Remembrance

It's interesting how Remembrance Day can mean so many different things to different people and different societies. Here in Canada, the consensus seems to be that 11 November is a day to honour the armed forces and their 'sacrifice'. In Belgium, it's a day on which all good Belgians fly the national tricolour and celebrate the defeat of their invaders in two World Wars. In England, growing up as a child, Armistice Day was first and foremost a day to remember the shocking waste of life in the Great War. In the European institutions, the day is not even acknowledged, dating back to a post-war sense of awkwardness, not wanting to rub the Germans' nose in it (as a German, I find this bizarre).

To me, half-English, half-German, European and a self-styled global citizen, it is important to have a day on which we acknowledge those who died in war, if only to remind us that it could happen to us or our children. The vast, vast majority of war casualties have been innocent victims. Professional soldiers know what they're getting into when they walk into the recruitment office; conscripts and civilian casualties don't. Millions died in the First World War for no reason at all; millions died in the Second to defend certain values. Every one of those deaths was a pointless tragedy. Red poppy or white poppy or no poppy, I don't really care; the best way to honour the war dead is to stop war. This is why the EU was conceived and why we have to make it work. It's why I do what I do for a living. It's why last week's US election results were such good news; and why we shouldn't give up until we've stopped the bad guys.

Details: Nikon D70, 18-200mm @ 31mm, f/10, 1/40s, ISO 200. 9 April 2006, War Memorial, Ottawa. Placemark.