Occasionally you turn a familiar corner in your familiar village or town but instead of something familiar you are stunned by a spectacular unfamiliar sight. One night I was brought to tears as unbeknown to me the grounds of the local church near its cenotaph had been turned into the most beautiful display of remembrance, a display of love and a display of loss. There were poppies, lots of poppies, but the poppies were special, they had been knitted by local woman, children and men of the community in remembrance of the fallen. They adorned the church grounds as a silent testimony to a past event of world shattering magnitude that left no family large or small untouched. It was a very personal tribute with the names of the men lost from village looking down on them (see below):
In daylight it is even more beautiful (see below):
The silhouettes of two Tommies with gun barrels facing down to the earth (see below):
It is an absolute tribute to the villagers that despite the display being up for over a week and in clear uninhibited touching distance to all; that is all ages, all creeds and all persons of the village have shown respect. It seems to have touched a special chord in all of us (see below):
I was heartened to know that we are capable of such simple genius. It filled me with hope (see below):
Please God never again need we remember such a waste, of such arrogance and be capable of such a scale of sin!
3 comments:
Geordie,
There are some wonderful and touching displays of remembrance taking place all over the world, and this is one of the most moving that I have seen.
Thank you for sharing it.
Bob
Thanks Bob,
It is like the pictures from David Crook's blog
His church like ours bleed red poppies
Your quote from HG Wells is so prophetic! And as valid today as then!
Amen to that.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0brzkzx
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