We will remember them….

Today is Remembrance Day and the 90^th Anniversary of the end of the war which was supposed to have ended all wars. Unfortunately, humanity seems unable (as yet) to learn that there are other ways to settle differences. The cost of war is too high. Anyone who is related to or knows someone in the armed forces, of this country or any other, faces the harsh reality that their loved-one might be called upon to die for the sake of the cause they support. War is brutal, harsh, cruel and ultimately tragic.

90 years ago today, Britain's people felt the liberation that peace brings. The Armistice was signed and a whole new world was due to begin. The reality of the huge cost of the war, in lives as well as money, was probably engulfed by the euphoria and relief that the fighting was over. We know now though, that this war did not end all wars. Many thousands of people have died in battle since and we, in the U.K are active in two major war-zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition we are also part of the UN Forces in the DR Congo and other 'trouble spots' in the world.

Today in Llanfair's café, we observed two minutes' silence in respect of all those who gave so much to enable us to have the freedom and prosperity that we enjoy today. So we remembered men and women of all nations, who died or were maimed as a result of war. We also listened to a song by Eric Bogle called No Man's Land, written as a reflection on his visit to the war graves in France. It is a poignant song, very poetic. I am moved by the lines:

"The sun's shining down on these green fields of France, the warm wind blows gently, the red poppies dance. The trenches are buried long under the plough, there's no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now. But here in this graveyard it's still no man's land, the countless white crosses in mute witness stand, to man's blind indifference to his fellow man, and a whole generation that was butchered and downed."

We still wait for the time when all will live in peace and people will beat their swords into ploughshares and nations shall study war no more. In the meantime we do well to remember the high price of freedom and how much has already been spent.