November 11, 2013

"Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals..."

"... and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and..."
... it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.... the President of the United States is... inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.
Today is Veterans Day, the original observance — based on the text — demonstrating friendly relations with all other peoples.

What would be an appropriate ceremony of friendly relations with all other peoples?

18 comments:

Heartless Aztec said...

We don't even have friendly relations with the various sovereign states of our own country and you want to go branching out already? That's a pot of coffee to think about...

Rusty said...

Recognizing their dead as well.

Anonymous said...

Wilson, awful President.

Veterans Day? The Anglosphere does it much better as Remembrance Day...

You get 212 million hits on Remembrance Day 2013

https://www.google.com/#q=remembrance+day+2013

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

What would be an appropriate ceremony of friendly relations with all other peoples?

Is it even possible to have friendly relations with all other peoples?

Leave aside those peoples whose single simple requirement for friendly relations is that we submit to the will of Alah (as they themselves interpret it to be).

Just having friendly relations requires an investment of time and attention - by both parties. That's a lot of networking, considering the number of people on the planet.

What about friendly relations between even two people when there is food enough for only one?

As we - some of us - are finding out, it's easy enough for Politicians to ask and expect the impossible.

Oso Negro said...

I will be writing thank you letters to the British Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan that I know personally. They are good, brave men.

rhhardin said...

It's a day to honor whatever the politicians think will do them the most good to say.

rhhardin said...

The relations between peoples ought not to be friendship but commercial relation.

Every spring grapes from Chile arrive in the supermarkets, fresh and ripe.

The Chilians don't particularly like Americans, but so long as they get more than they put into the grapes, and so long as Americans pay less than the grapes are worth to them, both sides benefit.

That's all that matters.

The same argument can be made internally to the US. Blacks don't have to be liked by whites, just deal commercially with them, to succeed. There's no obstacle.

Think like Chileans.

Just remember that everything has to benefit both sides.

Scott M said...

What would be an appropriate ceremony of friendly relations with all other peoples?

Allowing them to see another sunset.

I'm heading down to my daughter's excellent public elementary school for a entire half-day's worth of Veteran's Day festivities. I recently found out that not only do they still do the PoE each morning, standing with hands on hearts, but they also include the "under God" bit.

See? It's not all doom and gloom.

Scott M said...

One of my favorite veteran-based jokes.

A ex-soldier goes into his first civilian job interview. One of the three people interviewing him asks, "So, what is your greatest weakness?"

"Honesty," the ex-soldier replies.

"I don't think honesty is a weakness," says another interviewer.

"I don't give a shit what you think," the ex-soldier says.

David said...

On November 11, 1918 Corporal Hitler was in a hospital in Germany, recovering from temporary blindness caused by mustard gas.

His unit, the List Regiment, had incurred over 50% casualties in the last weeks of the war as the allies pressed their advantage. The unit had lost cohesion and fighting effectiveness and was withdrawn from the line.

The withdrawal spared them the final obscenities of the fighting. The armistice was signed at 5:30 AM. But the cease fire was delayed until 11 AM, partly to achieve the poetic unity of ending the fighting at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Units on both sides continued to fire, and a massive barrage arose in the final minutes as soldiers competed to fire the last shot of the war. Estimates of casualties for that morning range from 2000 to 10,000.

At 11 all firing stopped. Voices could be heard across no mans land all along the lines. There was some singing. Soldiers began to emerge from shelter and wander about. No one fired on them

Citizens celebrated in the streets in France and England but not in Germany. Corporal Hitler was angry. He felt betrayed.

Hitler would be released from the hospital on November 17, embittered and seeking a purpose in life. Armistice Day was the original name for the commemoration, and it was accurate. The war was not over.

MadisonMan said...

I'll have to reread The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club tonight since its plot turns on Remembrance Day.

Gahrie said...

How about we send a fleet of drones out to bomb some third world shithole?

Lewis Wetzel said...

What would be an appropriate ceremony of friendly relations with all other peoples?

The most appropriate ceremony would involve intercourse between peoples.

Big Mike said...

Of course thanks to Wilson and the other Allied leaders, it would only take 20 years before there was a war even more destructive, bloodier, and further reaching.

Michael K said...

"Veterans Day? The Anglosphere does it much better as Remembrance Day... "

It was Armistice Day when I was a kid. What is it with this castration of national holidays? The Fourth of July is safe because much of the left doesn't know what is being celebrated. They think it's barbeque or some similar low class topic.

Crunchy Frog said...

Rescue me from hanging on this line
I won't give up on giving you
The chance to blow my mind
Let the eleventh hour quickly pass me by
I'll find you when I think I'm out of time

Crunchy Frog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wince said...

the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals...

That reminds me, I have to schedule my first colonoscopy.