thanks #11

Today, 90 years after the ceasefire on the Western Front I can't say I'm grateful for the sacrifices made in the Great War. I can't say I appreciate the pain and loss suffered for my freedom. I can't truthfully uphold the cliche.

I hope I am wrong but deep in my heart I suspect that 8 million lives were sacrificed for bureaucratic ego.
Deep down I imagine that young men were seduced by propaganda, their admirable sense of honour, of good and of duty used and abused by people with hidden agendas, people whose son's they were not, people who didn't see hearts and lives but wins and losses.

I imagine that 8 million parents lost the light of their lives without good cause.
8 million families were broken for no good cause.
Children grew up fatherless and women lost husbands without reason.
Young men lost limbs, eyes, health and hope because of a senseless war.

The thanks I give today is that finally it was over, that the suffering and loss stopped. I give thanks for the hope contained in that armistice. That what must have seemed impossible became reality and that we can find hope, as well as warning, in the lessons of history.