Last week I was reflecting about the upcoming weekend and about the significance of it being 100 years since the end of the First World War. It is a war that I never really studied at school. We concentrated more on the Second World War. I have only ever really known it because of the trenches, the game of football played one Christmas, and for the sheer scale of human loss.
It made me think that the scale of human loss in terms of numbers often causes a numbness to the individual loss. What would it really be like to loose your husband or wife? What must it be like to receive a letter in the post telling you of your loss? I cannot imagine, and I hope never have to experience that.
It made me think that those letters are still going out now. There are still people that are laying down their lives for their country in order to protect our freedom and our way of life.
So what is the point of remembering if all we do is remember? What is the point if we stay silent for two minutes, and then go on with life without anything changing. Surely, if we are to remember properly, we have to learn and change.
So it was in those reflections that I wrote the song Blood On The Earth. I have put the lyrics below and hope that the songs helps you not only remember but think about what we have to do differently to create a better place for our children.
Blood on the Earth
We will remember, we won't forget
All that you gave us, the life that you shed
For King and for country, for strangers and friends
You gave us tomorrow, bought with your end
What can we say to say thank you
What can we do to say thank you
We'll live in peace, so the poppies can grown in the fields
We'll live with each other, standing as sisters and brothers
And the blood on the earth, poured from your heart
Will never ever be forgotten.
The blood on the earth, poured from your heart.
We will remember you.