Too Small, But At Least It Exists

[poliphilo]

 The path up hill to the Remembrance Arch in Leicester goes through The Peace Garden- and is flanked by modestly sized memorials to people other than frontline soldiers who have suffered in war. Here's the one to the conscientious objectors. It should be at least the size of the Lutyens Arch. Perhaps one day we'll come to our senses and it will be...



The inscription reads:

"The right to Conscientious Objection was hard won. We honour the 250 known and many unknown individuals from Leicester and Leicestershire who refused to fight in WWI"

I ask myself if I would have had the courage to be one of them- and doubt that I would. I think contempt and mental cruelty- which is what they faced- may be harder to bear than the horrors of active service. But what do I know? I haven't had to deal with either...

Comments

[cmcmck]

Our local Sikh community planted a tree in our own peace garden to commemorate the Amritsar massacre and it's thriving.

I've experienced the first but not the latter.

[tagryn]

Whatever else, "Downton Abbey" did introduce and educate a new generation about the phenomena of the use of white feathers as a shaming tool to pressure people to enlist during WWI, which gave some idea of the social pressure anyone not 100% enthusiastic towards the war was under : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_feather