tut at and judge for not appearing to do so. For all you know, their inner thoughts may be entirely more appropriate than spending that time getting riled up, pointing out the time to people, or standing in front of traffic.

And millions didn't give their lives in sarcrifice, they were taken and thrown away, most of them for nothing

Absoloutely. They were nothing but cannon fodder. Utterly dispensible. Their loss of life changed Absoloutly nothing.

Its quite depressing and chilling that people can't plan in advance to simply stop for 2 minutes. TWO minutes, that is all! If you stop "doing" the world won't end

Im not British either but Im mindful of those who fought for this country and if they didn't I likely wouldn't be here and living a lifestyle I like, actually. So Im perfectly happy to stop downloading into my brain for a couple of minutes in rememberance, and Im mindful that allies from around the world fought in this war too

I never, ever want to be so busy in my life that stopping for 2 minutes would be impossible, the thought makes me shudder