Silence at work - rememberance

So what you're saying is it's OK for people to not observe the silence, but you want them to stop what they are doing and be quiet during it...

I don't understand how what other people choose to do during the 2 minutes is even slightly important. People fought to protect our civil liberties and telling people that don't want to be part of the silence to shut up or leave seems to fly in the face of that. I was silent but it certainly didn't bother me that some people in the office weren't.

"But on the other hand, the strong negative judgements against those who simply wish to not join in are equally unjust - as mentioned earlier, simply not engaging in a public ritual doesn't mean the person doesn't care about the sacrifices made."

^that sums it up for me.
 
Not observed in the slightest at my work. I was late for the morning meeting on Sunday as well as I was observing the silence which my boss called me up on. However, once I told her that I was reflecting during the moments silence she did shut up. Today everyone just got on as normal though I did take some time out to think and remember.

It's a shame that people don't seem to care.
 
One More Solo said:
So what you're saying is it's OK for people to not observe the silence, but you want them to stop what they are doing and be quiet during it...

I don't understand how what other people choose to do during the 2 minutes is even slightly important. People fought to protect our civil liberties and telling people that don't want to be part of the silence to shut up or leave seems to fly in the face of that.
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You should not tell them what to do, but it is only polite to not interrupt a solemn moment, while you do not have to observe the silence yourself, it is simple manners to respect the silence of those around you that do.
 
I would also state, that simply observing the silence doesn't equate to respecting the sacrifices made - neither does it imply the person actually cares (unlike many seem to think).

All it really means is that the person decided to observe the silence, nothing more.

Many do what others do around them due to not wishing to face public condemnation for going against the grain, peer pressure, nationalism, tradition - all these reasons exist for taking part which have absolutely no bearing on actual respect or appreciation for the sacrifices made.

Conversely, a choice to not take part could be made for a multitude of reasons - genuinely not caring, not agreeing with the method, dislike for the focus on the military/nationalist connections to these kind of events, preference to personal reflection (as opposed to group activities) or a disinterest in these kind of public events (but may have a more in-depth personal connection with the issue).

On overall point being, that taking part in a specific ritual says nothing about the persons actual views.

The event should not be used a moral cudgel to beat people they disapprove of with - or as a balloon to inflate their own moral image/self-superiority with.

Castiel said:
You should not tell them what to do, but it is only polite to not interrupt a solemn moment, while you do not have to observe the silence yourself, it is simple manners to respect the silence of those around you that do.
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Personally, I would leave them be & not speak out load as it's simply respecting another human beings wishes for something they hold personal (this ritual).
 
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Strangely no silence at my work today either, it was around 12 when I realised there had been no announcement.

Was in a coffee shop yesterday at 11 with my young son. We had already talked about the minutes silence and what would happen at 11 during the morning.

Just before 11 the staff turned off the music and asked everyone to be quiet but then carried on talking to each other behind the counter.

There must have been over 10 people in the shop and about 30 secs in most of the older couples just started their conversations again.

I was a little embarrassed having told my son how important it was to stop and remember and yet most of the people around us stopped for just a few seconds.
 
Robosapien said:
Oh look, all my posts have been deleted. It's like Nazi Germany after all. Fall in line! Follow the rules! We will crush your voice!

Why on earth should I show any respect just because a lot of people died. Rubbish.
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Around 900,000 British troops were killed in the First World War and just under 400,000 in WW2. You have the right of free speech and opinion that they paid for. That would certainly get my respect.

I'm no Nazi by the way and to compare moderation to the Nazi regime is offensive.
 
It was observed at my company today. We were in the middle of systems outage and when the announcement came over the tannoy everyone did respect it, even to the point of one of the guys explaining on the call what was happening and then the rest of the call falling silent (they were in Singapore and India). Even when there was a big failure being investigated it just went on hold for a couple of minutes.

A thought struck me today too. As I was looking around at everyone being still I realised it doesn't just show that everyone today remembers, but it's a unifying event which spans right back to the wars and will, hopefully, endure long into the future. Everyone in the UK (who observes it) is linked by this event. I will always observe it and encourage my kids to do so too.

I do think it's a little sad though that fewer people seem to wear poppies. I see many people buying them but fewer people wearing them. To me it's not just about donating money but by wearing them we show our support and gratitude. Wearing a poppy and being silent for two minutes is the least I can do to show it.

I won't say which company it is but it's one of the large banks and their headquarters in London has memorial plaques in their head office to every employee that died in WW1 and WW2. That's quite touching I feel.
 
Robosapien said:
Why on earth should I show any respect just because a lot of people died. Rubbish.
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Good grief, get a grip.
It's how they died and what for so you could play your guitar in a rock band.
Do you think you would be living like you live now if Hitler had won?

I'm embarrassed for you.
Fair enough don't 'Remember' because it's your right and what those soldiers fought for but keep your gob shut.
 
This came up today.
I was busy on the computers at a local job center (I do tech support there as experience).
I needed to ask a question on what they wanted doing with a particular computer. I walk down the hall, say "I" and then I'm immediately met with the finger over lip. I'm like "what?", again finger over lip and a rather angry look. I'm confused at this point, so I stand there while everyone else in the room is silent not knowing what is happening.

The guy I was trying to talk too then says its 11-11. I'm like "so?" then he says world war 1. I'm like "yeh...what about it?", then I'm just given a dirty look and told its the 2 min silence. so i'm like "errr...kay" and walk away.

Sorry but...I just don't care.
 
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MatsyLR said:
This came up today.
I was busy on the computers at a local job center (I do tech support there as experience).
I needed to ask a question on what they wanted doing with a particular computer. I walk down the hall, say "I" and then I'm immediately met with the finger over lip. I'm like "what?", again finger over lip and a rather angry look. I'm confused at this point, so I stand there while everyone else in the room is silent not knowing what is happening.

The guy I was trying to talk too then says its 11-11. I'm like "so?" then he says world war 1. I'm like "yeh...what about it?", then I'm just given a dirty look and told its the 2 min silence. so i'm like "errr...kay" and walk away.

Sorry but...I just don't care.
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Maybe you don't. But others do and you shouldn't try to interrupt their moment of rememberance if it's clear they want to take part.
 
MatsyLR said:
This came up today.
I was busy on the computers at a local job center (I do tech support there as experience).
I needed to ask a question on what they wanted doing with a particular computer. I walk down the hall, say "I" and then I'm immediately met with the finger over lip. I'm like "what?", again finger over lip and a rather angry look. I'm confused at this point, so I stand there while everyone else in the room is silent not knowing what is happening.

The guy I was trying to talk too then says its 11-11. I'm like "so?" then he says world war 1. I'm like "yeh...what about it?", then I'm just given a dirty look and told its the 2 min silence. so i'm like "errr...kay" and walk away.

Sorry but...I just don't care.
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Reading that makes you seem a real POS.
 
Christ, this blew up didn't it.

If you don't care, or are not interested or whatever then that's fine, that is your prerogative and that is FINE.

But respect others, especially in such a case when their fathers/grandfathers may have served and may have died to protect what YOU have to this very day.

Had ours at work today, instantly thought of my grandad, top bloke.
 
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Dimple said:
I believe that most people will come to a point when they realise about remembering the fallen.
Up to the age of 25 I couldn't give a toss and wondered why they kept going on & on about it but something happened that completely changed my outlook (I can't remember what it was).
My eldest also had the same thoughts until she visited Auschwitz and now she says she will never miss going to the Cenotaph with me.
Don't be too harsh on people because I'm sure it will hit them at some point.
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But this is something that stays with you all year around, not just something you do because society says so once a year. This is what the OP and others have been saying.

Being silent once per year is meaningless if you do you care for the cause, and those that do care for the cause seemingly care all year around.
 
spoffle said:
But this is something that stays with you all year around, not just something you do because society says so once a year. This is what the OP and others have been saying.

Being silent once per year is meaningless if you do you care for the cause, and those that do care for the cause seemingly care all year around.
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I find this, along with comic relief and all the other similar things an excuse, nothing more or less. We fight wars of greed and terror against other countries, but we're moral and good because this 2 minutes a year we're quiet and pretend to honour the dead. No you can't be part of a society in which you do nothing to stop your own military oppressing other people in the world while honouring the people who died preventing just such a military doing exactly the same thing.

It's like charity, have one big event once a year then everyone can give a fiver and release their conscience about it, "I gave £20 on comic relief therefore I'm moral and don't have to think about the people in china dying to mine coal to feed the power stations that run the plants where slave labour makes the crap I want to buy for cheap".

It's a get out clause, I'm moral because I pay the guilt relief fee on the day I'm supposed to pay the guilt relief fee and I don't have to think about how much the rest of the world suffers the other 364 days a year.

I don't have to constantly think about the disgusting way we completely dishonour the brave sacrifice our soldiers made in two world wars by having our current army wage wars of aggression for greed and power... because I think about them for 2 minutes a year?

I find these things embarrassing, it's not that it wouldn't be a bad thing IF we didn't completely dishonour these things the other 364 days and 1438 minutes of the year. It's completely ridiculous. I don't need a semi enforced 2 minutes in a year to think about the brave things people have done, I can think about that, and do think about it a hell of a lot more often.

I find things like the 2 minutes silence a wilfully ignorant agreement to ignore the bad crap we do the rest of the time. Ignoring the crap for 364 days and 1438 minutes a year because we can remember the last good thing we did for the world that many years ago... it's embarrassing, disingenuous, self congratulating, dishonourable and simply ridiculous.

Our country currently kills scores of people, pretty much every day, in wars of aggression...... we've done this for the past decade non stop..... the very kind of oppression we used to fight and now partake in willingly. But we're quiet for 2 minutes a year so it's ok.
 
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