eleven eleven

Of course it's November 11, Armistice Day, Veterans Day (US), Remembrance Day (Canada). It's understandably a much bigger holiday in Canada than in the US, since Canada really fought that nightmare war, not just popped in for a quick appearance at the end.

I'm not much for honouring veterans, although my heart is filled with sympathy for what they've endured. I've read a lot about World War I, mostly in novels like All Quiet On The Western Front, and Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy, among others. The war commemorated on November 11 is the perfect example of the utter futility of war, the utter horror it inflicts, planned by a ruling elite for their own purposes, but shouldered by working people, on both sides. (Remember Geoffrey Palmer scooping up those tin soldiers in Blackadder Goes Forth? The most heartbreaking bit of comedy I've ever seen.)

The best thing we could ever do to honour veterans to stop creating them. Work for peace.

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