When I am writing what now appears a regular theme of memorable quotes from the world of entertainment and their (often tenuous) relationship to IT Services, I try to address it in a way that draws both humour and analogy in measures. There are a number of subjects that need only one side of this. I believe levity is essential under extreme pressure but it requires a level of true understanding, and with the advent of VE Day, I will only ever know the stories and will never walk the boomingly silent path of those who died, I will only ever know them by their words and the words of the survivors who walked with them.
“The world is changed.
I feel it in the water.
I feel it in the earth.
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.”
Galadriel, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
As I take a little time to reflect the poignant 80th anniversary of VE Day earlier this month, these words have resonance, not just for today’s digital world, but for the fading echoes of a generation whose direct memory of almost total global conflict is now, quite literally, passing into history. We live today where the very last of those who fought in, and lived through, the Second World War are leaving us. With each passing individual, a direct, living connection to that immense struggle, to the sheer human cost of freedom, becomes “lost, for none now live who remember it.”
It is an immutable truth that the liberties, the peace, and the very shape of the modern world we navigate with all its technological marvels and complexities were not simply given, they were hard-won and bequeathed to us by these remarkable people and the millions who died seeking it. Their courage, their sacrifice, their unwavering resolve against tyranny forged the foundations upon which our current era rests. The profound gratitude we owe them is a debt that can never be fully repaid, but must be remembered and upheld.
The duty falls to us, the inheritors of these freedoms, to not only cherish the peace and opportunities that the WWII generation secured, but also to navigate the changes in our world with wisdom and foresight. We must uphold the values they fought for, ensuring that the technologies we build and the services we provide contribute to a world worthy of their sacrifice. The world has changed, profoundly so. To truly honour those who remember the struggles that shaped it, we must strive to understand both the enduring principles that define our liberty and the relentless innovations that construct our future, implicitly considering the flaws of humanity, and recognising that through good intention or otherwise, innovation should always be viewed through two eyes, not just for perspective, but where one is augmented with the future, and the other with the lens of history.
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