Shall we honour or disgrace the past?

VE Day 8th May 1945.

The start of the end of the Second World War that cost the lives of 80 million people.

It marked an end of a philosophy built on ignorance, hatred and bigotry.

Today, 80 years on, we still see a world divided against itself. War, violence and destruction run rampant in a world where taking sides and encouraging the cycle of violence is the preferred default stance, rather than taking the brave but difficult stance of standing in the middle of the fighting to try to bring a lasting peace.

Those brave men and women of WW2 stood up to brutality, bigotry, oppression and unfairness. They gave their lives to defend freedoms that we now so easily cast aside. Immigrants, people of all colours, women, rich people, gay and lesbian folks - all of them are targeted by the same hate that those brave souls stood up against 80 plus years ago.

They stood up to evil, and with one voice, they cried "no more".

And yet "more" still came.

How we have betrayed their sacrifice.

That hatred, bigotry, and ignorance that they fought against still holds sway. It has mutated and changed but underneath, it is still the same. It dominates our lives and our headlines. It seeps into every element of our lives and our communities. It lives in the political left and the political right. People who, in one breath decry the demonisation of immigrants, with the same breath demonise the wealthy. They condemn Israel but stay silent on Russia. They demand we respect their religious beliefs while they suppress the right of existence to gay people.

They stand on the sidelines screaming for their right to be heard without ever granting the same right to anyone who opposes their view. These people are part of the problem, not the solution.

Peace will only come through reconciliation and a willingness to set aside historical and hysterical enmity. Past sins must be forgiven for peace the breathe and grow. We stand at a point in history where we have a choice - will we create a new world built on tolerance, understanding and compassion for our fellow man and woman - or will we repeat the failures of history.

We have a choice - honour the sacrifice of those 80 million brave men and women from 80 years ago or repeat the mistakes that render their sacrifice futile.

Does the sacrifice of 80 million people really mean so little to us now?