Remembrance Sunday

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday - and I think everyone should take a moment to think about what the day means. It doesn't matter whether you think war is a legitimate tool of foreign policy, or a necessary evil, or is totally wrong. Likewise, it doesn't matter whether you are a rabid nationalist, or a occasional patriot or, like me, someone without a real national identity. Because tomorrow isn't about war or the nation. It is about remembering those who fought, and especially those who died or were wounded. It is about remembering those who made a sacrifice. And just for one day, you can forget about all those arguments over whether the sacrifice was right or not.

I won't be on line tomorrow so I will leave you with the striking, poetic lines from the Ode of Remembrance today:

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.