Remember Remembrance Sunday

unclejimbo1983

Just to add my tuppenceworth:

I've found the tone of the "marketing" around the event has changed over recent years, rather than the event itself. The posters and billboards around London (and I assume other towns and cities) seem to very much take the tone "why aren't you wearing a poppy yet?" rather than "this is an opportunity to pay your respects". I don't like being nagged into making a gesture, as I feel it weakens the power of it when I do wear a poppy, which I was going to buy anyway, just not in early October!

Having said that, I wonder if perhaps people's views are becoming entrenched by the fact that a great deal of people don't seem to give a damn. I didn't attend the service outside St Mary's in Putney, as I'm an atheist and prefer to observe the silence alone with my thoughts. But I live nearby and was pretty disgusted by the way motorists behaved during the silence. People were dumping the clutch like they were in a race as soon as the marching band and Scouts etc were out of the road. One person even beeped their horn when another driver was slow away from the lights right in the middle of the silence itself.

The people disrupting the silence are (IMO) not making any political or ideological point, they are just careless and rather callous. They're the very people that would benefit from a few moments of quiet contemplation on the sacrifices of others, whereas the people who recognise the day but choose not to attend a service have at least thought about what the day means, which is more in the spirit of remembrance.

GiantMike

bianchimoon wrote:

And to say you can separate war/loss of life from politics is music to the ears of those that cause wars.

You can't separate them in a political context, but one can respectfully remember the dead without knee-jerking into a debate about the rights or wrongs of all war or a particular war. Well, I can anyway.

reformedfatty

Reliably informed that I unknowningly tick-tocked off the parade yesterday past the assembled public and dignitaries who politely clapped us and did not laugh at me... :oops:

confused@BR

When I was younger and most of the surviving soldiery from the Second World War were still alive, Remembrance Sunday was much more about the Armed Forces. People did not feel any need to be lectured on the appropriate response. Furthermore, the political leaders of every persuasion, had direct experience of military service when young men.

Frank the tank

It's the society we live in.

If people choose not to participate in the service of remembance that's their choice, doesn't mean they're bad people. I (as stated) didn't however I've always shown respect (in my way) by observing the silence.

At one time, when a funeral passed by people would stand and bow their heads, that no longer happens. people had more sense of community not so much now.Sundays were a day of rest, not anymore, religious festivals were treated as such, as holidays/celebrations no longer.

Society has changed, and, continues to. Not always for the better though.

GiantMike

^^^^

There is less sense of community because there are fewer 'communities'. There are groups of people living near eachother, but fewer actual communities. This started when they invented mechanised transport and people moved into neighbouring villages, and then into the big smoke to work in the sweatshops, exploited by the growing Industrial Revolution to work for tiny wages in terrible conditions. Families often lived in a single room with several families in a house without proper sanitary facilities. Or maybe you worked as a maid in a middle-class house, working 17 hours a day and getting almost no time off, living in a dingy room.

Before we hark back to the good old days we need to remember what they were actually like for the majority of people. Sundays were a day of rest because you worked the other 6 in a poorly-lit coalmine and you actually needed a rest. Religious festivals were celebrated because it was another day off. Not all families got paid holidays.

Anyway, back to Remembrance Sunday. If I trod on a landmine the last thing that I'd be thinking about was whether 'Big Dave' stopped playing football for 2 minutes once a year to remember me. That's Dave's choice and the advantage of living in a modern democracy. If Dave has made a decision to either remember or not remember, that's his free choice.

zippy483

Maybe a word on the subject and maybe a day or two late But

Those men and women died so that we may have the choice to respet the silence, wear a poppy etc or not to do so as we so choose.

I for one have attended a remembrance parade every year bar two since I was 5 and will continue to do so until the day I curl up my toes, I would also defend with my life the right for people not to do so should that be their wish

Zippy483

Frank the tank

GiantMike wrote:

^^^^

There is less sense of community because there are fewer 'communities'. There are groups of people living near eachother, but fewer actual communities. This started when they invented mechanised transport and people moved into neighbouring villages, and then into the big smoke to work in the sweatshops, exploited by the growing Industrial Revolution to work for tiny wages in terrible conditions. Families often lived in a single room with several families in a house without proper sanitary facilities. Or maybe you worked as a maid in a middle-class house, working 17 hours a day and getting almost no time off, living in a dingy room.

Before we hark back to the good old days we need to remember what they were actually like for the majority of people. Sundays were a day of rest because you worked the other 6 in a poorly-lit coalmine and you actually needed a rest. Religious festivals were celebrated because it was another day off. Not all families got paid holidays.

Anyway, back to Remembrance Sunday. If I trod on a landmine the last thing that I'd be thinking about was whether 'Big Dave' stopped playing football for 2 minutes once a year to remember me. That's Dave's choice and the advantage of living in a modern democracy. If Dave has made a decision to either remember or not remember, that's his free choice.

I wasn't harking back to "the good ol' days" with rose tinted glasses I was just saying society has changed and morals too.
I personally always buy a poppy and have raised money for help for hero's. I've never attended a remembrance day ceremony but I've always observed the silence. That's just me,but, I do think it's a ceremony that should be performed annually.