What does the poppy represent to you?

[sysyphus]

With Rememberence Day upon us I bought my poppy today.

I'm always sure to get one every year, despite the fact that I'm not exactly one who buys into much of the militarist mentality. I'm not so much of a pacifist, but I'm hardly one of those "Support our troops" types either.

So in that light, what does the poppy on my jacket mean to me? I never think of it in the "those who died for freedom" mindset, that's jsut oversimplistic in my mind, despite my deep respect for those who fought against the tyrant on the other side.

I think of it more in the way that it was initially meant: to think of the horrors of war, and to think of all those who suffered through it, not only Canadian or allied soldiers, but also for the soldiers on the other side and many suffering of many civilians on both sides.

I see it as there to remind us that war is ugly, and even though it can't always be avoided, getting into it is not something to be taken lightly.

So if you wear one, what does it represent to you?

 

[Mowque]

poppies? i thought that was about drugs?!

 

[Cutlass]

In the US, the 11th of 11 is called Veteran's Day. There are parades, but not a great deal other organized activities.

 

[mrt144]

Money. Loot. Cabbage. Paper. Dead Presidents.

 

[CaptainF]

poppies? i thought that was about drugs?!

Ditto

67890

 

[warpus]

The poppy's significance to Remembrance Day is a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare. A Frenchwoman, Anna E. Guérin, introduced the widely used artificial poppies given out today. Some people choose to wear white poppies, which emphasises a desire for peaceful alternatives to military action.

I think they're only worn in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, though.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Nah, we got 'em here too.

To me they represent something somewhat more than a yellow magnet on your car.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

So if you wear one, what does it represent to you?

This.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Ten char.

 

[frekk]

I think I'll be wearing the white poppy this year, which memorializes civilian as well as military deaths.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

It is interesting to compare Armistice Day and Veteran's Day. The US had such a different experience in World War I (and of course World War II) compared to Europe. We, in 1918, had the same sorts of attitudes about the war that the other nations had wne they started in 1914 and had crushed as the war went on.

 

[GoodGame]

It goes back to WW1 to honor those who died in war, the poppy representing a person's life---and it is mostly a dead tradition in the USA. Instead gathering at national memorials and planting mini-flags at graves is the US tradition.

 

[Arwon]

Remembrance Day in general and the poppy in particular is very much about the folly and insanity of war. People going away with the best and most naive of intentions and having their faith and trust utterly betrayed, remembering an entire generation hollowed out by brutal mindless destruction. It's a reminder about the lives sacrificed on the altar of nationalism, the families broken for that old lie.

It's a reminder never to forget that old rich guys have been sending other people to their deaths forever, for petty and stupid reasons, and it hasn't stopped yet, that the only reason young men are asked to make unbearable sacrifices is because of the failure of their leaders to keep the peace, that those veterans are the lucky ones who escaped the insane meatgrinder with their lives.

It's a day to reflect on the fact that war isn't a result of the evil that lies within man. It's a day to be angry. Not angry at anyone in particular - who do you blame for not preventing war when war is unavoidable and leaders are chosen to guarantee the security of those they lead? No, it's a day to be angry at the dehumanising conveyor belt of gore and bloodshed that is war. It's a day to be angry at blindness, at folly, at the myths and delusions and fear that sustain war.

And finally the poppy, growing peacefully over fields that once marked some of the worst carnage man has ever wrought on man, reminds us of the temporality and transitory nature of whatever the hell it is we're fighting for this time. This too shall pass, it says.

 

[Perfection]

SWEET DELICIOUS LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS

​

 

[Kerozine]

Remembering the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces and their families..

 

[Zardnaar]

ANZAC day and the slaughter of WW1.

 

[really]

British soldiers killing Irish people during a war "to protect the independence of small nations".

 

[RedRalph]

I was born on a Dublin street where the Royal drums do beat
And the loving English feet they tramped all over us,
And each and every night when me father'd come home tight
He'd invite the neighbors outside with this chorus:

Oh, come out you black and tans,
Come out and fight me like a man
Show your wives how you won medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away,
From the green and lovely lanes in Killashandra.
Come let me hear you tell
How you slammed the great Pernell,
When you fought them well and truly persecuted,
Where are the smears and jeers
That you bravely let us hear
When our heroes of sixteen were executed.

Come tell us how you slew
Those brave Arabs two by two
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows,
How you bravely slew each one
With your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow.

The day is coming fast
And the time is here at last,
When each yeoman will be cast aside before us,
And if there be a need
Sure my kids wil sing, "Godspeed!"
With a verse or two of Steven Beehan's chorus.

 

[sysyphus]

I think I'll be wearing the white poppy this year, which memorializes civilian as well as military deaths.

Any idea where those can be found?

 

[philippe]

Well, you got a lot of memorials here, of course, in the Westhoek (ieper, diksmuide, Passchendale) I was supposed to go to a memorial day, with a visit to hill 62 and all, but I got exams . I was looking forward to hearing the last post, after all, its 90 years now, and there are very few veterans still alive.

 

[Mise]

Pretty much what you said sysyphus. A "never again" type thing.