Seeker

  Because this is Remembrance (Armistice) Day, I revisited this photo which I took in 2014, the year that saw the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. It was in the grounds of the  Hooge Crater Museum  in Flanders, Belgium. Ironmongery from WW1 left in the area of Hooge Crater near Ypres in Flanders is a poignant reminder of the waste of that war that was supposed to end all wars, but didn't. Waste of so many young men and boys, waste of horses, waste of material resources, waste of energy, destruction of farmland and woods. And what was that all for? What did WW1 achieve? And what did the Armistice and the Peace Treaty that followed achieve? The seeds of WW2 among other things. Maybe like me you struggle in the silence to make sense of it all and to crave and pray for true peace to prevail. It's always hard when it seems there are always new wars, bloodshed and violence somewhere in the world today.  I think that's way this poem speaks to me so powerfully today as...

11 November 2018 marks 100 years since the guns fell silent at the end of World War 1. Like many others I took part in a Remembrance Service and Commemoration this morning, as I have done every year since childhood. And every year it gets harder. We, the human race, are wounded by war even when it does not destroy us. We create those wounds because, in our sinfulness, we have not learned how to live in peace with each other. And it continues to be the case that war is for some a very profitable business. Sometimes it seems all we can do is to lament. The sonnet 'The Wound in Time' by the British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy was written for Remembrance Day 2018, to be read aloud on beaches around the UK and the Republic of Ireland, in recognition that most of those who served in our armed forces in WW1 and WW2 left by sea and many never returned. Those attending the beach events were asked to draw silhouettes of people in the sand at low tide, knowing those would be washed aw...

I never sing the patriotic song, 'I vow to thee my country'. When it comes to singing it at Remembrance Services, I am a conscientious objector. I keep my mouth firmly closed while others sing - at least for the first verse. I sometimes join in the second one. I have no wish to upset or offend anyone by this post. I acknowledge that many people who served or serve in military service and their families have an attachment to this anthem and find in it layers of meaning that speak to a need. Because of that, when it is sung in services, I stand out of respect for those who want to sing it. I keep silence with my eyes on the service sheet, while using *alternative words in my head.  'I vow to thee my country' is a well-known anthem in the UK and Commonwealth countries. The words are based on on original poem 'Urbs Deo' (City of God) of 1908 or 1912 by Cecil Spring-Rice . During World War 1 he served as British Ambassador to the United States. He rewrote th...

After seeing over the last few weeks many calls on social media to 'wear your poppy with pride' and noticing the extreme ideologies of some of those who promote this idea, I have to get this off my chest this 11 November:  I don't wear my poppy 'with pride'. I won't wear my poppy 'with pride'. I hope I never will wear my poppy 'with pride'. To be clear, I have no objection to wearing a remembrance poppy on on 11 November and Remembrance Sunday, or even for a few days before in this remembrance season. Every year I buy at least one poppy sold by the Royal British Legion in the good cause of supporting the armed forces community and their families. I don't object to wearing such poppies. And yes, when it is appropriate I do wear one. What I object to is the idea often promoted by far-right nationalist organisations (such as Britain First ) that I should wear my poppy 'with pride'. I don't believe I should ...

The Armistice that ended the fighting of World War 1 on the Western Front, between Germany and the Allies, came into effect at 11 am ( Paris time) on 11 th November, a date which coincidently is St Martin ’s Day. I am not posting about Armistice Day today but you can see a previous post on that theme in Armistice Day 2014.  Today I'm concentrating on St Martin. Who was  Martin ? There are several people known as St Martin. The Martin remembered today by Catholics and Anglicans is Martin, Bishop of Tours, the patron saint of beggars, soldiers and conscientious objectors. Martin was born about AD 316 in the Roman city of Savaria (now  Szombathely in Hungary ) but spent his childhood in Italy . His father was a tribune, a senior cavalry officer in the Roman army. His parents weren’t Christian but Martin was attracted to Christianity because of Christians he met. As a youth he wanted to be baptised, but was deterred because the law required he follow his...

Ironmongery from WW1 is now arranged artfully in the garden at Hooge Crater and the deep craters themselves turned into lakes in a hotel garden. I took these photos during a visit earlier this year to the Flanders battlefields of World War 1 around the Ypres Salient. There is nothing like being in a place to help understand past events. My overwhelming impressions were twofold: what a waste of resources and lives how young were those men of many nations who died in Flanders fields Tyne Cot Cemetery Langemark Cemetery part of Falls the Shadow sculpture in Passchendaele Museum 2 minutes silence is observed in many parts of the world today to mark the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the guns fell silent at the end of the 'Great War', bringing peace of a sort but certainly not an end to war or the situations and attitudes that lead to war. Sometimes the only appropriate response to such horrors is silence, then pray...

A few minutes ago I kept the traditional 2 minute silence for this day Remembrance Day/Armistice Day. The 11th hour of the 11th month of 1918 was the official end of World War 1, the 'war to end all wars'. If only it had. I haven't much that is original to say about this commemoration, but have read some excellent material written by others. As a remembrance round-up here is a taster to share with you: A thoughtful broadca st talk by Dr Sam Edwards is summarised in the BBC News Magazine and asks How should we remember a war?  He writes of how memoria ls are changing and suggests that now the last veteran of World War 1 has died the time is now right to look at that war with new eyes: "The time is right to complicate our traditions of commemoration - not as a means to denigrate or dismiss the sacrifices asked of - and given by - British soldiers, but in order to recast the prism through which these sacrifices are refracted.  For the events of 1914-18 did not j...

The last 4 minutes of the 1968 film 'Oh What a Lovely War' brings home in a particularly poignant way the tragic loss of life in World War 1.   We will remember them. We will remember them. And may our remembering be such as makes for peace.