Belated Remembrance

I followed the link to one of the christian blogs that linked to the child abuse blog. One of the commenters there was under the delusion that atheists consider children meat machines. This is a thoroughly disgusting point of view. As part of remembrance day, I listen to "The green fields of France". The lyrics are really sad and hammer home the personal tragedy of those who suffered and died, leaving a void in the lives of others. To say that as an atheist that I see people as meat really is messed up thinking. Do these people really need faith to feel sorrow and pity at the thoughts of the hopes and lives of people being ended? To me as an atheist, I believe these people are gone for ever - a one off event that is easily and tragically snuffed out. This makes life more valuable and people more precious - not something to be tossed away- or even ended in the name of some false god.

Another powerful image is that of the final scenes of "Blackadder goes forth". That is deeply sad, as you were laughing along with the characters, then they go to the trench. There is a brief moment of hope when the guns go silent and the tragic line "hooray, we have survived the great war of 1914-1917" is proclaimed. Sweeping to the poppy field after the group goes over the top is a real tear jerker - you just know they died!

Sad News

My Gran died last night. She was born in 1916, and although she had been physically deteriorating for a few years, she was still mentally sharp until a few weeks ago when she had a stroke. We are all saddened by it. We were expecting it, and I think this gave us time to prepare (something I don't think the false hope of prayer would do). There is also relief that it was not a prolonged affair for her. Right now, I am filling myself with happy memories of her, which is not difficult as she was always kind and did not have a bad bone in her body. I usually have some rolls and bacon with brown sauce for breakfast on a Saturday. Strangely, it has always been something that reminds me of my Gran. When I was a kid and we visited my Gran and Granddad, she always gave us bacon rolls with brown sauce – cooked on my granddad’s camping stove because I liked that. I also think of her whenever I have a bowl of Heinz tomato soup – whenever I was off school with the flu or some other scabby child disease, she would often look after me when my parents were at work and give me tomato soup. I think it’s the feeling of being cared for by her that I associate with these foods.

I feel particularly sad for my mum and dad as they were very close to her. She always called my Dad the son she never had. I also feel sad that she will never get to see my sister’s first child, who is due in a few weeks. That would have meant so much to her (and my sister). I don’t really think it has sunk into any of us yet, but it has impressed upon me that life is valuable and that we should live it to the full. There is no time to waste what we have, and my Gran wouldn’t want any of us moping about. She would definately tell us off for that.