November 11---Remembrance day!

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   Zsuzsy Beeposted 15 years ago

   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
   
                       by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
   
   This poem is universal - the fear that our war-dead will be forgotten
   and that their death will have been in vain.
   
                       Remembrance Day November 11
   
   
   
                       Lest we forget!

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      Mark Knowlesposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you ZB.
      
      Looks like all the nationalists missed the meaning behind the poem though. Just as many dead on the losing as the winning side. And almost indistinguishable........
      
      The poppies in Flanders are beautiful. What a shame so many had to die for political gain in yet another wasteful war that takes so many lives to ensure the small percentage at the top, stay at the top.
      
      Like freeing the Afghan people. Nothing to do with money or oil or gas pipe lines. No sir - Freedom. If you live in a country that consumes five times as much of the world's resources as any other country - thank a politician. Right/left - makes no odds. All the same... Sheeple. 

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2. 68

   Hope Wilbanksposted 15 years ago

   Thank you, Zsuzsy! My husband is on his second deployment right now. I am sad to say that I fear the generations coming up now have very little respect for our veterans and have lost all sense of patriotism to one's country. May we never forget...

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   E. Nicolsonposted 15 years ago

   Amen -- may we never forget. Prayers are with you, Hope. I can relate -- have a son over there right now.

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   Pearldiverposted 15 years ago

   Well Done Zsuzsy
   The futility of war was also demonstrated on Christmas Day 1914, when the soldiers from both sides celebrated Christmas together between the trenches. And on Boxing Day, Politics demanded that they start killing eachother again.
   
   The world lost almost an entire generation to the madness.
   
   - 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month 1918
   
   - End of WW1 and Remembrance Day.
   
   And for me - it was yesterday (it's 12th now).

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   Ron Montgomeryposted 15 years ago

   “It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one and 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.
   
   “Armistice Day has become Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not.
   
   “So I will throw Veterans’ Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don’t want to throw away any sacred things.”
   
   An outspoken humanist and anti-war activist, Vonnegut spent much of his life trying to appeal to the better parts of our nature. Like so many other 20th century occurrences, the establishment of Veterans Day disappointed him. A holiday dedicated to peace and those who fought in the “War to End All Wars” was replaced by a holiday to honor a continually growing population of war veterans. The name ‘Veterans Day’ itself suggests that we will always have living war veterans to honor -- that war will never be eradicated.
   
   On Veterans Day 2009, we find ourselves at war again.
   
   Full article

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      C.J. Wrightposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Sounds like he just didn't get it. The point of changing the holiday was so that it celebrated all Veterans, not just those who served in WW1. Veterans day is not specifically targeted towards "WAR" Veterans, but towards all those who have served.

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   Dame Scribeposted 15 years ago

   Prayers to our Troops, families, and you. Safe Remembrance Day. God Bless

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   rebekahELLEposted 15 years ago

   thank you for this thread, and especially for the poem. so beautiful.
   
   my father served in WWll and used to tell us stories about his service to our country, one of the stories that stands out the most is the battle of Guadalcanal. He said it was scary, but you didn't think about being afraid, you thought about keeping your men alive, and he didn't lose one man. sometimes when he talked about it, I could tell he was reliving it in his mind. He would lower his head and soften his voice. One line I always remember was, 'war is hell, but sometimes it's necessary.'
   
   He was a proud veteran throughout his life and now his army trunk sits next to my chair in the family room.
   
   Blessings to all who have served our country.

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   Luciendaskyposted 15 years ago

   Both of my grandfathers are veterans... and it is nice to have a day to remember them... especially after one has passed...
   
   thank you for starting this thread in honor of the brave men and women who serve this, and other countries

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   Denno66posted 15 years ago

   God bless all those that served and are serving this great nation.

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    Jane@CMposted 15 years ago

    Bless all the serve our nation.

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    prettydarkhorseposted 15 years ago

    In remembrance to those who fight valiantly so that this country can uphold democracy, lest we not forget them and what they DID...
    
    BEAUTIFUL poem!!!

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    Lisa HWposted 15 years ago

    I don't have any particular preference between "Armistice Day" and "Veteran's Day".  I don't think "Veteran's Day" implies that there will always be an ever-increasing "supply" of veterans to honor (as suggested above).  (I do think that, realistically, there will always be some kind of "on-the-ready" defense system in place, because nobody ever knows for sure that the whole world will always be nothing but peaceful; but whether or not there will always be wars to fight is a different thing.)
    
    I don't see a day set aside to honor veterans as saying anything about the future at all.  It's about people who have already given up major chunks of their own lives, and people who gave up their whole life, in order to serve their country.  We used to celebrate Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays separately; not because those days implied there would be yet more first presidents or presidents in office when the Civil War took place, or when slavery would end; but because of their unique contributions.
    
    My father was a World War II veteran.  I had an uncle who was a veteran.  My mother's first young husband was killed in World War II.  People considered enemies at that that time, and anyone who wanted Hitler and his bunch to take over, wouldn't think there should be a day to honor US veterans; but people who stop and think about veterans like those young men who gave, and or risked, their lives in order to defeat Hitler and his "lovely" aims usually don't see having a day to remember them as a problem.  The Korean war is one few talk about at all, so anybody involved in that can just feel completely forgotten.  Then there were thousands and thousands of young men drafted into the Viet Nam, with no choice and at the mercy of the government.  Whether veterans were drafted or signed up in the belief that defending the country and freedom are worthy reasons to give up a life (or for that matter, if they signed up for the education, thought they'd end up with a desk job in the US, and ended up in Iraq), I think their sacrifice is worth honoring and - yes - naming, "Veteran's Day".  Celebrating one end to one war is one thing, but that would have left all those other sacrifices left either unacknowledged or to be honored on yet a separate day.  Veterans Day doesn't celebrate war.  It honors the sacrifices of people who either felt they had no choice, or had no choice, but to defend their own country or freedom or help someone else defend theirs.
    
    One day there may be a world without war, or at least a world where countries can defend themselves from attack with robots and technological equipment.  That will never change the fact that veterans can never be given back whatever they lost.  (Where the hell would Europe and the rest of the world be today if it weren't for those veterans who fought to put an end to what was going on?)
    
    Veterans Day doesn't honor war, and it doesn't mean there can never be world peace.  All it means is that those people who have given so much  haven't been forgotten by the people who have been beneficiaries of their sacrifices, the people who didn't have to go to war themselves because someone else was willing or forced to go, or even the people (which is most, I'd guess) who truly hope there will be complete peace in the world one day.
    
    
    
                       

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    manlypoetrymanposted 15 years ago

    To All that have served and for all those serving. Thank You for all that you have done for our Country. Signed: from a family of a Fallen Brave Marine.

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    Crazdwriterposted 15 years ago

    Thank you to all who hav served in the past, who serves now, and those who will serve in the future. Stand prooud for what you do. You have my complete support. Love from a Proud Navy Wife!

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    chantelg4posted 15 years ago

    I posted this in another thread, but this is a great song that my friend wrote for those of you who are interested. It's about a little girl who's daddy is leaving for service and not understanding why he would serve complete strangers. It's really touching, they did a fantastic job putting this song together. It's only up today. Give it a listen.
    
    http://www.mediafire.com/?nyijtnjydej

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    Madame Xposted 15 years ago

    

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    Patty Inglish, MSposted 15 years ago

    Thanks for the poem, Zsuzy! I had a great uncle I never met - Great Uncle Frank. He died in Europe with the military during WWII. I don't even know his last name, but I remember him today.

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