Today is not only Remembrance Sunday, but also Remembrance Day. It is the day to remember all those who made sacrifices in the various wars and their families.
Last night, the BBC broadcast a moving festival of Remembrance. It was neither maudlin nor bombastic but it did highlight the sacrifices that the service men and women and their families have made over the years.
I know that many read the poetry of the WWI poets on today, but I like A. E. Houseman. The last verse of his poem The Recruit says something about why Remembrance Day goes beyond the immediate families.
Leave your home behind you
Your friends by field and town
Oh, town and field will mind you
Till Ludlow tower is down.
There is an importance in memory. Today is about honouring that memory and the sacrifices the individual soldiers have made to so that we can live our lives today.
2 comments:
Yesterday I went to the Remembrance day service at my town memorial for the first time in a many years.
And found it to be as devestatingly emotional as ever.
Perhaps as writers we are more attuned to the emotions of people around us as well as events. Having worked with ex-mil people I know their frustration that conflicts such as Bosnia and Malaya are so often forgotten when their best friends lie in unmarked graves.
In today's culture, poetry and readings still have their place, and are powerful in those events.
But now we have music and TV and movies to take us to that place.
Such as this.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e71FiEwPf7A&feature=PlayList&p=4F1D642A6F9D7B46&index=17
Thank you for the timely post.
I am pleased you went to the service Ray-Anne.
Did you see the excellent programme on Wilfrid Owen?
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