Remembrance Sunday.

[Magnet]

I shall again be taking part in the service at my home village to mark the sacrifice made by my grandfather who gave his life at the age of 21, and everyone else who has given their lives lives, or been affected by conflict. 
I shall utter a totally inadequate ‘Thank you’, and a separate thank you that I and my family have been so fortunate in being spared the affects of any conflict. 

That ‘Thank you’ will again be utmost in my mind as we again take part in today’s two minutes silence, but an equal thank you will be said in silence to all those who have helped me and my family in any small way, so that we have been able to conduct our lives as we wish.
 
For me, I feel the use of a ‘Thank you’ on every occasion someone does you even the most modest of kindnesses is still one of the most useful phrases that can be used, and just dilutes any conflict. 
Take care all and hopefully please take the opportunity of using that phrase before returning to bed today. 
Best wishes and kind regards,

Gareth and family. 

[Steve Q]

Visiting the war graves in France was one of the biggest eye openers I've ever had. They must be remembered.

Regarding the word thank you, people have become more selfish a

Nd less likely to use manners. My great gran always said manners cost nothing. 

[alpha omega]

we have been very fortunate in both main wars my grandfather was gassed in the first world war but survived.his face used to swell up now and then.my father survived conflict at sea.and my father in law flew the lancaster bomber in the 2nd world war and survived.my family have been very fortunate.and always grateful to our past generations.very loving, caring,grateful,thankful....we have a cenotaph close to us.and bagpipes are played just before 11am on remembrance day.and try and go over to show how thankful we are.when you see other conflicts going on around the world you feel for them.

[Magnet]

Many thanks Stephen,

I think your family experiences sums up the sacrifices made by those family members who have gone before us in ‘recent’ times, and the debt of gratitude we owe to them for the life we are currently able to enjoy. That gratitude can in a little way be acknowledged by a simple ‘Thank you’. 
I’m old, and have gone through the decades where you were firmly told off if you didn’t say ‘thank you’. 
Sadly, those two important words seem to be lost in our current daily vocabulary, and their use might even be seen as a sign of weakness. 
This forum, and many many more by what I can see, suffers from a lack of acknowledgement for advice and help given, so why don’t we make this day a ‘Thank you’ day, and think about getting into the habit of using it again the day after - it really doesn’t hurt! 

Kind regards,

Gareth.

p.s. Lancaster bombers:- I had the privilege to be able to stand under the cockpit of one of these many years ago - you need a ladder to get into it. Unbelievable. I had to do some research about the Water Orton district a couple of years ago, and talked to a knowledgeable inhabitant of that area and he had interviewed descendants of those involved in the build and trials, and he informed me that you could loop-the-loop in them! 
Blinking heck.