Veterans Day 2023
It began as Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day, a time to remember the millions who died during the First World War.
In the US it has become something quite different: a day to honor our military veterans.
It’s a little jarring.
We do have Memorial Day. This began as Decoration Day in 1868, to honor the Union dead of the Civil War by decorating their graves. In 1967 it was renamed Memorial Day, and meant to include our military dead in all wars.
Our country has been fairly unscathed by war, at least since our secessionists were broken and defeated a century and a half ago. It’s difficult to grasp that at least 50 million people were slaughtered in the Second World War. Another 20 million succumbed to the disease and starvation that ensued. And these numbers add up to around 3.5% of the world population at that time.
To understand the magnitude, imagine a war today annihilating 12 million Americans, troops and civilians, leaving our cities bombed out and our vaunted economy in ruins. If we survived as a nation, most certainly we would enact our own day of Remembrance.
We have not had to face this.
So far. But we must understand the significance of Remembrance Day. The thought that anyone, who has endured the loss of someone dear to the horrific violence of modern warfare, needs to be reminded of it, is offensive. No, the significance of the day is for a nation to remind itself, collectively. To stop, step back, and think.
We in the US will honor our veterans, as we should, and next May we will hold a moment of silence. But the honor and the silence will be incomplete, and empty, if there is not also an apology. And a promise. A profound apology that the affairs of mankind have been so badly managed as to exact such a price. And a solemn promise to do better.
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