Why Remembrance Day?

Another year, another Remembrance Day. Some of us wear poppies, perhaps we attend a service at a cenotaph, perhaps we go about the day with nary a thought.

Some think of it as a tribute to sacrifice, some see it as an aging tradition losing relevance each year.

In more recent years I have come to realize that it is none of that. What it is in fact, is a warning - that each of us individually ignores at our collective peril.

The ceremonies, traditions, poppies, and gatherings are all necessary, and I would argue they are only becoming increasingly necessary in recent years as we become more divisive in our western world - as we take more for granted. But the Remembrance Day traditions are by no means sufficient. It is easy to ignore, or to take comfort (perhaps for those of us that live in North America) that it hasn’t happened HERE, and so it probably won’t. That’s a severely flawed perspective, and a potentially deadly position to hold.

I argue that instead of merely wearing a poppy, there is a call here to much more. A mindset that perhaps we should strive for every day, forever…not just on November 11. A mindset that includes gratitude for all the things we cannot imagine living without, for freedom, and for responsibility (because there are no personal freedoms without personal responsibilities). A gratitude that can be easily reinforced by simply studying history. Of course, our world is not perfect by any measure. But it just so happens that we are living at the height of civilization, we have progressed further than ever. We got here not on our own, but by something greater than our natures. It was in fact built and paid for dearly over the very long term. Gratitude tells us that we have the opportunity to build on it, to continuously improve (but with struggle and strife). History tells us that destruction is easy, and quick. History also tells us that if we destroy society, what we’re left with will be hell on earth – for everyone. There is no utopia that will replace it.

I suppose it’s a paradox then that often, we are confronted by evil so pervasive, that it must be stopped in a way that requires choosing the less evil of only awful options. In those times, we see those who necessarily fight in self defense and hate every minute of it, and those who lust for the opportunity.

And so, it seems that an awareness emerges that whatever you value, and whatever you have worked for – be it your family, your community, your home, your business, people you love, your religious freedom (including the freedom to have no religion)…could all be gone in the blink of an eye. It has happened before, and with alarming speed. I argue it is happening here, right now, if you consider the ideas and attitudes behind last century’s dark times, that are perhaps more prevalent now than they were then. Anti-Semitism is rampant, and there is a lust to destroy, wipe out, silence etc. around nearly any topic you can imagine.

It occurs to me that adopting a constructive (rather than destructive) mindset to build – however you can, wherever you can is critical. Gratitude at an individual level and holding oneself individually accountable before whatever higher values or entity you believe in is also critical. These drive us to never stop trying to be better than our former selves, and this is (I think) aiming up. It is exceptionally hard. I’m in no position to set an example of success. Humans will always fail, but the desire to try anyway against ourselves is what makes us a unique species. We were born and evolved to wrestle with these things, I believe its our highest purpose.

It was said better by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained”? - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

The last part is critical, it speaks of redemption. Because without it, there is only absolute evil, and the only remedy is absolute destruction. That is an unacceptable outcome. Without redemption, there can be no learning from mistakes, no choice of understanding evil AND choosing freely not to succumb to it, no free will, no progress. Without it there can be no awareness. Anything or anyone calling for the absolute anhelation of anyone else is, by definition, pure evil.

But his words also remind us that its not up to our country, our community, or even our “group” to take up this responsibility, its up to each of us individually, and it must be done voluntarily. It cannot be mandated, as that destroys freedom of thought, learning and conscience. If this individual responsibility is abdicated, it will be at our collective peril.

“If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.” – John McCrea, In Flanders Fields

The famous poem by John McCrea says it another way. The act of resisting the atrocities of the 20th century has been passed to us, individually, to pick up, learn from and move forward, to progress and evolve, to aim up. It is perhaps the most solemn responsibility anyone can take on, as it underwrites and transcends all beliefs, creeds and freedoms. It is in every human’s best interest to struggle upward instead of de-evolve, and we must meet this on our own - we can meet it on our own, and overall we can build a better world. Our evolution over millennia bears witness to this, though it came with many awful sacrifices along the way. But McCrea also says if we don’t do this, those who died “will not sleep” – they will have lived and died in vain as will our freedoms, and we alive today will suffer unimaginably as will generations to come.

Those who do not remember (or have never learned) history, are doomed to repeat it.

Remembrance Day is a warning…one we cannot afford to ignore. Will you remember?