HOW desperately sad to see the report in Saturday’s Oxford Mail headlined Children and troops soldier on to help Armed Forces Day.

This was children playing soldiers at school, taking home the message that a soldier’s life in Afghanistan is “cool”.

I can’t imagine many serving soldiers would see it that way. SSAFA, the excellent charity which supports British soldiers and their families who have been damaged, mentally and physically, in the armed forces, certainly doesn’t.

I know boys love role-playing soldiers. We all have an instinct to protect children from too much reality.

But for soldiers to give them the impression that fighting any war is enjoyable, while airbrushing the horror, is just wrong. War is not child’s play.

Our recent commemorations of events in 1914 and 1944 must surely have taught us that.

Our best hope of survival as a species is to stop fighting each other and concentrate on our shared challenges, especially climate change, by far the greatest threat to our security this century.

The Movement for the Abolition of War (abolishwar.org.uk) is a civil society movement promoting the belief that war is not inevitable.

Settling disputes by killing each other is an admission of failure. We can do better.

Let’s stop the creeping militarisation of our schools and grow a generation that sees war for what it is – something we can learn to do without. Now that really would be cool.

SALLY REYNOLDS, Thesiger Road, Abingdon

 

  • Today’s letters


Want to give your opinion? Email letters@oxfordmail.co.uk