Commentary
From Vimy Ridge to Mons Badnis, Kandahar to Juno Beach, we will remember them. Even without knowing who they were.
we often don’t. A staggering number of the dead, even in two world wars, have their graves unknown, but usually we know who they are, but where they are, especially if they fought for the Western allies. I don’t know. But the long struggle for freedom and decency is marked not only by unknown graves, or no graves, but also by unknown battles, obscure causes, desecrated corpses left behind for wolves and crows. can be attached.
Many years ago in the UK, when I was filming my Constitutional Trilogy, I encountered some hills where the natural defenses of the Bronze Age and earlier were strong points. And I saw a vague vision of generations fighting and dying in small battles. Not only were they long forgotten, but they were never known. And such places exist all over the world because petty tribal conflicts and large-scale military clashes have plagued mankind from the beginning.
Schools may not teach you that slavery existed everywhere from time immemorial before being eradicated by the West in recent centuries. Thousands of people are buried with honors in places such as Gettysburg, Cold Harbour, and Fredericksburg, villages where attempts to save their wives, sisters, and children from abuse, torture, and murder often fail. How many thousands died in obscurity before the disappeared? Why not remember them?
JRR Tolkien has captured the atmosphere of the British ruins in the backstory of The Lord of the Rings. In particular, Arthedain is a remnant of the once mighty Kingdom of Arnor north of Numenoria, which was eventually destroyed by the Witch-King of Angmar. The one buried in the haunted Barrow Downs. Some may think that fantasy is not suitable for memorization, but such writings vary widely not only in genre but also in quality.
At the pinnacle of which Tolkien stands, it is morally very serious. Converging in Weathertop and other local strongholds, the unnamed men and families behind them, who lost both war and their kingdoms, have created the “Rangers” who have regained their rightful authority from their obscure lineage. including points.
Now think about King Arthur. Not the intricate medieval legend caricatured in “Once Upon a Future King”, but a Romanized Britain with an ambiguous history who won the decisive battle at Badnismons in a defeated war against German invaders. is the chief of I say “lost” because the Angles, the Saxons and the disrespected Jutes eventually drove their Celtic enemies into Wales. However, some survived there.
By slowing the advancing tide, King Arthur’s victory bought time for the alchemy that transformed these bloodthirsty heathen nihilists into Christian defenders of freedom under the law. , three centuries later rallying to Alfred the Great of Saxony at the Stone of Egbert. and defeated the bloodthirsty pagan Danish nihilists with stories that were fantastic yet true.
On our trip to England we found what we thought was Egbert’s Stone, but it was also an obscure little rock, not Erek’s Stone. But we have not found the graves of his important battle against the terrible odds, which he fought alongside Alfred. It’s not carved into the wall. Want to remember them?
Or consider Jack Nichols’ haunting World War II painting The Drowning Sailor. Most people killed in the Battle of the Atlantic went to Davy Jones instead of a quiet and honorable resting place. But while it’s important to name Jack Smith, who didn’t return and left his widow because Hitler couldn’t starve England, every time duty is called, someone is there for us today. It is important to say that we have given everything to tomorrow and even given it a name.
Naturally, we will have a memorial service on November 11th. And those of us, who have never served, bow beside our veterans, suddenly blown away in the stinking mud of the trenches, screaming into unrecognizable fragments, the death of WWI naturally imagine But also think of those who last saw the dawn as the flag fluttered in the wind at Mons Badnis. Then, because he loved freedom more than life, he was impaled with a sword and died from the earth and all forms of memory.
Remember also those who deserve a better reason than the reason they died. Bosworth Airfield, where both sides had an argument, or even Culloden Moor, can divide the differences. But Nichols’ sailor was German. As the artist said in 1998, “You lose your nationality when you’re drowning, right?”
In the next world, like this one, it is dangerous to fight for evil purposes. have mercy on the people of we remember them.
Views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Epoch Times.
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John Robson is a documentary filmmaker, columnist for the National Post, contributing editor for the Dorchester Review, and Executive Director of Climate Discussion Nexus. His latest documentary is ‘The Environment: A True Story’.