So today marks another year passed in remembrance of those who died in service of their countries. I woke up fairly late today at around half past ten, but while I was in bed, I looked over at the clock on my bedside table and saw it hit eleven as I had just lay there thinking. At that moment I heard a cannon shot or something very similar. I live very close to the park which contains the main cenotaph in Leicester, and it was almost eerie that after the shot was fired, complete silence fell. I was still in the house so I wouldn't have heard anyone speaking anyway, but I mean complete silence - no traffic, no people out walking, nothing. Only the little bit of wind and birds outside in the garden. It seemed like an age before i heard actual noise again. I like to think that this is the greatest sign of respect we can actually pay those brave men and women who fought and died in service of their countries; we live in a modern and frantic time where time itself is really a commodity, in that time wasted is literally money lost. And yet each year, we put aside those few minutes and stop everything for people we have never met and who are no longer here. I think that is a great display to how compassionate, empathetic and thoughtful a species we can be if we so choose.
After that moment had passed I was browsing the internet and came across a post by someone that included a meme, Overly Manly Man, and story of a British soldier from the First World War. This man had been through hell and back, in that the short story described how he had survived numerous gunshot wounds all over his body, been in a POW camp, and even bitten off his own fingers when doctors couldn't amputate them. And in the last sentence, this man had said "frankly I had enjoyed the war." Underneath this, the Overly Manly Man meme had two simple words pasted onto it that did this frankly light hearted comment all the more poignant - My Hero. Here is a man, in all likelihood deceased, that went through pain unknown to most of us, and came out laughing the other side, showcasing his stiff upper lip like a medal (hopefully he received many actual medals for what he went through). He fought for us and came back with a smile and a joke, and we should all be smiling too for what he and countless others did in the defence of our freedom - true heroes. I love people who can make light of a situation that really should make everybody involved weep, because it just goes to show that you have not been beaten if you can laugh at it a little when it is acceptable to do so.
As is usual for me, thanks for the watches, favourites and comments, please keep them coming it means a lot to see my stuff being appreciated by others.