As we mark Remembrance Sunday, have we forgotten the lessons of war?
As war ravages across the world, we need to take a moment to reflect on whether we are doing enough to make the world a better place
“Have you forgotten yet? Look up, and swear by the green of the spring that you’ll never forget.”
The words of celebrated English war poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Every November, the nation stops in its tracks to mark Armistice Day, reflecting on the lessons we have learned from countless devastating wars over the years.
Yet as we look around the world today, as we look around our cities and towns in Scotland today, I fear we have started to forget.
We are becoming less and less tolerant of one another. People can be too quick to use minorities as scapegoats, communities are less integrated, and when it comes to online trolling, the internet is just a bin fire at the moment.
War is once again a commonplace feature of our time. Right now, there is once again war here in Europe, something that only a few years ago seemed an impossibility.
I have been thinking a lot about this after I went on holiday to Poland with my mum in September to celebrate her retirement.
During the trip we visited a number of landmarks heavily associated with World War II and the Holocaust.
Before we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau, I read about the heroics of Scottish missionary Jane Haining.
Born in Dumfriesshire, she was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau after refusing to abandon the Jewish children in her care. She ended up dying in the camp on July 17, 1944 at the age of 47.
I knew her name was recorded on the walls somewhere in the camp, and somehow amongst the thousands of names etched on the memorial wall, my eye was drawn to her name. I really could not believe I had managed to find her name, and that will stick with me for a long time.
The other moment from that trip that sticks with me is when we went to visit Oskar Schindler’s factory in the former Kraków ghetto, which has now been transformed into a Holocaust museum.
During the visit our tour guide suddenly started screaming at another visitor. At first I was struggling to understand what had happened - then I found out the tour guide had witnessed him getting his photograph taken in front of a Swastika flag on display while doing a Nazi salute.
The man was escorted out of the museum, and there were threats about the police being called to deal with it.
This was probably not a pre-meditated act. He had probably just forgotten the true meaning of the flag, the symbol and the salute.
Which is another reason why I do fear we have forgotten the lessons of war.
All over the world, genocide is happening. War is happening. Innocent lives are being lost because men in suits, sitting in relative safety, are making decisions with the stroke of a pen.
There are memorial services happening all over the country this weekend to mark the poignant anniversary. Perhaps we all need to take a moment this weekend to really remember the true meaning of war, and reflect on whether we, both individually and as a society, are doing enough to make the world a better place here today.
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