Poppies
I've been wearing a poppy in the run-up to Remembrance Day. No one else among my friends and work colleagues seems to be.
You get articles in the Guardian saying that poppies are bad because they glorify war, and we should choose not to wear one, or perhaps wear a white poppy for peace. I don't really get this. The Poppy Appeal uses slogans like "Because the war to end all wars didn't" - isn't that an expression of sadness and regret, and determination that it won't happen again? And "Lest we forget", which I think is either more of the same, or gratitude, but not glorification.
When I was a kid the poppies used to say "Haig Fund" on them. I gather Haig is thought by many to be a nasty piece of work who sacrificed lots of his men's lives unnecessarily, so I can understand people not wanting to wear anything with his name on; but now the inscription is the much more innocuous "Poppy Appeal".
I guess, for of a lot of my friends, it might just be a case of not having noticed it's Poppy Day soon, rather than any kind of deliberate statement. But I'm curious. So, a poll:
Poll Poppies
You get articles in the Guardian saying that poppies are bad because they glorify war, and we should choose not to wear one, or perhaps wear a white poppy for peace. I don't really get this. The Poppy Appeal uses slogans like "Because the war to end all wars didn't" - isn't that an expression of sadness and regret, and determination that it won't happen again? And "Lest we forget", which I think is either more of the same, or gratitude, but not glorification.
When I was a kid the poppies used to say "Haig Fund" on them. I gather Haig is thought by many to be a nasty piece of work who sacrificed lots of his men's lives unnecessarily, so I can understand people not wanting to wear anything with his name on; but now the inscription is the much more innocuous "Poppy Appeal".
I guess, for of a lot of my friends, it might just be a case of not having noticed it's Poppy Day soon, rather than any kind of deliberate statement. But I'm curious. So, a poll:
Poll Poppies