Reflection at the end of what is called Remembrance Day in Europe, celebrating the end of WWI (the armistice was signed on 11/11/1918 at 11 am). The holiday had a special significance this year as it came 100 years after WWI had started. Tributes were paid in countries around the world (and more particularly in Europe) to the millions of servicemen who died in what is (ironically) known as the “Great War”... In UK, a sea of red poppies honors the fallen. In the northern part of France, the French President François Hollande, accompanied by German and British officials, inaugurated the new International Memorial of Notre Dame de Lorette: the “Ring of Remembrance” (“Anneau de la Mémoire” in French). The memorial consists of 500 steel plates with the names of 579,606 soldiers from around the world (40 nationalities) who died only in the area between 1914 and 1918. The ring, a symbol of unity, is meant to bring together all of the fallen soldiers – regardless of their nationalities or religions (a fair number of them were Muslim). The names appear in alphabetical order, without alluding to the nationality or even rank of the soldiers. It is meant to honour the sense expressed by soldiers at the time, of a shared experience and shared destiny with men from the other side. “Enemies yesterday, these men are now united in death as if they belonged to the same family,” said the French president... Hearing this tonight on the news, I wondered: What about belonging to the same human family in life... and not only in death? The creators of the monument have left part of the structure hanging above the gentle slope of what once were battlefields – a reminder and a warning about the fragility of Peace. I want to believe that this ring will fully rise one day with our hope for Peace becoming reality for all of us, whatever the color of our skin, our nationality or identity, gender, or religion… May we help each other rise our vibration and rise for Peace
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 03:26:02 +0000
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