Sad places you've been too

spanishman said:
My wife and I were Reuters employees on holiday in Portugal when this happened.

I still remember going back to our hotel room after playing 18 holes. Then seeing what happened on tv.

Understanding that there were people from the company I worked for in the building.

I still feel so sad every time I think about it.
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Don't get me wrong, I knew people who died and know families who lost family members, so yes I feel sad about it. It's just that seeing it on a more or less daily basis for all those years, I really don't think about it.
 
NYboro said:
Don't get me wrong, I knew people who died and know families who lost family members, so yes I feel sad about it. It's just that seeing it on a more or less daily basis for all those years, I really don't think about it.
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I think I understand.

I worked in London in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. When lot of terrorist activities and bombings took place.

I do not have the same feelings about these events. Even though I lived and worked close to them at the time.
 
spanishman said:
I think I understand.

I worked in London in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. When lot of terrorist activities and bombings took place.

I do not have the same feelings about these events. Even though I lived and worked close to them at the time.
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Yes, I was in London in the early 80s and the bombings really just annoy me more than anything else.
 
The Commonwealth cemetery at El Alamein was very moving for me... 8000 headstones. We'd been to the Italian (beautiful) and German (compact and very gothic) cemeteries, but the Commonwealth one was huge.

Poverty around the world upsets me too. Manila, Chennai (it was still Madras when I went), Colombo, Vasco Da Gama. Kids follow you everywhere. A few rupees might get them something to eat today, but probably not tomorrow. We argued with a tuktuk driver in Madras over a piddling 50p. And this bloke had took us all over and waited for us while we were in the Sheraton on the lash. Later on I felt really ashamed of myself.
Life's cheap in many parts of the world and sometimes you just don't or won't see it.
 
NYboro said:
Yes, I was in London in the early 80s and the bombings really just annoy me more than anything else.
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Isn't this a testimony to the resilence of humans? Sadly, many people have to face truly hideous situations, ranging in duration and intensity, yet in order to survive, we compartmentalise the horror, accept it and learn to cope as best we can. It is only once those times have passed that we get to reflect and begin to understand what we have come through. Something that is accepted by one person can be another's deepest horror.

Humans are capable, and guilty, of some dispicable acts but we are also capable of incredible mental strength when facing challenges.
 
Lemmy_kilmister said:
The Commonwealth cemetery at El Alamein was very moving for me... 8000 headstones. We'd been to the Italian (beautiful) and German (compact and very gothic) cemeteries, but the Commonwealth one was huge.

Poverty around the world upsets me too. Manila, Chennai (it was still Madras when I went), Colombo, Vasco Da Gama. Kids follow you everywhere. A few rupees might get them something to eat today, but probably not tomorrow. We argued with a tuktuk driver in Madras over a piddling 50p. And this bloke had took us all over and waited for us while we were in the Sheraton on the lash. Later on I felt really ashamed of myself.
Life's cheap in many parts of the world and sometimes you just don't or won't see it.
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poverty around the world upsets me too
Same here mate.
It's the main reason that I spend sixty dollars a week on the Lotto.
I would love nothing more from life than to be able to return to the many poor countries around the world that I've visited and
to give, and a hell of a lot more than I've been able to give in the past.
 
Menin Gates
Robben Island
Alcatraz
Lower Ninth Ward (New Orleans)
Burma railway

all sad in their own way, but none come close to Auschwitz. You feel like you’re on a movie set, and you have to remind yourself that it’s all 100% real and this stuff really did go on. Not even that long ago.
 
SmallTown said:
Everyone likes a holiday but also must people like learning history. What's the saddest interesting place you've been too?

Two stand out for me: the Shows on the Danube in Budapest is a sad and poignant reminder of Genocide.

And Oradour Sur Glane. Site of one of the worst Nazi atrocities in France. An entire town slaughtered and burnt to the ground as revenge for one man being kidnapped and killed. De gualle said the town should be left as it is as a reminder of the tragedy. It remains as is to this day I had never heard of the place but my other half took me there en route to a camp site in the Dordogne. It's so sad and the stories of how eveyrone was killed is terrible.

Both are well done though and really make you think.
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Pontins: Camber Sands
 
In no particular order - The Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, Ground Zero, Auschwitz and the Holocaust Museum in Berlin.

All moving and thought-provoking.
 
A few years ago we did a cycle ride through Belgium and the Somme for the Poppy Appeal. In advance we booked the opportunity to lay a wreath at the Menin gates as we stopped over one of our nights in Ypres. Every night at sunset they have the last post ceremony and we were the first group to be called up to lay our wreath that particular evening. Very moving experience especially when the bugler plays the last post itself.
 
A number of years back I took my young daughter to a country park in Cheshire. One of those unexpected delights was in there. A statue had been carved out of a dying Elm Tree. A graceful praying female looking up to the heavens. The statue was a tribute to the battle against Dutch elm disease at the time. It was a fantastic piece of work and must have taken months to do. We always remembered that statue and had photos with it.

A few later we both went back to that park to visit it again. It was no longer there. Apparently some youths had set it on fire the previous year and it burnt to the ground. We were crestfallen.
 
Visited Bunce Island when I was working in Sierra Leone. Thousands of Africans were held there before being sold as slaves. A British flag was still flying.
 
zzzzz said:
How far do you go back?
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As I said, it's difficult. At the time I felt embarrassed and ashamed, but then I thought that I can't be accountable for what British people did 400 years ago. If you remove the flag are you erasing history ? Lots of dimensions to this one. As I said the locals were ok with it and there certainly was no animosity shown to me.
 
Powerage said:
As I said, it's difficult. At the time I felt embarrassed and ashamed, but then I thought that I can't be accountable for what British people did 400 years ago. If you remove the flag are you erasing history ? Lots of dimensions to this one. As I said the locals were ok with it and there certainly was no animosity shown to me.
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If the locals were OK with it I guess it's fine, it's their history too. From a UK point of view would you really want a blatant symbol of slavery flying in Sierra Leone?

I'm not talking about deleting history or any revisionism. Just it doesn't seem the right place to have the flag.
 
Powerage said:
As I said, it's difficult. At the time I felt embarrassed and ashamed, but then I thought that I can't be accountable for what British people did 400 years ago. If you remove the flag are you erasing history ? Lots of dimensions to this one. As I said the locals were ok with it and there certainly was no animosity shown to me.
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Good answer thanks. I guess there's no clear line to draw. How ago, what atrocities were committed, what residual impact remains, etc etc.

Interestingly it also works the other way.....
I worked in Tunisia some time ago. I got stopped for speeding and the police pulled me over. He was giving me a ticket and saw my hard hat on the back seat with a British Gas logo on it. He said are you British? I said yes then he let me go with a ticking off.

Back in the office I expalined what happened and the locals said that people in Tunisia have a long memory. The British and allies freed the Tunisians from the Nazi's and they've never foirgotten it. It wasn't a one off...... I got stopped a few times and so did others and the same happened.
 
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