#19182018

Centennial of Armistice 1918 Used under CC BY SA

A French colleague asked me why we all wear poppies here in the UK at this time of year. I explained how they symbolise the act of remembrance, which started after the horror of the 14-18 war and not abated since.

What i could not explain was the deeper meaning. It is very personal to me. It is not about jingoism or nationalism as some these days would have it, it is about national guilt, personal loss. Grieving families remembering their children as they were. Trying not to imagine them as they might have been; terrified, crouching in fox holes as the shell fell. Snagged on barbed wire. Drowing in mud. Just plain frightened and useless.

Remembrance is also about hope. My great grandfather and my grandfather fought Germans in their teens their twenties. My grandmother made bombs to kill them. I have German friends and colleagues. We can never turn back the clock. Remember. Remember them. Remember them all.

#remembrancesunday #100 #greatwar #comicsmaker #comics