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THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FAMILY AS WE REMEMBER.

Date added: Sunday 9th November 2008

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A FAMILY

Do you remember that song which goes 'What a difference a day makes'? Just twenty four hours. So what difference does a year make to a grieving family? Any family, who has lost a loved one in whatever circumstance. For them it is a life changing; shattering experience which as so many people would say, and have said to me, that given time, time will heal, but DOES IT? Does time really make things any different?

Since the tragic loss of Daniel and all of those other comrades in arms of his, the world in my perspective, has suddenly grown much smaller and closer as we have, as a family lost a beloved son and grandson, but too, we have come that much closer in many ways, closer as a community and closer to those who suffer as we suffer, and to those who have carried the flag of this country in ages past.

More than half a century has past by since the end of the Second World War, and prior to that the First World War and countless conflicts since, all of which have taken thousands of lives. The old hero's of yesteryear have long gone to glory in Heaven, leaving the young behind to remember and move forward with what the old hero's fought for.

It is bad enough to have to handle the loss of a relative to injury or death in a car accident, let alone to have to come to terms knowing that your son, your daughter, brother, sister or grandson had been killed by a snipers bullet or a specifically placed roadside bomb in a dirty war.

The loss of so many people in the two world wars should be enough to wake us all up to the fact that humanity matters, that the world matters, and that we, that self same humanity are not only still hell bent on killing each other but we are also hell bent on killing our planet as well.

The two world wars were in part what I would term 'clean wars' but no war is ever really clean, back then you knew your enemy, and you knew what you enemy was capable of. What we are facing today in this 21st Century is a warfare which is not clean, it is exceedingly dirty, made so by the ingenuity of mankind, with his germ warfare, and thinking and seeing munitions, hidden, and sometimes invisible with tragic and far reaching consequences, sometimes for years after, the more mankind strives for the unobtainable in his aims to better himself the dirtier warfare will become, until we reach the stage where there will be no turning back, the end will be final and exceedingly black for all mankind. For ever more.

I say to the people of Great Britain, are you, yourselves, not proud of your son or daughter as they progress through their respective School or College? Then should we too not be proud of the sons and daughters of Great Britain, who are placed in unenviable positions to fight dirty wars by the mother and father of Great Britain, namely THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT!! It's Ministers and MP's who you may recall we vote onto those hallowed seats at Westminster.

The battle is never over till it is lost; I knew in my heart that this particular battle would be long and hard for our young hero's. Some of you who might be reading this article will no doubt have either a son or daughter who has served or is serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, or who like us have lost a loved one in this sad conflict, and how I understand your grief if you have suffered such a loss. I would just wish you to know that you have the love in this old heart of mine for your own family as you have had to come to terms with that loss, and just know in your heart that you are not alone to face that, for there are many people holding you up in their prayers and thoughts, as I have witnessed so many times this last painful year.

In this 21st century we again see many conflicts and unnecessary wars taking place around the world. Conflicts fought by our own sons and daughters, of all colors and creeds, young people, who have proudly taken up the flag in the name of Queen and this our country, and sent at the behest of this government to inhospitable and often hostile countries, and who are seen as the hated enemy, and not as champions of democracy as said government would perceive. But has this self same Government treated these brave young men and women with the dignity and respect that they have earned and died for?

Governments are known, as we have learnt for so long, that they have come to use words, words that can be made to fit their actions, but such words have little meaning to those who have lost so much in such a short time, and such words fall flat on the ears of the honest hard working public and voter.

My heart bleeds, as though it were an endless river of blood that runs and flows with the blood, shed by our countless servicemen and women both now, and in the past in the name of freedom and democracy. One but wonders, if there were more of our devoted soldiers being killed right now, then perhaps other people might think differently, and react differently to this present situation in Iraq and Afghanistan as a country we face.

Speaking as a grandad I can't help but look back, not in anger of hate but a righteous anger, at what might have been. I instead now try to turn the negative into positive, to turn pain into newness and focus on the highs that I want to bring. One such high has been the commissioning and inauguration of the Coffey Cup, you can read about that elsewhere on this site.

As Remembrance Day approaches and we stop and reflect at the hour of eleven on Sunday, it probably will be easy for us, the older generation to remember the lost of two world wars and other conflicts that as a country we have faced because for us that mean's something.

For the young of the twenty first century however that proves difficult to understand and they question what it was all for. The young of today cannot see what the older generation saw and felt, but there is a stark message for our young today and I write to them directly with this message.

You are too young to remember what we remember but now, today you too have your own reasons to remember and they run parallel to Armistice Day, I refer of course to the present day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as a county we are facing. Young men and women, some of which are probably even younger than you, who are reading this now.

So many, just like Daniel have given the ultimate sacrifice, or been terribly injured this past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So today young friends, remember them as though they were your own brothers and sisters, because just like those young men of ages past, they are someone's son, someone's daughter and above all, they are the sons and daughters of Great Britain, this family of people who make up this our country.