Vonnegut said that men who were on the battlefield at eleven that morning reported silence so deafening they were convinced it was the voice of God. A voice that said "enough".
Enough of what Siegfried Sassoon described as "faces trodden deeper in the mud". Enough of the new war machines...
Enough of trenches...
Just, enough. Time for parades on 5th Avenue and kisses and prayers and hugs...
War was made illegal in 1938. A year later it started again. Here, everything is fast and new. We mainly forget or ignore the old things. The old ways. Armistice Day was created to make sure we never forgot the very first World Soldiers. And the millions that died. Now, we merge them into the honor of more recent veterans, living and dead. And the old ones have faded in the effort. Other countries whose boundaries encompass the bloody soil have longer memories...
Shock someone. Wear a poppy today. Or a red ribbon. Be thankful for those first overseas veterans. And all the others who sacrificed after war became illegal. Try to hear God's voice.
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