Due to the unexpected adverse weather condition, our trip to Whitby was cancelled. We then went to Eden Camp which I at first thought it would be quite boring. Surprisingly, I found the trip worthwhile and unforgettable.
Eden Camp is a museum which consists of over 20 huts illustrating various scenes of the two World Wars. We have visited, for example, the huts displaying an air-raid shelter, military base, prison, etc. Walking through the huts with different light and sound effects, settings, dummies, etc, I was terribly shocked.
In school, I studied World History until Secondary 5 (16-year old). To be honest, I found studying the subject was completely a nightmare since it had never been interesting at all to learn and memorise loads of facts and data (e.g. years of …), as well as complicated terms. Solely with the use of illustrations in the textbooks, I could hardly associate myself with those people in the past.
Numerous scenes of the Wars such as the Holocaust, Japanese invasion and massacre to China, maltreatment to the prisoners of war, etc. vividly appeared in my eyes. Having viewed the pictures, felt the atmosphere and even touch the artifacts, I could imagine how miserably people were suffering! Those war behaviours were just so brutal and merciless that could never be unforgivable. Above all, history will judge.
When I first arrived here, I always saw people, particularly the older ones, wearing a little red flower pin on their clothes. I straight away asked my host family about its origin, and found it was called ‘poppy’. Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both ‘(eternal) sleep’ and ‘death’: ‘sleep’ because of the opium extracted from them, and ‘death’ because of their (commonly) blood-red colour. In the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, artificial poppies are generally worn from the beginning of November until 11th November for the commemoration of those who died in wars.
When I came to the last hut, it was a small chapel. I saw poppies everywhere. It had also hung many boards in memory of the sacrificed soldiers and other brave people. All of them were undoubtedly the national heroes. However, who can be the ‘true’ hero in the human history? People who fought in the wars, or the Nobel Peace Prize winners? I think everyone can be a hero. What a hero does is he / she will do his / her utmost for the sake of the world, and what the world needs is love and care! History is just like a mirror which we can have reflections of ourselves. Human beings should learn from the sorrows and grieves induced by wars, and never repeat the history again. Our world is beautiful because there is still peace, love and care – the most precious virtue of human nature!
Finally, I would like to share three of my favourite songs:
1) What A Wonderful World
In school, I studied World History until Secondary 5 (16-year old). To be honest, I found studying the subject was completely a nightmare since it had never been interesting at all to learn and memorise loads of facts and data (e.g. years of …), as well as complicated terms. Solely with the use of illustrations in the textbooks, I could hardly associate myself with those people in the past.
Numerous scenes of the Wars such as the Holocaust, Japanese invasion and massacre to China, maltreatment to the prisoners of war, etc. vividly appeared in my eyes. Having viewed the pictures, felt the atmosphere and even touch the artifacts, I could imagine how miserably people were suffering! Those war behaviours were just so brutal and merciless that could never be unforgivable. Above all, history will judge.
When I first arrived here, I always saw people, particularly the older ones, wearing a little red flower pin on their clothes. I straight away asked my host family about its origin, and found it was called ‘poppy’. Poppies have long been used as a symbol of both ‘(eternal) sleep’ and ‘death’: ‘sleep’ because of the opium extracted from them, and ‘death’ because of their (commonly) blood-red colour. In the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, artificial poppies are generally worn from the beginning of November until 11th November for the commemoration of those who died in wars.
When I came to the last hut, it was a small chapel. I saw poppies everywhere. It had also hung many boards in memory of the sacrificed soldiers and other brave people. All of them were undoubtedly the national heroes. However, who can be the ‘true’ hero in the human history? People who fought in the wars, or the Nobel Peace Prize winners? I think everyone can be a hero. What a hero does is he / she will do his / her utmost for the sake of the world, and what the world needs is love and care! History is just like a mirror which we can have reflections of ourselves. Human beings should learn from the sorrows and grieves induced by wars, and never repeat the history again. Our world is beautiful because there is still peace, love and care – the most precious virtue of human nature!
Finally, I would like to share three of my favourite songs:
1) What A Wonderful World
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
The colours of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They’re really saying I love you
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
I hear babies cry, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
2) Blowing In The Wind
2) Blowing In The Wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
3) Heal The World
3) Heal The World
There’s a place in your heart and I know that it is love
And this place could be much brighter than tomorrow
And if you really try you’ll find there’s no need to cry
In this place you’ll feel there’s no hurt or sorrow
There are ways to get there if you care enough for the living
Make a little space make a better place
If you want to know why there’s a love that cannot lie
If you want to know why there’s a love that cannot lie
Love is strong it only cares for joyful giving
If we try we shall see in this bliss we cannot feel
Fear or dread we stop existing and start living
Then it feels that always love’s enough for us growing
Make a better world make a better world
We could fly so high let our spirits never die
We could fly so high let our spirits never die
In my heart I feel you are all my brothers
Create a world with no fear together we’ll cry happy tears
See the nations turn their swords into plowshares
We could really get there if you cared enough for the living
Make a little space to make a better place
(Chorus)
Heal the world make it a better place
(Chorus)
Heal the world make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying if you care enough for the living
Make a better place for you and for me
Yes, Eden Camp isn't a 'fun' museum, but it is one that can really effect people. I have been there many times and I know I will go again, so I just read in detail a few huts each visit. Like you I hope that mankind ca learn from the past and never repeat what happened.
ReplyDeleteInterest how the poppy has a different symbolic meaning in our two countries.
TNT
Dawn