A "small" cemetery

Some people say that the vast numbers of names on the Thiepval Monument and the Menin Gate bring home the enormity of the loss of life in the First World War. I found that there were too many to contemplate on those monuments, but this tiny cemetery up a country lane gave me much food for thought. Although it is so small, and there are many others like it, it contains over 1,000 graves. It struck me that this is roughly the population of one of our villages - wiped out in the space of a year or so.

The wars in which we are now engaged have fewer losses, partly because of different methods of fighting, and partly because more who are injured survive; yet we should still learn from earlier conflicts. As we remember with gratitude the sacrifice of those killed in many wars, right up to the present, let us pray for a time when all leaders seek alternative means to settle differences between countries.