Today is Veteran’s Day, commemorating the armistace that ended the fighting in World War I nearly ninety 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.
Read more about the writing of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” and reflect on the meaning of Veteran’s Day. Let me quote one of the last century’s greatest philosophers, Linus Van Pelt: “What have we learned, Charlie Brown?”
What have we learned?
Over here it is Remembrance Day (with Remembrance Sunday on the nearest Sunday to it) and it is for the fallen of all wars. The Royal British Legion’s campaign this year included an advert featuring a woman whose husband died in Iraq in 2003 and their daughter, and a man who was disabled in the 1990 Gulf War, as well as the WW1 and WW2 veterans. Is the American Veteran’s Day similar?