On
Sunday 9th November—Remembrance Day—many people commemorated the
centenary of the start of the first World War and here in London millions of
people came to the Tower of London to see the ‘field’ of commemorative poppies
laid in memory of all those who died in this particularly tragic war.
What
has the world learned from this tragedy? What are the new generations learning
we may ask? Last summer, as did so many other school children, my 15 year old
granddaughter Daisy visited the battlefields. Afterwards she wrote ‘Thoughts
from the Somme’ which was printed in our White Eagle magazine Stella Polaris. I quote a little here:
‘However , one
experience that stands out in my memory of events is when we went to a
graveyard in Flanders. It was huge; if you stood at the edge of it, the graves
were reduced to cobblestones, a grey mass strewn with parties of schoolchildren
holding clipboards amongst them. But amongst the grey mass were individuals,
differences reconciled in death. German graves stood beside English, French,
Canadian, Chinese and American. It was a joyous reminder that even though we
may fight in life over petty differences, when the final note is played we all
recognise ourselves in one another. This realisation is also shown in Michael
Morpurgo’s novel ‘War Horses’. The horse, when trapped in wire, is freed by
both German and English sides in a show that humanity is the same all over the
world. Indeed, the stage production of that novel has its own cast and show in
Germany. If we can learn anything from the First World War it is the importance
of remembrance. Each new generation must be reminded that the terrible cost of
human life anywhere is not worth small political gains or losses. This is
particularly relevant now as angry words fly over the Ukraine crisis in a way
that has been remarked upon by several to be reminiscent of the First World
War. Once remembrance is learned, ingrained into the collective human mind,
we will see the rose bloom on the cross. History may be filled with the
taint of sorrow, but that is past. As a race we are adaptable; we can change
the future.
A
wonderful thought. We are adaptable. We can change. I believe our world is
changing. 9th November was also the 25th Anniversary of
the Berlin Wall coming down. This happened not as a result of another war, but
through peaceful revolution. To quote a media report:
‘On November 9th
1989, the world watched in amazement as jubilant crowds gathered on both sides
of the Berlin Wall around midnight to celebrate the opening of the border
crossings between the eastern and western parts of the city. A peaceful
revolution in East Germany had finally cracked this grim symbol of Cold War and
political oppression. It signalled the beginning of the end of Germany’s post
war division and national unity came less than a year later on October 3rd
1990.
Just
after reading this I opened a letter containing some inspirational writing. My
correspondent wrote: ‘Build me a church
without walls. There is no division in the mind of God.’ I love this
statement: ‘There is no division in the
mind of God.’ We human beings have created so many divisions—different
countries, religions, feelings about right and wrong, etc. However, as Daisy
wrote… when the final note is played, we all recognise ourselves in one
another.
And
finally, some words of White Eagle’s which I read at our Remembrance Service at
the New Lands Temple, I quoted these words from White Eagle’s teaching:
‘These conditions of
war that come to the earth plane, although they are brought about by ignorance
and stupidity, are turned to good effect. No-one is sacrificed in vain, and
with war there comes a corresponding push forward in the evolution of humanity.
All the time spiritual growth continues in you, and not only spiritual growth
but mental growth. Better conditions of life are the result of past suffering.
There is a little light inside you, a voice, an urge to unity and brotherhood.
Follow it. It will lead you to a place of great beauty where your view is
expanded.’
