Acknowledging the Armistice
November 11, 2020
Atlanta, GA
Today we mark the welcome end of an horrific event. Armistice Day commemorates cessation of hostilities in what may have been the most ludicrous, yet consequential, conflict of all time. A couple years ago, we noted the centennial of this occasion.
The war to end wars, unfortunately, did not. In a sense, the Armistice couldn’t even end the war it intended to stop. Within twenty years…after scores of collateral revolutions, invasions, conflicts, and skirmishes…this modern Thirty Years War resumed, intensified, and descended to previously unfathomable depths of Hell.
This morning, throughout Europe, moments of silence recalled the ceasefire, and remembered the dead. Around the world for many years…at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month…church bells rang eleven times.
That solemn, salutary tradition slowly faded, especially in the US, where Armistice Day became Veterans Day. The switch was subtle, yet significant. Focus shifted from celebrating the end of one gruesome war to honoring those who fought in all of them.
That’s too bad.
Not that veterans don’t warrant acclamation or respect. They do. Yet…like blending red wine with whiskey or placing pineapple on pizza…we shouldn’t diminish one worthy sentiment by mixing it with another. We have need and time for both, and should celebrate each…just from separate glasses and different plates.
Veterans deserve their own day. But so does the Armistice. Were more attention paid pursuing perpetual peace, fewer veterans would come from deplorable wars.
JD
