Remembrance Sunday

There was a good attendance by people of all ages at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Castle Park war memorial in Whitehaven today. Although it is a gray and wet day, the rain held off for the ceremony itself.

I was pleased to see that so many people wanted to remember those who were killed in the conflicts in which this country has been involved. First, because those who  died to defend this country should be remembered. And second because the better we remember the cost of war the more likely it is that we will so arrange our affairs that we lose as few people to them as possible in the future.

I don't doubt the sincerity of those people who have made occasional attempts - the "Stop the War Coalition" were at it again this year - to promote alternative means of remembering the fallen such as the so-called white poppies.

But to me the symbolism of the nation coming together to remember the people who died in past conflicts has always held a message about the cost of war. Since I was a small boy, Remembrance Sunday has been a reminder that when a nation sends people off to fight there are sons, brothers, husbands and fathers who don't ever come home. (These days there are daughters, sisters, wives and mothers too.)

It is hardly a sectarian message, even for pacifists, or one which needs people to differentiate themselves.

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