Remembrance
Today is Remembrance Sunday in the U.K. - a day where we remember and appreciate the heroism of veterans of World War I specifically and war generally.
It’s incredible (and haunting) to think about the stories of those young men who were sent to the front line over 100 years ago - often tasked with missions that would almost certainly lead to injury or death. All for the freedom of Europe and our country.
That sense of national duty - of dedication, of doing extraordinary things of behalf of other people whom you have never met - has definitely depleted, certainly in the U.K. and I think across the West more broadly. We’re getting more individualistic, more cynical and more competitive. We’re more focused on “What’s in it for me?” than the service of others in the name of creating a society of which we can be collectively proud.
It’s a real shame and in some ways disrespectful of the memory of those who lost their lives defending a set of ideals that arguably no longer really exist. Days like this are an opportunity to rethink our own behaviour and do what we can in our own lives to nudge the world back in the right direction.