Just A Thought

This week has been one of remembrance for many. For Americans a historic period came to an end on the 9th November and Veterans Day took place on the 11th. On the same day in Britain and the commonwealth Armistice Day occurred with Remembrance Sunday following today. At the time of writing, I’ve also heard that New Zealand has had a powerful earthquake with a Tsunami to follow.

Based on the theme of ‘Rethink Remembrance’ by the Royal British Legion this year, here are some thoughts for this week.

In today’s busy world it’s easy to pass things by that are happening around us, only to stop and remember when big events happen. It’s interesting though that as the years go on it’s easier for many people to ‘forget’ or to not understand the importance of stopping and taking time to think. It’s easy to think disasters happen all the time and to remember everybody’s incidents would mean stopping everyday. That may be the case in a multicultural society with different historical disasters both national and close to home, but does size matter?

Before you answer, take time to think on what I mean by size – it could be a family member that went to war. It wasn’t a world war, but fighting nonetheless and they never made it back. If that was your family member, it would be a huge deal to you so take that time to remember. For others it may have been a different war than battles and conflict and may be a loved one fighting for their life over disease. Whatever the case when it’s close to home it definitely hurts more.

With the bigger events, to some it might on face value not seem as big a deal if they weren’t directly affected (e.g: If their family wasn’t in service or part of an incident, or if they were it was several generations up). However these are just the same as if you lost your loved one, for many people across the world, or may still be alive and struggling now – be it in action or in hospital or even after a situation and feeling the after effects of disease, service or a disaster.

Whatever the situation, use this Sunday to respect those that have fought well, to protect themselves, to protect us and to protect each other, much in same way you might hope be remembered for safeguarding your own future.

For Brits, whether you’re a supporter of our current defence force activities or not, these men and women gave their lives for us in both world wars and in more recent conflicts to help keep us safe and to keep us where we are today both in other countries and close to home. So whether you took your 2 minutes on the 11th (which I sadly missed in resolving an incident), today at 11 (which I didn’t) or both, or even in your own time – remember those who were there for us long before we even knew it.

In addition to remembering, where you can, reach out to those in need either through donation, though physical or verbal support or to just let them know that you’re there.

For those outside of Britain with your own days of memorial and honour, remember those that have kept you and are keeping you here today and spare just a thought and rethink remembrance for those in conflict or struggle right now or grieving battles of all shapes and sizes from the past and present when you see them and you’ll soon find that all of our battles matter just as much.

Happy Sunday all and Never Forget.

'Remembrance Day' by Petr Kratochvil. Used under Public Domain

‘Remembrance Day’ by Petr Kratochvil. Used under Public Domain

Mike