On this day we remember. We especially remember all the young men, women and children who have fallen in unjust wars because the rest have failed in our job to stop young men and women being shipped off to fight unjust wars.
On this day we say sorry to those we have failed. Sorry to the millions who died in vain to end all war. Sorry for allowing Remembrance Day to become “just show business.” From it’s original purpose as a warning about the awful cost of war, hijacked by jingoists who have recast the dead as soldiers in just wars, defenders of a free world.
Sorry to those who continue to this day to be sent off to fight and die in unjust wars.
Edit: I’ve had some comments in other forums and I want to add the following note to clarify what the above is about.
It was a war to end all wars. But it didn’t.
It is surely abhorrent that politicians have turned Remembrance Day into “show business,” as Harry Patch described it. As they “honour” the fallen of WWI they simultaneously wage aggressive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s two-faced. How can you possibly take heed of the awful cost of war that Remembrance Day is meant to signify and honour the millions dead by actively ignoring exactly the lessons learnt as a result of WWI and WWII?
The same goes for ordinary people like ourselves living in our so-called democracies. How can we genuinely honour the millions dead on Remembrance Day when we haven’t even honoured our end of the bargain by ensuring politicians do not ship our young men and women off to fight and die in aggressive wars?
(The title of this post has also been changed from “On this day we remember and say sorry” to “The fallen are not honoured by waging aggressive wars.”)