Lest we Forget

I was walking through Kings Park the other day, past some of the war memorials. I read the standard phrase, "lest we forget".

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Thinking Lateral
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Lest we forget. Good words, a worthwhile intent. What's that other old saying? Similar words, different intent... Forgive and forget. "Lest we forget" refers to the people who gave their lives to protect something that we support. "Forgive and forget" is about our enemies, those people who have wronged us. Let's not confuse the two expressions. We should not forget that people have died -- or been willing to die -- in order to protect the ideals of our country, of our way of life. There is no need to forget the people who sinned against us. Perhaps they killed some of the people whom we will not forget. But can we try to forgive them? Forgive and forget? No. Remember but try to forgive? Show the world that we are "better" than our ex-enemies? Why not give it a try.

Honour our dead

This is an after-thought. Yes, I was amongst the Kings Park war memorials again... Honour our dead: a good sentiment. Honour those who died fighting for something that we all believe in. Honour those who died to protect us from others who would have changed -- degraded -- our way of life. What happens when the fighting is over? "Our" people killed "their" people. "Their" people killed "our" people. Now the issue has been settled: what we believe in has been protected; the enemy has been repulsed. So why do the survivors want to keep on fighting? Why do some people maintain their hatred, long after the war has finished? Did we not really win the war? Was the enemy not really convinced of the error of their ways? Or do we really have to maintain our hatred till the end of time. There is plenty of evil in the world, at individual, national and international levels. If we want to fight -- let's fight against evil... assuming that we can agree on what is evil. Honour our dead. But please stop hating and fighting the shadows of their enemies.

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Independent Thinking
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