One Hundred and First Armistice Day

One Hundred and First Armistice Day

Today is November Eleventh, Two Thousand Nineteen. It is the one hundred and first anniversary of the end of World War One. World War One was a truly pointless war. It was fought over nothing, accomplished nothing, and left millions dead, wounded, or broken.

After World War One, the poppies that grew in the fields where the war was fought on the Western Front came to be embraced as a symbol of mourning for the soldiers. The beautiful red poppies grew in spite of the warfare, and flourished in the middle of the fighting. Because of this, they came to be used as a symbol of remembrance. As time passed, the meaning of the red poppy expanded to represent the remembrance of those killed, wounded, or traumatized in any and all modern wars. Today, I want to post some images of poppies as something to meditate on. I have also included some lyrics from Sabaton, a band that, while most famous for emphasizing the heroic aspects of war, has written songs that capture the tragedy of war with surprising profundity. When you look at them, remember those who fought and were killed, wounded or traumatized in modern wars.

“Has man gone insane?/A few will remain/Who’ll find a way/To live one more day/Through decades of war” - Sabaton, “A Lifetime of War”

“Young men are dying/They pay the price/Oh, how they suffer/So tell me, what’s the price of a mile?” - Sabaton, “The Price of a Mile”

“I’m standing here, I’m full of fear, with bodies at my feet/Over the hill in the other trench, bullets wear my name/Lead ahead, as the captain said, and show them no remorse/Who am I to understand what I have become?” - Sabaton, “Great War”

“Oh, gather ‘round me, and listen while I speak/Of a war where Hell is six feet deep/And all along the shore, where cannons still roar/They’re haunting my dreams, they’re still there when I sleep!” - Sabaton, “To Hell And Back”

Thank you.