Updated: 2007-11-12 16:21

Millions across the globe bowed their heads Sunday morning to pay their respects to those who gave their lives during war and peacekeeping missions. (see the pictures)

In London at Whitehall's Cenotaph Queen Elizabeth, and her extended family and English Prime Minister Gordon Brown were on hand, as were hundreds lining the streets.

Down Under at Canberra's War memorial Prime Minister Howard took a break from a busy election campaign to remember the veterans. While commenting on the recent loss of Australian lives in Afghanistan, he made a connection to 1918 and how that too was an election year in Australia.

Meanwhile across the Tasman Sea his counterpart Prime Minister Helen Clark took part in New Zealand’s remembrance services.

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper put a media release on his website on Saturday, and President Bush spoke on air while simultaneously juggling engagements with his German counterpart President Angela Merkel down on his Texas ranch.

For most of these countries who have servicemen and women located in Iraq and Afghanistan, this Sunday had extra importance as it highlighted and united their shared grief of having lost loved ones in far away places be it Basra, Baghdad or Kandahar.

In Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom they call it Remembrance Day. In France and New Zealand it is commonly known as Armistice Day and in the United States, they commemorate Veterans' Day.

This collective outpouring of grief dates back to just over 32,000 days ago when World War I came to a close in France on the 11th of November at 11am – an international conflict estimated to have claimed 20 million lives.

But did the world learn anything?

Thirty years later World War II was under way where approximately 60 million died. Later the Korean and Vietnam conflicts contributed to the growing number of gravestones attributable to war.

Media in Canada mentioned that before the intervention into Afghanistan, Remembrance Day was something of a fading tradition. But today with increasing numbers of their young men losing their lives (71 so far) the moment of silence on the 11th day of the 11th month has taken on growing significance.

As their journalists mentioned it is not just the maimed and deceased that are casualties. It is the families and friends and those that return back to society suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other hellish manifestations that arise from being involved in bloodshed, that also deserve our attention.

Just last week the US media reported that 25 percent of the country’s homeless were war veterans.

The impact of war is not limited to beginning and end dates - its legacy continues for generations. No more vivid example today need be found than the land mines in Cambodia and other former war zones that continue to maim and take innocent lives.

Scanning through the electronic media of the western world on Sunday web journalists and government PR communication officers have all done their best to include the symbol of the blood red poppy flower on their home pages – the symbol of Remembrance Day.

Of note today in Afghanistan poppies are again on the scene during times of conflict though this time it is the pink white opium variety. Since the US led occupation, local farmers are supplying Western Europe’s drug cravings.

This is similar to what occurred during the Vietnam War. In Hollywood today ‘American Gangster’ portrays the heroin trade that mushroomed during this conflict.

And so history appears to be repeating itself.

On one hand the poppy represents the ultimate sacrifice a person can give for their country; on the other, it reflects the exploitation of a weakened national infrastructure and corrupted morals.

Though our leaders may have made a big show by getting out of bed on Sunday morning to pay their respects, we should ask if they forgot the lessons of history when they attempted to impose their will on other people in far away lands.

About the author:

Brendan John Worrell is currently a polisher for China Daily Website. He used to be a teacher and has taught at university and colleges in China, Australia and the UK and also at the high school and primary school level. In the field of writing Brendan has been published most recently in the Tiger Airways In-flight magazine ‘Tiger Tales’, writing about Hainan, Sanya, and in the upcoming issue the sister city relationship between Haikou and Darwin. He has also written travel articles for the Thai English Language Newspaper, The Bangkok Post and the Taiwanese English Language Newspaper, The Taipei Times. Brendan loves China, the Chinese spirit, his Chinese wife and the color red. He can be contacted at brendanjohnworrell@chinadaily.com.cn.