Scottish Catholic Observer

While we continue to pray for peace, war remains a reality far too many—including members of the clergy—have come to know first hand. However, Remembrance Sunday is not, under any circumstances, a celebration of war or a day of victory. While history is said to be written by the ‘victors’ of a conflict, death and injuries are suffered indiscriminately by all sides involved.

Cross Wires cannot decide what was the most controversial aspect of Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday this year: the resale market for the Swarovski crystal poppies, as donned by fashionista female celebrities; the mumurings from the Scottish football terraces that smacked of sectarianism; the politicising of the event or the unprecedented three-week build up to the commemorations?

Somewhere in the midst of it all we have lost our way. Up and down the country Boys Scouts and Girl Guides put most of us to shame as they observed simply and effectively at church services the official end of the First World War on November 11 1918 and remembered all war dead.

Remembrance Day, or Poppy Day as many know it in Britain, is observed in Commonwealth countries to remember the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war, specifically since WWI. Poppy appeals also raise funds to support those who survived but for whom the war is never going to be over.

Lest it be forgotten that, our armed forces remain actively involved war zones today.

As Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell said today: “While the wars, originally in Iraq and now in Afghanistan, may not be universally popular, people should not confuse our courageous young troops with the rights and wrongs of warfare. There has to be a distinction drawn between our brave soldiers on the battlefield and the political decisions made by international governments. Our gallant service men and women are shedding their blood and risking their lives in the hope that their sacrifices will in time offer the best chance to bring peace, freedom and justice to the suffering people of those distressed lands.”

We should look to the US, where Remembrance Day is known as Armistice Day or Veterans Day, and learn the bitter lessons of the Vietnam and the Gulf wars. Whether or not we support our Government’s decisions to send or keep troops in combat zones, we must not turn our backs on those who answer when ‘duty calls,’ nor on their families if they don’t come back or return maimed or changed by war.

Not everyone will agree with the Catholic ex-serviceman from Glasgow who today posted online: “I am immensely proud to have been a member of Her Majesty’s armed services and I salute those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and those who continue to provide the freedom which many take for granted.” However, remembering and supporting victims of violent conflict, wherever it is in the world or whenever it took place, is something that should unite humanity, not divide it along religious lines.

Special days for war remembrances are also held in many non-Commonwealth countries. We are not the only ones who rightfully mourn the loss of life in war.

The decision to wear a poppy, a white poppy or no poppy at all must remain a personal, not a religious or a political, one.

http://www.poppyscotland.org.uk/index.php/homepage/show/home/poppyscotland

—Cross Wires is the Scottish Catholic Observer newspaper’s blog