Armistice Day in Hastings 2018
At 11am on the 11th Nov 2018 Hastings joined with the rest of the country and the world in remembering the end of World War I.
While the primary focus of the day is the soldiers that died in that singular mass slaughter and all the wars that have followed that so-called "war to end all wars", it is worth meditating on the total cost in human lives that it is estimated was the result.
A colossal total estimated at 37 million people (Source 1 or Source 2), of which some 17 million were soldiers.
The address of Father David Hill, rector of St John the Evangelist church in St Leonards, caught the mood of the crowds. He reminded us of the tragic stories of the last servicemen to have died in the final moments before the armistice was declared. The story of an English soldier, an American soldier and a German soldier.
His final message was to remind us of the importance of preserving a sense of human fellowship not only among neighbours in your street, but also across the town, the country, the continent and the globe; even (or especially) with people with whom we disagree. The only way to prevent a drift into the devastating destructiveness that failures in civil discourse can lead, and from which it can be so difficult to turn back once the jingoistic rhetoric starts to take a hold.
An amazing turnout by the Hasting community in a tribute to all those that sacrificed for the common good, that we never forget.
