Thoughts on VE Day

My mum was inside this building which was flattened in an air raid early on in the Blitz. When they first found her body they thought that she was dead. Then they went back for a second look and recovered her.

Her legs were so badly broken that they wanted to amputate them, but she wouldn't let them. She spent the next three years in and out of hospital having multiple operations. She smelt so much, her legs were encased in plaster, that they allowed her to smoke to hide the smell.
She was able to walk again although she could only walk with made to measure shoes as her feet could not lie flat on the ground as her tendons had been shortened.
They said that she would never be able to have children, so she had me instead!

War is terrible, everyone slain or injured, on both sides of the conflict, is someone's loved son or daughter. Is someones mum or dad or sibling. Is a husband or wife.

We say we have not had war since, but look at what happened in the former Yugoslavia. What happened in the "troubles" in Ireland. What happens in every act of terrorism. What is happening today in parts of Africa, in parts of the Arab world. Have we learnt nothing?

Even today with Covid-19 the language used by all political parties verges on the violent rhetoric. Have the Tories made mistakes in the handling of the pandemic? Undoubtably. Would Labour have made the same mistakes? No - but they would have made their own different ones. We all err, we are all human. No one person or party knows all or has all the answers.

As we remember those that have fallen let our fitting tribute to them be a renewed desire and willingness to work together for the common good.

St Teresa of Calcutta said: “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”