Lest We Forget - Have We Forgotten?

Nov 11, 2016
2 min read

It’s time to remember our fallen soldiers, and what they fought for.

Lest we forget.

Freedom.

Justice.

Tolerance.

Love.

Respect.

They died fighting tyranny. We have a responsibility to uphold these values, or their sacrifice was in vain.

I hear all the chatter. I absorb all the emotions, as a writer does. I read the excuses.

But I find no excuse is adequate. They’ve forgotten.

“It’ll be okay,” I hear. “It was all showmanship.” “Give him a chance.” “We don’t know what he’ll do.”

But we know what he stands for. And the most evil among us are emboldened.

Lest we forget.

I thought we were building bridges. The Internet ties us to others globally like nothing we’ve ever known. Invisible links stretch across oceans and bind us.

Why must we insist on being separate? On building walls?

Why must we blame others for our pain?

Lest we forget.

It is our duty to protect the most vulnerable among us. It is our responsibility to continue the fight the soldiers fought. If this is a turning point in history, we will do our damnedest to turn it back.

The tide is crimson on Normandy beaches. Why have we forgotten?

Anne Frank hidden in a secret annex? Why have we forgotten?

Genocide of Bosnian Muslims in the late 20th century? How could we have forgotten?

This.

Dachau.

Razed to the ground, but the gas chambers still stand. The crosses row on row still stand. The ache, the loss, the terror, the pain is ever with us if we can hold it in our minds.

Not to torment us, but to keep us forever vigilant. We’ve let down our guard.

Lest we forget.

We have in our power the ability to bring about the end of the world. It is our duty to select intelligent, responsible, mature, selfless individuals to oversee this arsenal.

We cannot let fiction become reality.

We may have reached a crossroads, and we must REMEMBER.

Take up our quarrel with the foe To you, from failing hands, we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high If ye break faith with us who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.