Did Germany “get off easy”? I don’t know, the people certainly didn’t. One out of 10 Germans died in WWII. Half the population was displaced. The country was divided for 50 years and half of it under soviet control. The Nazi’s were defeated, the threat was gone. Punishing the people that were left would not have done them or us any good. I hold it to their credit that the very people that survived the bombing of London felt ill at ease even at the time with incinerating the people of Dresden.

And thatis part of the horrible thing of war… not just what is done to you, but what you have to do. Indeed, it may be the worst part because it is what lives on with the survivors. Peace is not just about not being killed, it is even more about not having to kill.

And I think it should be noted that it is “Rememberance Day”. Not “War hero day” or even “Veteran’s Day.” We need to honour those that served, but even more we need to remember what they went through. What they did, both good and bad. Because what it is really about is remembering what war is. What it does what is required. The first phrase associated with remeberance day is “Lest we forget” but the other is “Never again.” The second phrase is why we musn’t forget, so that it will be less likely that we will ever go to war for reasons other than absolute nescessity. That our young will not cheerfully line up to go and die in the mud for what afterward seem trivial reasons.

The ultimate goal in any war, and of any soldier must be that of peace, as contradictory as it sounds. And that is what we need to remember; that war is so horrible, so damaging that the only just reason for fighting one is to end it.