We are lucky to live ten minutes up the road from the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA) in Alrewas. It's a place that has grown on me more and more as I've visited. As it's a place to remember those who have died in conflict it is a place of mourning - but it's also a place of inspiration, enlightenment, reflection and gratitude. I, for one, am very grateful to those who fought to defend the freedom we enjoy in this country. I don't pretend to understand or advocate international conflict (who likes wars?) but I'm glad that I enjoy the freedoms I have and I realise that a lot is owed to the people who gave up so much during the world wars.
A Vigil was held on Monday 4th August at the NMA. A large group of people gathered together to read stories and bible passages, sing hymns and remember.
During the minute of silence we observed after the Last Post was played, someone's phone let out the familiar bleep-bleep bleep-bleep of a message coming through.
At first I rolled my eyes. Surely they could have put it on silent?
Then I listened. Like, really listened.
In our supposed "silence" there were birds chirping, a plane passing overhead and, yes, that person's phone going off.
The thing was, we were all silent. Everyone was observing the silence with the utmost respect and reverence and to the best of their ability. It dawned on me that life is like that. We can't always control the environment we're in or the situations that happen to us. We can't drown out the noise of the plane passing overhead, the birds singing, or the phone. But we can control what we do. We can choose to Be Still.
What an amazing thing that is - that we can make these decisions. We have the freedom to do so much in this life, in this country. Even with times where we have external influence we can control our own conduct and attitude.
The plane, the bird and the phone didn't stop us from having our minute to reflect.
We are the Masters of our fate and the Captains of our souls.
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