The Divided Unity of Remembrance
On Sunday 12 November, people across the United Kingdom will pause to
remember those who have fallen in one of the few constant features of
history - WAR!
They will honour those who perished protecting liberty, but also those whose
deaths were caused by imperialism, capitalism and the pursuit of political
ambitions that would benefit the few, at an unimaginable cost to the many.
But who will remember those who had the courage not to fight, those who
were imprisoned in the harshest conditions, those who were ostracised and
handed white feathers by the jingoists – most of whom were several hundred
miles and a substantial stretch of water away from any real conflict?
Even now, one hundred and three years since the start of the First World
War, conscientious objectors gain at best grudging recognition of being
people of principle but are still, in the main, regarded as little short of traitors!
Viewed from a wider historical perspective, it should be clear that it took at
least as much courage to resist the call to arms as it did to go over the top in
a headlong rush towards carnage.
Four years of slaughter between 1914 and 1918, did not create a “land fit,
for heroes”. Nor did it advance social justice, nor even territorial gains.
The first British and Empire soldier killed in WW1 was Private John Parr (age
17) of Finchley who fell on 21 August 1914.
The last British and Empire soldier killed in WW1 was Private George Price
(age 25) of Nova Scotia who was killed two minutes before the eleventh hour
of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918.
After these four years which decimated the youth of so many countries, so
little had changed that both men – each buried less than two miles from
where he died – now lie within yards of each other in Saint Symphorien
military cemetery!
Clearly the Second World War was an entirely different sort of conflict where
civilisation peered into the abyss of a fascist nightmare
So, while honouring the dead of so many conflicts, ask yourself for what
reason, for whose cause and in whose names did they give up their lives?
Reflect on those who had the courage to say no and to face the
consequences of their decisions.
The sixth commandment does not, as I recollect, have any caveats which
sanction killing - subject to certain terms and conditions.
If no one fights, you cannot have wars!
Anon
17