Does that include the IRA?

Yup.

Perhaps you could read my post again and educate us all.

I'm pretty sure I was agreeing with you. No?

I think of it as 2 minutes to remember everyone who has died needlessly in some form of armed conflict. Whether his be a noble cause or not, there is more than likely a better way somewhere that he could have solved his differences with his enemy.

Would we deny the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, the Hungarians, the Serbs their right to stop and remember their fallen?

Remembrance it is, but it should also be two minutes for everyone to hang his or her head and contemplate the sheer stupidity of man when he stops talking and picks up a gun.

Well said dd.

"I'm pretty sure I was agreeing with you. No?"

I was pretty sure that you were not, and I'm glad to be wrong if that's the case.

I can't help feeling though that in Ireland and many countries there are many people who do not feel any obligation to acknowledge the dead soldiers of the British army. I can hardly blame those with that opinion, there may well be a damn good reason for it as I said before. Many Irishmen fought and died in the world wars including members of my family so I whilst having reservations I feel no problem in observing rememberances in my own way.

However I doubt that ALL soldiers in ALL wars are in the mind of those with poppy fever.

However I doubt that ALL soldiers in ALL wars are in the mind of those with poppy fever.

I think you will find it's all victims of the wars and I would say a large majority of observers include everyone.

And have you ever paused for a moment and considered why she hated all British soldiers? She may have a damn good reason.

Some maybe but not all. All sides had to work for peace.

Here here soda

Things should be so much different.

I stopped today for a few minutes and thought about Irishmen who fought and died for a better life, the futility of it all. The futility of the current 'wars' and the futility of conflict and the years of hatred it engenders.

Completely forgot about the 2 minutes silence today – had even ditched my poppy thinking it had happened on Sunday. Was facilitating 10 professionals in a focus group this morning and none of them mentioned it. Only realised when we finished and went into a nearby cafe which had the service on TV. Felt very guilty about forgetting, especially as relatives fought and died (including one I am named after) in WW2.

….even ditched my poppy thinking it had happened on Sunday

TBH the 2 minute silence is on Armistice Day is a very recent thing imo. As a child, only the 2 minute silence on Remembrance Sunday was ever observed. That after all, is the whole point of having a Remembrance Sunday as close to Armistice Day as possible – observing the 2 minute silence on Armistice Day, makes the 2 minute silence on Remembrance Sunday pointless imo.

ernie_lynch – Member
…TBH the 2 minute silence is on Armistice Day is a very recent thing imo.

It's not. We were doing it in the '50s and it wasn't new then.

Parade on Remembrance Sunday, plus 2 minutes silence on the actual day.

If you don't want to think about the soldiers, think about how big government can take control of your life and put you in the situation of those young blokes in 1914-18. Couldn't happen these days, eh….

To quote my grandad, "I'd sooner have a hundred people fall silent off their own back, than everyone do it because they think they have to"

Doesnt really make sense. Those 100 would still do it off their own back, but the "enforced" silence makes others aware of the reasoning and sacrifice, who may otherwise never even think about it in their entire life. The wars were about choice, choice to ignore it and carry on working if you disagree, not apathy and forgetting.

I was at Chill Factor in Manc. I was having a lesson at 11, but the instructor said we'd start 2 minutes late due to the silence. Fine by me.

Then 2 stupid bints talked all the way through it at the tops of their voices. Cretins.

Showing respect shouldn't be compulsory, it should be part of your humanity. If you haven't got that there's something missing from you as a person.

Recently lost a relative who served in WW2, was at a service on Sunday (at which he usually joined us). Had tears streaming while the last post played.

The funeral was on Monday and again once the bugle started up I again couldn't stop the tears.

My job doesn't enforce a 2 min silence, but the noise level dropped considerably as many people chose to observe the silence.

Personally I dont mind if people choose not to participate in the 2 min silence, however if someone goes out of there way to make lots of noise etc while others around them are showing their respect it annoys the hell out of me, and this year I might have got the bombers out (pun intnended) on them!

It the same for anything though, I wouldn't think of **** about moisily while someone was showing their respects at a graveyard etc, and this should be no different.

It's not. We were doing it in the '50s and it wasn't new then.

Fair enough. But although I remember as a kid once being in Oxford Circus at 11am on Remembrance Sunday and seeing all the traffic coming to a complete standstill for 2 minutes, I don't ever remember my school observing a 2 minute silence at 11am on Armistice Day. Still, maybe I've just forgotten …..

It certainly wasn't prevalent in the 70s or 80s and remembrance sunday was the ceremony. However there was a newspaper campaign to reinvigorate (probably the Sun) in the 90s and it is more widely observed again now.

observed it here – always do (4 mins late though as we got distracted by a call)

halfway through the bloody fax machine went off 🙁

I was in my LBS, 2 minute silence observed by all staff and the customers who were in the shop. I too always think of it as a chance to reflect on all the fallen from all sides across the world. My Granny lost 3 brothers in WW1, though I didn't know them the thought of them still makes me terribly sad.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

For the first time anyone could remember the prison I work in had 2 mins silence. It came over the radio, 'all stations, we will now observe 2 mins silence for those who have given their lives'..etc. Except it was slightly early & about a minute in, a prisoner shouts from the 2's landing, 'boss, are we having 2 minutes silence today!' followed by, 'f*ck, didn't know it had started, sorry' We all smiled.

Except it was slightly early & about a minute in, a prisoner shouts from the 2's landing, 'boss, are we having 2 minutes silence today!' followed by, 'f*ck, didn't know it had started, sorry' We all smiled.

Excellent!

I can honestly say that I've never heard of anyone stopping work for a silence at any school, college or workplace that I've ever been at.