Today being Armistice Day, at sharp 11:00 a.m. today we observed a two-minute silence for Britain's fallen soldiers.
We sometimes wonder why it has to come to this.
We sometimes wonder why in the eyes of some rulers, humans are nothing but commodities.
But to each soldier laying his life on the line for his nation, he knows what a precious deed he is doing.
And we who mourn with the families of those who never made it home - we know too.
In Malaysia we have a similar day : Hari Bendera (literally, Flag Day), in honour of the Malaysian army, but this day is underappreciated for the fact that many of us were born after our independence, and we're a relatively peaceful country with not much conflict apart from the not-so-recent Ganyang Malaysia (Destroy Malaysia) issues. Come to think of it, Hari Bendera is not even observed by the general public ; the only people who are aware of it are government servants, particularly schoolteachers, and school-going children and adolescents. I remember back in my school days we used to make donations to the Malaysian army, and I gave whenever I could, but often enough, it was a one-off thing, not an ongoing campaign like Britain's Poppy Appeal.
I don't know whether to turn on my grave now or fully embrace the campaign in front of me.
Yet, I did observe the two-minute silence, and I did make it a point to write this, because I know that lives lost can never be gained again back on earth.
I don't know why I'm saying this, but my heart is somehow moved with compassion for Brittania. Not solely for her fallen, but also for the people whom she bears.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace, and may they join Him in the glory of heaven. Amen.
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