The rest of the world continues to celebrate a day devoted to world peace. Happy Veterans Day.
Around the world, there is often two minutes of silence at 11 AM, remembering all of those, friend and foe, soldier and civilian, who have died in war. Please join me in two minutes of silence, remembering U.S. soldiers and civilians, enemy soldiers and civilians, and civilians caught in the cross-fire, remembering the horror of war, and how we can work with all we are to say, as they did at the end of World War I, "Never again."
Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution
of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.
-Archbishop Oscar Romero
2 comments:
(I'm hoping this is still the "Veteran's Day" page...)
So, my grandmother liked to tell me this touching story about the first Armistice Day. She was a very young woman, working at the phone company as an operator. The bells started ringing on the churches, and the bells started ringing on the switchboard. People were calling in, asking "What is going on? Why are all the bells ringing?" Now, we know this was before facebook and CNN, and perhaps not everyone had a radio. So she was so honored, so proud, so thrilled as a yong woman to get to say: "They signed the Armistice! The War is over!! It's Armistice Day!"
I'm crying as I'm writing this. Perhaps we can have a day again when we feel like the wars have ended.
That is indeed a great day to remember. I imagine it is one of those historical moments, where you realize the whole world has changed, but for the better. I think for me I can compare it to only one other moment, in my life- when we found out we'd get a President Obama.
Seriously. October, 2001- could you imagine on that date, if you were told our next President would be someone whose name sounded almost like the guy who just attacked us?
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