Remember...

Today is set aside for remembrance & recognition of the wars that have been fought and the brave servicemen and women who serve. Not to glorify war, but to recognize it's existence and all that it means. Please also read my 2009 post: 'War & Peace".


Thanks to Bubbleman Tom Noddy for posting this:

Today, November 11, 2012, would have been Kurt Vonnegut's 90th birthday. But, what he thought was sacred was the recognition of the end of the First World War on November 11.

Armistice Day. Vonnegut was a war veteran but he didn't care much about Veterans' Day, he continued to celebrate the day by its original name ... Armistice Day. 

"When I was a boy ... all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

"It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind."

Every day, work toward Peace, Honor the dead, Respect the living. _/|\_

Honoring Those who Serve...

Like Veteran's Day (See earlier post: War and Peace ), Memorial Day is set aside to recognize and honor those who serve in the Armed Forces but it's origin is much older, beginning just after the Civil War. It specifically commemorates those have given their lives in service to the Nation.

Officially proclaimed by General John Logan, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, 1868, by placing flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states.
After World War I the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. Starting in 1971 it is celebrated across the country each year on the last Monday in May.

Many answer the call to serve their community and Country in various ways, but few of these jobs demand the sacrifice that can come with enlisting in the military or reserves. While no one wants to go to war and be killed and, while we all wish for a world at peace, for many reasons conflict continues and lives are lost. Those who put themselves in harm's way and pay that price deserve recognition and respect.

Today, and other days as well, take a moment to pause and remember these men and women.

War and Peace

Today, November 11, is Armistice Day (also known as Remembrance Day and Veteran's Day). It commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning — the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" 1918.
This date was declared a national holiday in many allied nations, to commemorate members of the armed forces who were killed during war. After World War II the name was changed to Veterans Day in the United States and to Remembrance Day in countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Armistice Day remains an official holiday in France. It is also an official holiday in Belgium, known also as the Day of Peace in the Flanders Fields.

Nobody celebrates the beginning of hostilities. But when peace is finally achieved (or, at least, the end of a given conflict), it is a cause to commemorate. And to remember.

The following poem, written by a surviving veteran of WW1, was inspired by the poppies that spontaneously grew on the disturbed soil of the battlefields. Hence the scarlet poppy came to symbolize the blood and sacrifice of those who fought and died.

Those in the Armed Forces deserve our respect. While there are many reasons for enlisting: some noble; some of necessity; some for adventure, these are the people who put their life on the line to serve our nation. While we may disagree about any given conflict, that is not the soldier's doing. Their ambition is to serve in the cause of good, not evil.

Our job is to try to make sure those are the only causes for which they are sent into harm's way. And to honor and respect those who serve on our behalf.

In Flanders Fields

By John McCrae 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

 Celebrate Peace.

Every Day - work toward Peace, honor the dead, respect the living.