Since I can't help procrastinating when an essay is due, and because I think this is important, I wanted to share a link with you all. It's to a New York Times op-ed about the difference between Veterans Day in America and Remembrance Day in the UK and France, both of which were celebrated today. I've hardly seen a person without a red paper poppy on their jacket in the last couple of weeks, so I know that today's holiday really means something to the Brits. But perhaps the proliferation of flower lapels is due to the fact that this is a particularly significant Remembrance Day. It's been 90 years since the armistice was signed that ended World War I, or The Great War as it's known here.
If I hadn't been stuck inside all day writing, I would have liked to go to the ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall. (For all those who don't know - and I had to look it up, too - a cenotaph is a monument that honors a person or group of people who are buried elsewhere.) Even if I had gone, though, I wouldn't have been able to get pictures as nice as the ones in this BBC "Day in Pictures" slide show. Since today was a big anniversary, they made it a point to honor the last surviving British veterans of World War I. It looks like it was a very beautiful ceremony.
Happy Veterans/Remembrance Day to all.
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2 comments:
It must be a really interesting outside view of things...being over there and sharing a "holiday" with another country that isn't your own.
It's a bit sad that Veteran's Day was a bigger deal in elementary school than it is right now, in University. When we should have a greater understanding of why it's so important.
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