Sunday, November 14, 2010
Remembrance Day
Yesterday was Remembrance Day. At 11 am Greenwich Mean Time the pilot came on via interphone and invited us all to observe a two minute silence; I was on a plane full of Greeks who either did not understand or did not care- anyway, his attempt was futile. But even if they had understood: what or who are we remembering on 11th November? St. Martin (that would be the Austrian’s first response)? Something to do with the war? Which war then? And why of all things would you want to remember a war?
First the facts: 11th November is Remembrance Day because at 11 am on that day, the armistice which ended World War I was signed. King George V decreed this day to be when the British at least remember all those killed in that and all subsequent wars, and wear a red poppy.
Remembering is a funny thing: for one thing we all forget things or remember them wrongly. My sister and I regularly disagree about things from our childhood, so at least one of us is mistaken. There are also things we selectively remember or choose not to remember: whether it’s a child that “can’t remember” whether it has any homework or the prison guard who “can’t remember” whether he ever beat an inmate…in both cases recall is less than perfect, human nature plays tricks. Neurologists also tell us that if human beings did not forget many things, their brains would fry from information overload. In other words, not forgetting is important.
We also know of instances, maybe in our own lives, when we see unable to forget something, like a hurt somebody inflicted on us or a trauma we have suffered. And yet, forgetting is often part of the healing, and those who can’t forget never put things to rest but keep opening old wounds. Forgiving and forgetting are cathartic actions which cleanse the heart and the mind. And still we are asked to remember…
The Bible speaks regularly of remembering (some 207 times) and the Jewish people is often rebuked for forgetting rather than remembering. The three main things they are supposed to remember are instructions they have received from God, promises he has given them and events which have marked their lives. Since they are so bad at remembering things, God asks them to establish memorials: piles of rock mark out places where important things happened to them, and particular days are like memorials in time: then they celebrate, fast, offer special sacrifices, built huts- all so they don’t forget. And of course it is not just the Jews who have such days…
One gets the impression that sometimes remembering is important, yet we forget; at other times forgetting would be the right thing, yet we hold on to things. In other words our memory does not always do what’s best for us, so we can’t just blindly rely on it. Rather we need to make conscious decisions what stuff, both individually and corporately, we decide to keep in our mental closet and what we purge when spring cleaning comes along. What we keep in our closets invariably shape us, for good or for ill: I am just spending time in Greece at the moment where the Orthodox church is still the predominant religious group, and for them tradition (or Tradition) is hugely important. While faithfulness to the “good old ways of doing things” has kept them Christians during hundreds of years it makes it hard for some of them to deal with the changes which are sweeping through Europe, be they economic, social or moral. More tradition is not necessarily better.
So maybe November, when we remember the dead, the veterans, the summer holidays, whatever, might be a good time to examine our memories, the things we hold on to and which shape our lives; maybe we could examine what are the good things we learned or experienced which we need to hold on to at all cost because they are precious. And what are the memories which impoverish our lives and hinder us from moving forward; those we might want to write down and put them on a big bonfire- another venerable tradition in parts of Europe. Lest we don’t forget!
