Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Armistice Day

And, just when I think I've gotten the hang of living in the UK, I get this email from our MD today at work:

"Good Morning all,

Today is Armistice Day. We have a number of external meetings, deliveries etc which happen around the building so as usual we haven’t asked for a standstill at 11am.

However, I do want people to feel comfortable to stop and reflect for two minutes at 11am if they wish to do so and would ask anyone playing music, using printers etc to stop or switch off for this period."

I think it's pretty cool that in this day & age, it's apparently still commonplace for people to pause for a few minutes to reflect. I can't imagine any email like this going out to people at a US company encouraging a 2-minute pause at work!

3 comments:

  1. Really? i am surprised by that. the lask of in the States as apposed to your email. I remember several places of work where all work stopped for times of remeberance and it was compulsory. As a young whipper snapper it was nothing other than midly irritating but these days I can appreciate the brevity of it all. in fact i gave myself a wee 30 seconds (all the youngest would allow) at home today at 11am.

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  2. Oh, I would say that in my case I remember doing quite a lot of it in the USA. I taught there for a couple of years and there were 1 min silences for Columbine for several years (I live in Colorado, a couple miles from where the school shootings were). Similarly, there were silences for a few years after 9/11. I know that in my area schools and businesses were asked to observe a min of silence. Perhaps not in bustling NYC or something, but in the two-three places I lived in the States after graduating high school did. That has been my experience anyway!

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  3. That is really cool. The last time I remember a group silence in ages is when I was visiting the UK when Princess Diana died and there was a few moments of relection in Heathrow. I do remember quite a few moments of silence in the States as well, but they were years ago.

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