In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

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.

• In Flanders Field; John McCrae, 1915

Lest We Forget

A phrase I have heard all my life, spoken in solemn remembrance of those who fought & died in the World Wars whose shadow we still live. But being the inquisitive soul I am I've always harboured questions, ones I've always asked myself year after year; unheard, unspoken:

Lest our hand falter and the torch fall, and lie extinguished in the muddy trenches, the barren crater-pocked wastes of no-man's land?

Lest those dead lie awake in their graves among the crater-pocked, barbed-wire hellscape of no-man's land?

Lest we forget all that they were, all that they are, and all that they could have ever been?

We must remember the sacrifice of those brave souls, yet to honour their sacrifice requires us an understanding of what made their valour, their bravery, and their sacrifice necessary.

We must not only remember the sacrifice of those who willingly gave themselves up to preserve the ideals & freedoms we hold dear; We must never forget the sacrifices of the unwilling who were never asked whether they wanted to fight a war; The fathers & grandfathers, mothers & grandmothers, sons & daughters who lost their friends, family, and lives to starvation, disease, and deprivation.

We must not only remember the ideals & freedoms our forebears fought to preserve so that we yet unborn might inherent them; We must never forget the anger & grief that grew in hearts of those who survived; The seeds of hatred sown in the bloody aftermath that still find fertile soil in which to grow to this day.

We must not only remember the brave, the bold, and the fearless who volunteered to risk their lives in defence of those who could not defend themselves; We must never forget the greedy, the selfish, the uncaring, and the cowardly; The rulers, pundits, grifters, and opportunists - who by action or inaction - lead generations of men, women, and children to their undeserving graves by law, by writ, and by order.

We must remember, and we must never forget, that Humanity is responsible for our sins. We unleash hell on Earth of our own volition. We sow it with our deeds, nurture it in our hearts, sustain it with our work, glorify it with our histories, and perpetuate it with our ignorance.

We must remember that never forget means to never forget, in totality, in perpetuity, for the sake of all those already gone, those standing here today and for those we will never meet.

For if we forget, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes those that bore the torch before us paid in metal & meat; pain & grief; devastation & ruin.

For the sake of all our selves, those gone, those borne, and those yet to be, we must never forget.