Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Remembering more than Sacrifice



Ways to remember, reading & learning.
Irine Remembers
By Irina

It is important to remember the men and women who fought in the wars and sacrificed their lives to save their families and country.

It is important to give and show appreciation and thanks to these men and women who fought in the wars. Because of these people, we are privileged to live a good life in the safe country we are living in.

We do not want to experience what I experienced as a child.

When I was five years old, my mother, two brothers and I had to leave our home because the Germans were bombing  the area.

My dad, who was a teacher and a translator, knew many languages. When the war started, he was recruited as an officer by the government. His job was to recruit young men to become soldiers and send them to the front to fight in the war.

What I remember is very painful. Dad put our family on a train. We travelled to Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. The Germans bombed the train and many people were killed. As the bombs were coming down around us, my mother covered us three children with her body to protect us. Those of us who survived the bombing ran into the forests…we were very scared.

Our soldiers made it through the forests as well. We to came to a village. I asked if anyone had seen my dad…finally we saw each other. My dad gave me a hug and a kiss and then swiftly had to leave for the front to fight.

This is only part of the terrible and devastating experience I encountered in my young life.

This brief story mentioned is why it is important for the youth to remember we do not want to experience this again. We want our country to always be safe from war.



What to Remember
By Amalia
It is very important to remember what has gone on in the past, especially for the younger generations that haven't lived through the horrors of war.

They have to know what happened in the past and not repeat the same mistake.

They have to know fight hatred because it is one of the biggest ills of humanity.

They have to promote understanding and friendship amoung people of all races, to learn about other cultures.

We come from different parts of the world but that doesn't mean that we can't strive to live together in peace.




Why Remember
By Bob

In the past, and yet even today, Governments, politicians and leaders around the world succumb to greed, power and strategically arrange to put their selfish plans into place to acquire land, money and possessions at the expense of ordinary citizens who want to live happily in a peaceful environment.

They are willing to sacrifice human life of anyone who stands in their way.  Beginning with indignities of fear, humiliation, lies and corruption, they work away at deceiving the innocent by depriving them of their basic freedoms.

The resulting confrontrations, invasions and previous World Wars prove there are no limits to their actions or intentions.


Yes, it is important to remember the past.

On Remembrance Day around the world we pause to think of the millions of men, women and children who were killed, disabled or suffered physically or mentally.

Men & Women who fought against oppressors to reclaim this freedom and it's important to particularly remind our educators and government leaders to continue to inform everyone of the events of the past so that this unacceptable situation will not continue.  Peace will not happen if we individually do not take a stand when we notice our rights being violated.

It is important for the youth of today to be knowledgeable of CURRENT WORLD EVENTS.







"Never Again"
This is a question to you, our readers:  "What is our individual responsibility to that phrase?"  Irina points out the personal ravages of these large scale failures of humanity.   Amalia suggests we need to remember how we got to the point of large scale failures of humanity.   Bob points us to ongoing learning, not necessarily celebration but CONSIDERATION of ALL that went into sending troops into dangerous situations.    How do you strive to be a part of the "Never Again" story.   How can we do better?   Leave your comments below.


2 comments:

  1. Hi folks, I'm a friend of Mariette's. I found this to be a very moving blog. What to remember, and how to, so we prevent war and evil is one of the most worthwhile explorations we can do, and your lived experience lends a lot to this. I still have a frog in my throat. I think it is extremely important for us to have a day to remember wars, soldiers, and sacrifice. However, I wish the day before we do that, there was an equal effort to remember the failures of conscience, politics, diplomacy, and humanity that aggregate to make wars and evil happen. This requires us to remember richer histories, to see ourselves, and each other as potential players in these tragedies, and recognize what is required of us to be responsible humans, so we and future generations live with less evil in the world. You sharing your experiences with us is an important part of that.

    Scott.

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  2. I am a ninth grade student. I read Irena's blog and found it to be very moving. It is extremely important to remember the sacrifices other people made so that we could enjoy a better quality of life.

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