Reflecting on the Meaning and Worthiness of "Sacrifices" on Remembrance Day
As the tower clock far away far far away struck 11am, and began its eleven loud chimes echoing across the city, a dead silence blanketed the elementary school next door to my dorm. The young kids, usually shouting and screaming as they run around the courtyard with their friends, stood motionless in formations with their eyes to the ground, not uttering a single word. Traffic around the school stopped, and everyone had their badges of red poppy flowers quietly flapped to the cold autumn winds. It is as if the entire community flashed back to that day in 1918 ending of the bloodiest conflict in human history.
For many, the collective mourning marking Remembrance Day is not simply a tradition or something that is normally done, but much more personal. Millions of young men, from a nation not so populous, fell in the battlefronts of France and Germany. Every person mourning may think back to a distant relative, an uncle, or even a grandfather who suffered directly from participation in the war. Nine decades later, the sentiments seem to remain strong, and the most deadly pages of her history still emotionally propel a peaceful Britain (and Europe) forward.
While the solemn nature of the Remembrance Day can be understood even by the third graders standing in their school courtyards, what is exactly genuine under that solemnness, more or less inappropriate or even taboo in the course of public debate, should be matter of greater contention. Yes, the soldiers did indeed die painfully on the battlefield, and they did indeed fight in the name of their mother countries, but the more fundamental question (and the purpose of mourning) really is: did they die in vain or truly for the benefit of their mother countries?
Surely, there is no doubt that at least someone has to think that he or she benefit from a war. Otherwise, there would absolutely be no motivation for instigating the conflict in the first place. But, there is no guarantee in reality that the beneficiaries are indeed the national interests of the participating countries and the welfare of the common citizens. The story is never as simple, straightforward, or grand as the ones portrayed in the history books, showing students the heroic sacrifices their ancestors made to ensure that they have safe, wealthy lives today.
Such doubtful cynicism against simple beliefs in heroic ideals is definitely on the rise. And stories from mass media only shake the roots of those few "true patriots" that remain. For instance, yesterday I watched the "Ides of March," a political thriller detailing the backroom deals made by politicians in the presidential campaign. The blatantly immoral actions of power bargaining, mud-slinging, and illegal sexual favors are all largely contrasted with positive images of integrity, solidarity, and honor the candidates attempt to pull off in front of TV screens.
Most importantly, those who screw up the backroom dirtiness and soil the honorable reputation projected in front of national audiences, without sympathy, are purged and silenced. Those who make mistakes suffer political deaths so that those at the top can continue to move forward. The unwritten rules of the game, essentially, teaches us that in all conflicts, no matter violent or bloodless, for some to advance their individual positions, others of lower rank tend to be sacrificed.
War, like an election campaign, is a game of individual actors using whatever available resources to get ahead at the expense of the others. Those resources can come from anywhere and in any form, from generating nationalist pro-war feelings among the ill-informed citizenry to the sweat and blood of the brave young men charging forward amid enemy fires. For secondhand observers not directly involved in the action and without access to the "confidential information," the only possible action is to have faith, in the leaders, who we can trust to also concern themselves with our interests, or in our own judgments of skepticism.
In all honesty, people do understand that at some point, for any event, a health dose of skepticism is bound to win over blind trust in the authorities. Yet, even as we cynically determine that the millions of soldiers we mourn today actually died vainly for the political benefits of few old men sitting leisurely in their luxurious offices, perhaps we are also missing half the meaning of the Remembrance Day. It is, after all, also a celebration of non-existent ideals that the otherwise optimistic third graders in a school yard can look forward to as they grow up...
For many, the collective mourning marking Remembrance Day is not simply a tradition or something that is normally done, but much more personal. Millions of young men, from a nation not so populous, fell in the battlefronts of France and Germany. Every person mourning may think back to a distant relative, an uncle, or even a grandfather who suffered directly from participation in the war. Nine decades later, the sentiments seem to remain strong, and the most deadly pages of her history still emotionally propel a peaceful Britain (and Europe) forward.
While the solemn nature of the Remembrance Day can be understood even by the third graders standing in their school courtyards, what is exactly genuine under that solemnness, more or less inappropriate or even taboo in the course of public debate, should be matter of greater contention. Yes, the soldiers did indeed die painfully on the battlefield, and they did indeed fight in the name of their mother countries, but the more fundamental question (and the purpose of mourning) really is: did they die in vain or truly for the benefit of their mother countries?
Surely, there is no doubt that at least someone has to think that he or she benefit from a war. Otherwise, there would absolutely be no motivation for instigating the conflict in the first place. But, there is no guarantee in reality that the beneficiaries are indeed the national interests of the participating countries and the welfare of the common citizens. The story is never as simple, straightforward, or grand as the ones portrayed in the history books, showing students the heroic sacrifices their ancestors made to ensure that they have safe, wealthy lives today.
Such doubtful cynicism against simple beliefs in heroic ideals is definitely on the rise. And stories from mass media only shake the roots of those few "true patriots" that remain. For instance, yesterday I watched the "Ides of March," a political thriller detailing the backroom deals made by politicians in the presidential campaign. The blatantly immoral actions of power bargaining, mud-slinging, and illegal sexual favors are all largely contrasted with positive images of integrity, solidarity, and honor the candidates attempt to pull off in front of TV screens.
Most importantly, those who screw up the backroom dirtiness and soil the honorable reputation projected in front of national audiences, without sympathy, are purged and silenced. Those who make mistakes suffer political deaths so that those at the top can continue to move forward. The unwritten rules of the game, essentially, teaches us that in all conflicts, no matter violent or bloodless, for some to advance their individual positions, others of lower rank tend to be sacrificed.
War, like an election campaign, is a game of individual actors using whatever available resources to get ahead at the expense of the others. Those resources can come from anywhere and in any form, from generating nationalist pro-war feelings among the ill-informed citizenry to the sweat and blood of the brave young men charging forward amid enemy fires. For secondhand observers not directly involved in the action and without access to the "confidential information," the only possible action is to have faith, in the leaders, who we can trust to also concern themselves with our interests, or in our own judgments of skepticism.
In all honesty, people do understand that at some point, for any event, a health dose of skepticism is bound to win over blind trust in the authorities. Yet, even as we cynically determine that the millions of soldiers we mourn today actually died vainly for the political benefits of few old men sitting leisurely in their luxurious offices, perhaps we are also missing half the meaning of the Remembrance Day. It is, after all, also a celebration of non-existent ideals that the otherwise optimistic third graders in a school yard can look forward to as they grow up...
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