Lest We umm.....

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

from For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon   

November 11^th is Remembrance day.  The anniversary of the armistice that ended WWI, and a day where some of us remember those brave men and women who fought to defend us in wars through our modern history.


The day is not without controversy.  

War is not a glorious pursuit.  At its most idealised, war is the senseless killing of brave young men and women.  In real life there is the widespread suffering and death of bystanders; innocent or otherwise.  War makes murderers out of soldiers and even the most noble warrior sinks to perform atrocities they could scarcely have imagined.

It was not lightly that General Sherman pronounced "war is hell".

Yet there is more to the story.  We of the western democracies live in extraordinary peace, freedom and prosperity.  Had not brave young men and women stood up for us against Wilhelm, Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Stalin and so many more, our privileged way of life would have long ago been trampled under an emperor's heal.


There is truth in the saying, sometimes attributed to George Orwell, "We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

So let us remember those young men and women who made such sacrifices so that we can enjoy our lives.  Let us also remember that dictators and aspiring dictators still walk among us.  Let us value those rough men and women who still stand ready to violence on our behalf, to preserve our way of life.

Lest we forget.

Denial

No, nay, never
No nay never, no more

- Traditional Irish song

The Jewish Holocaust is, for many people, a defining period in Jewish history.  Under the hand of Adolf Hitler, approximately six million Jews were murdered.  It isn't the worst massacre in history.  Stalin murdered around twenty million people.  It was not the last such horror with genocide attempts across Africa, in the Balkans and beyond haunting is to this day.

So what makes the Holocaust so memorable?  Perhaps it is that the German people, civilised westerners, calmly and coldly accepted it and, in some cases,  joined in.  We cannot rely on stereotypes of "barely civilised Africans" or other such excuses.  These were people just like us.  It challenges us: what would I have done in the circumstances.  It is not a comfortable feeling.

Thus it is not surprising that we feel deeply affected when somebody denies that the Holocaust ever happened.  It seems to defy logic as there were many witnesses.  I have met some myself.  We cannot comprehend what thought processes lead somebody to that belief.  Yet Holocaust Deniers undoubtedly do exist.

A common response is anger and a desire to stop the denier spreading their malicious beliefs.  Prominent British denier, David Irving, has tried on a number of occasions to organise lectures in Australia.  The immigration officials have refused to allow him into the country.  Sadly, this generates accusations of censorship and he possibly gets more publicity in being thwarted than he might have received had the lectures gone ahead.

I have come with a better response to Mr Irving's distasteful message.  Let him speak where he wants, and treat him with the respect he deserves.   You point your forefinger in his general direction and laugh out loud.