My grandfather, Raymond Asquith, was killed in 1916 in the battles on the Somme. His three brothers survived the war, though one was shell-shocked. Other members of my family served at home and abroad during World War II.
I therefore joined the many thousands who went to see the Tower moat, turned crimson red. Mass killings of civilians, whether in Europe, Japan or China are now followed by genocides in many parts of the world and by terror attacks, that spare neither men, women, or children.
How can we all become more fully human? Everyone touched by what they saw at the Tower, has the power to become a better citizen both of Britain and of the world. Together we can overcome hate, build bridges of trust, remove fears and help rid the globe of useless weapons and controllable diseases. It takes strong wills to make the world a little better during our life-times. Moral imagination can help us.
I’d better be brief here about your River of Poppies
[I might declare an ‘interest’, in that my uncle was killed by gas in WW1;
and I in Intake 1 of the new Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 1947 was in Somme Company]
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One has to impressed by, even to ‘intuitively’ agree with, your presentation(s),
Lord Hylton –
but when you appear to avoiding and battling-against certain Knowledge & Know-How advances,
such as the Friendly Method III of Needs & Affordable Hows Recognition and Cooperative ‘win-win-win’ Problem-Solving therein,
I believe it to be time to offer you further ‘advice’ here in the Poppies, concerning your particular use of the “will” to make the world a better place, using the “imagination” as a ‘prop’ or “help” to that “Will” .
Readers should first familiarise, and do some practice, from
“Creative Visualisation”[*] by Ronald Shone,
who stresses that Imagination is far more powerful and effective than Will, as preparatory and first-resorts, and also ongoingly.
[*] Not to be confused with the same title by a populist author Shakti Gawain – which is neither comprehensive nor sufficiently practically ‘deep’ to be used as a major serious knowledge & Know-how foundation, as is Shone’s almost ’encyclopaedicly’ practical little paperback.
When I saw the news report and clips of this most moving concept, my first thought was of Enoch Powell. It symbolised his Rivers of Blood speech and I felt it was an omen of destruction. And the odd thing about that perception is, it looked beautiful. So, either as a memorial to the glorious dead, or, as a symbol of British destruction, it summed it up completely.
The artist deserves a medal.
Lord Hylton,
A worthy tribute to one of the few pieces of British modern art to make the national news broadcasts in the United States. The struggle for a greater consciousness of shared humanity, for some kind of spiritual meaning that can occasion peace and for limits on arms all demand attention and present a daunting prospect.
But while the Pope made a visit to the Successor to the Throne of St. Andrew and visited the Blue Mosque with respect it does not change the fact that life for Christians in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Hellespont and associated regions got a lot worse when too few and too poorly armed a group of Christians would not or could not defend their civilization from the Muslim onslaught. I remember Yassir Arafat saying their can be peace that is solid if it is the peace of the brave and tending to agree with him.
I think that in the bleak and trying decades of conflict to come we will need in almost equal parts the skill of peacemakers and their love of peace, the skill of warriors and their love of honor and the skill of creators who can find us a new path forward so that not all the world becomes part of a simple set of zero-sum games.