My grandad and his friends never spoke about their time in World War 2 but him and many others did return converted pacifists and they refused to attend the remembrance days, saying why would they want to remember such horror.
I do understand Remembrance Sunday, i always saw it as a chilling reminder of what cruelty man is capable of and a powerful reminder of later generations of what they went through and for it to never happen again.
I refuse to watch War Films or do anything to support the military and even actively try to turn young men and women against enlisting, a counterweight against the people using war as a patriotic rallying cry to sacrifice for crown and country, to wear a poppy and even romanticise war in the many war films and TV series.
Whereas Remembrance Day was primarily to remember the veterens of the first and second World Wars, it has also become a remembrance of the awful recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wars which were started for reasons other than those stated against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the World.
As the last of the veterans from the two great wars leave us, maybe it is time to stop the remembering because it no longer seems to be about the muck and bullets, the families torn apart and the broken young minds and bodies of our grandfathers, forever haunted by what they saw and more about wallowing in old triumphs.
The warnings have not been heeded, wars continue apace and the awful death tolls go on increasing and if the people involved refused to remember it, what exactly is the point?
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