Wednesday 3 May 2017

Wednesday Wisdom; Remembrance Day


Here in the Netherlands we have Remembrance Day tomorrow and Liberation Day the next.
On the 4th of May on the eve of May 5th the day we celebrate the Netherlands was free from WWII we remember all the people who died during the War but lately we also remember the people who died fighting in other countries like Irak or Afghanistan. From 18.00 pm till 20.30 pm the Dutch flag is half-mast and at 20.00 pm everyone has 2 minutes of silence.
At the Dam in Amsterdam the King and Queen, ministers,veterans and others are putting a wreath of flowers in honour of the fallen. 


The other day some people said they also want to include the refugees in the remebrance who drowned fleeing to Europe. Of course there is a lot of adversary against the idea.
Rembering the thousands of refugees is a good thing, but I don't think it's a wise idea to mix both of them up. This Rembrance Day should be only for the victims of the war. It should remind us that we should never allow it to happen again. In that context I can understand why one would include the refugees, but they didn't fight to free our country. It is not their fight it is a whole other topic, granted it has simularities but it is not the same. Sometimes it is even hard enough to let this generation believe the atrocities that happened during WWII... 

Never forget! 

© KH 

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