“When you arise in the morning think what a precious privilege it is to be alive- to think, to breathe, to enjoy, to love.”
Marcus Aurelius.
Remembrance Day, 11 November, 2024.
“For your tomorrow we gave our today”, as the poet said.
If you were given the chance to live for just one day, you’d surely take it.
Nothing fancy…
Coffee, work, lunch, a walk… more work, home (if you’re not already there)… pack the dishwasher, walk the dog/feed the cat… dinner, telly, bed.
You’d love that…
Some have decades to enjoy such tedium, and many live to an age our near ancestors could not conceive.
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Soldiers in the great wars of the last century got on average 27 years on earth, but more 19 year old men died than any other age.
Boys really, boys…
On a cold November night, with wreaths all around, you’d notice this memorial.
I passed it a few years ago, exiting Westminster Tube and headed for my hotel on Northumberland Avenue.
l stopped, entirely alone yet a few minutes from busy Trafalgar Square.
What would you think, if you came upon it?
I thought of their sacrifice, of my gratitude, of my dumb luck in avoiding their fate.
And that many have forgotten why we wear a red poppy.
Why we stand silent and Remember.
You should know…
Educate yourself, concerning their sacrifice. Google The World At War.
Find their “Why?”, to use a modern trope.
Watching The World At War will cost you that one day.
It will change you and help you embrace an uncertain future.
Truth is the future, your future, has forever been uncertain; we have been pretending otherwise.
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I shall go back to this spot tonight and stand a while, lest l forget.
“They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.”
As the poet also said.
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None of us is guaranteed tomorrow and some poor souls don’t see a single day… 🥲.
Enjoy this day, you ain’t getting it back.
And today, Remember…
Remember the fallen,
remember our armed forces,
remember your freedom was hard won,
remember it’s a privilege,
remember it can be taken.
But first, think…
You must know what you think, before you can remember.
Do your due diligence, to use another modern trope.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
A poet said that, too.
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Every Monday l share stoic stories.
I aim to make your day, set you up for the week… and change your life.
