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Hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I today. Did your ward celebrated or is it largely ignored? I hope that we honor the memory of the fallen by never getting into such a bloody conflict again. Roy wrote:
I hope that we honor the memory of the fallen by never getting into such a bloody conflict again.
That’s my sentiment but it was a little hard to convey today.
It was barely mentioned in our ward. I didn’t make it to church today. I had worked all weekend. My family and I have a relative who served in WWI. We observed a moment of silence at 11. I posted about my great uncle in memory of him. I rarely see any mention of service men & women in church. Sometimes it’s mentioned in prayers. That’s about it.
SamBee, It was discussed in my ward; I wouldn’t say “at length” but I wouldn’t say “briefly” either. FWIW, I hadn’t even realized that it was the 11th, so the reminder in SM was a huge positive for me to be able to reflect on it.
I was in the UK recently. I noted how in every little village church there was a plaque commemorating those lost in both world wars. The number of dead in the Great War compared to WWII was astonishing. One illustrative memorial is in Bath, just off of Queens Square. It lists 1,174 dead in the Great War and 602 in WWII.
It was stake conference and somewhat surprisingly it was mentioned in the opening of the regular session. Here in the US it’s Veterans Day and it was in that context along with a thank you to all who served. No talks mentioned it. FWIW, every talk in that session of stake conference was Christ centered.
A side note that maybe off topic, but I don’t care. It is interesting doing my Family History, how many people in my family serviced in the major conflicts throughout the
history of our country & they either didn’t talk about it or tried to ignore it altogether. For example, my Dad & Uncles
served in WWII. They all saw action, came home & never talked about it again. One of my regrets in life is: I should of
talked to them more & documented their experiences. I believe, in their minds, the people that should be remembered
are those that died in combat. I think that all that served should be remembered.
Welp, time to partly dox myself. Our ward here in the UK rescheduled its meetings four hours later so members could attend Remembrance Day services elsewhere. It’s a huge, huge deal here. My family tuned in to the BBC and watched the service at the Cenotaph in London, which DD2 said she liked a lot, twice.
Personally, I was moved when the German president followed Prince Charles to lay his wreath on the Cenotaph. Apparently, Queen Elizabeth, who was too ill to walk with him, invited him months ago. (As an aside, her declining health makes me sad. She’s a fine monarch and a great person.) After doing a bit of reading, I decided that inviting him was an act of compassion.
Germany has barely started to process WWI. For the most part, they see it as a lead-in to WWII, which they’re still coming to terms with. How do you mourn your veterans who died to serve a genocidal tyrant? It’s too hard, so they mostly don’t. The names of the dead in WWII are added to small WWI monuments in villages around the country, and that’s basically it. Germany still carries the guilt of Nazi atrocities, and has been stuck on processing that for a long time.
Maybe formalizing their reconciliation with Britain in ceremony will help. Maybe if we can mourn together, they can finally mourn their own losses.
Due to Stake Conference a week ago, we had Fast & Tearimony meeting yesterday. A couple of people mentioned thanks for veterans, but it wasn’t a topic in any other way. Minyan Man wrote:
It is interesting doing my Family History, how many people in my family serviced in the major conflicts throughout thehistory of our country & they either didn’t talk about it or tried to ignore it altogether. For example, my Dad & Uncles
served in WWII. They all saw action, came home & never talked about it again.
I’m not suprised. War is an awful thing.
Earnest Hemingway wrote:“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.”
I am grateful, in the past 100 years since WWI, we’ve been able to grow as much as we have in the world. Things are far from perfect, but as a whole, the world is night-and-day a better place.
My sister just sent the following out to my family. We had already planned our own private Moment of Silence because of my Great Uncle who served in the war. She and her family were going to sneak out back and stand on the lawn at church at 11. And stand in remembrance. Then.. Quote:Elders’ Quorum was going to have a moment of silence in honor of the Armistice and that I was welcome to join them in the chapel for it. I agreed and a few minutes before 11, I joined the brethren in the choir seats.
At 11, the Elders’ Quorum president signaled for the instructor to sit down. Everyone sat with bowed heads. After about 20 seconds, from the back of the group, a man’s voice rang out, “Dear Father in Heaven, We are grateful for this day. We thank Thee for the lesson our instructor has taught us….” On he went, asking for protection as we drove home, asking for blessings on the sick and others who weren’t there, giving, in short, a benediction to the meeting, completely oblivious of the real reason why everyone was quiet. After he said, “Amen” we continued on in silence for a moment and then the Elders’ Quorum president indicated to the instructor to begin the lesson where he had left off.
😯 😆 😆 😆 I think most people in Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have relatives who died in WWI. I know I do. A nice German lady in our ward was conspicuous by her absence. I do wonder if it was uncomfortable for her.
The anniversary was mentioned briefly in Sunday School last week. That’s about as far as it went in our ward.
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