Lest We Forget. But Have We?
- Ishaa Asim
- Nov 11
- 3 min read
It is Remembrance Day, which means two-minute silences and wreaths placed at the Cenotaph by officials. The message is Lest We Forget the sacrifice made for us to be alive and well today, but have we already forgotten?
Remembrance Day forces us to carve out time for those who died in the First and Second World Wars, fighting for our countries. We wear red poppies as a symbol of the growth after one of the darkest periods in history. We donate money to veteran charities and are more mindful of what we have. We come together to intentionally remember the horrific events and those who were lost.
The popular slogan is 'Lest We Forget', because marking the time is a way of remembering its impact and making sure we don't forget, and let the same thing happen again. And yet, as time goes on, it's evident we really have forgotten. It is natural as time goes on, and we get further from the event, that we have fewer people from that time to share their experiences. As time goes on, we experience new things and the past stays the past, rather than a reminder of what we need to avoid. This becomes an issue when the same thing repeats but we don't recognise it.
I look at how things are today and think that Remembrance Day is awfully cynical in some ways. It is very important, and deserves much more attention because we owe our lives to those who fought for them. And yet, governments and countries continue to engage in decisions that would lead to another similar situation. We talk about how awful the Wars were, how awful it is when people are held in camps and tortured, how awful it is to be pushed out of your own country. But we fundamentally fail to recognise when this happens in modern day, as I write this blog. We seem to think that these awful atrocities are things of the past. And with social media and the internet, it's even more obvious how we are ignoring these things.
I used to sit in my high school history classes, and couldn't fathom how someone like Hitler would be elected, or even allowed to enter the Rhineland without much protest from the Allies. But I see it clearly now - politicians having free reign, doing what they want with no consequences or backlash from other countries.
Remembrance Day is a reminder - but we seem to want to mould it into symbolism rather than use it to practically alter how we conduct ourselves on the international stage. The point here is, 11th November is supposed to be a warning. This horrific event was supposed to be the last, a sign of what we never should return to. Politics is now all about the individual, and countries don't want to disturb 'peace' by speaking up for those countries being invaded.
I say we have forgotten. Enough time has elapsed since 1945 for people not to have lived through the horrors of war - but there is war all around the world right now. Look at Sudan. Palestine. Syria. Ukraine. And countless others. The people there today aren't thinking about the Wars in the 20th century because they're LIVING one now. Whilst we think about the past, the present is in dire need of attention.
This Remembrance Day, I will think of those who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars. But also those today who are fighting for their lives in countries who aren't considered important enough for us to care.
Good read! It's true we forget quite alot. I think it's like a mixture of the war itself not affecting us and that feeling of wanting to escape of the horrors of wars. Its definitely something we should continue to be aware of especially with how the wars and atrocities continue.
I feel as though, in some ways, when war doesn't affect a person directly, it's easy to forget, or ignore, its presence. For people living in the current safety of the UK, it's easy to ignore the scale of the atrocities going on across the world: genocide, abuse, famine. It seems as though the rememberance day we have today only commemorates those who lost their lives in the past, while failing to acknowledge the present and the future, where most of the lessons they try to teach should be put to use.