VE DAY 2020

75th Anniversary of V.E. day, 2020

After observing two minutes of silence at 11am with many in the Nation, I turned to my emails. I had recalled the sacrifice of so many in the Second World War: but not just the deaths of the victors but all the lost lives of the millions across the world. I recalled not just the military but the civilians as well as the pacifists, prisoners of conscience and the victims of the holocaust and other pogroms and selected targetings.

So many lives, so many sacrifices, so many years of suffering. I remembered the whole gamut of peoples across the globe. I was celebrating the coming of peace, the cessation of war not just the victory.

After my emails I turned to the news pages. The headline was the marking of two minutes of silence and a picture of Prince Charles and his wife.

Then I noted another item, a statement by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The UN, the body set up to bring together the countries of the world in a determination to stop further wars. We know many wars rage at present and I think of Syria, the Ukraine, Somalia, Yemen and many more.

My eye was drawn to the statement which claimed that the pandemic had "unleashed a tsunami of hate and xenophobia."

I am still stunned and shocked.

Why does mankind battle so?

Why is there such hatred which leads to aggressive physical, mental and psychological behaviours?

How do we understand it?

How do we eradicate it?

I have no answers nor do many peacemakers over the centuries. 

My reading of Yuval Harari's 'Sapiens. A brief history of humankind' does not fill me with hope, yet I will hope.

He writes: "tolerance is not a Sapiens trademark. In modern times a small difference in skin colour, dialect or religion has been enough to prompt one group of Sapiens to set about exterminating another group." He does, however, note that most of us do not appreciate just how peaceful an era we live in (written in 2014).

He gives statistics to underline his point. In 2000, 310,000 died as a result of wars, 520,000 of violent crime: only 1.5 percent of the 56 million who died that year. As many committed suicide and many more died in car accidents.

Yet I still on this day celebrate peace and wonder at our aggression.

Is it motivated by fear, or a desire/need for land, resources or a result of defence against another? Is it the power of an ambitious, ruthless human?

Is it greed, scapegoating to turn people away from another disaster or problem?

Why do individuals  participate in the aggression  and conflict while some suffer for pacifism?

I am sure each conflict has its own causes and excuses and reasons yet is there a foundational cause? 

I look to myself as gangs, groups and nations should look to themselves. Jealousy?

He has, I do not have and I want what he has.

Is it prejudice?

I dislike X, Y and Z which might include race, religion or attitude.

Am I reacting to threats, threats to lifestyle, property, family or even ego?

With the pandemic 'they', the foreigner, the other, they have caused it. I blame anyone to alleviate my own situation and fear. 

We all need to actively examine ourselves and pursue tolerance and peace. Shelley noted peace is the 'dream of life' and those of us who otherwise than support peace:

…its we, who lost in stormy visions, keep with phantoms an unprofitable strife,..we decay like corpses in a charnel; fear and grief convulse us and consume us day by day

And cold hopes swarm like worms....

Peace is to the advantage of all yet we still harbour intolerance and hatred.

On this VE Day can we not vow to pursue alternatives to war and aggression?