Wearing a poppy?

[Harry Genshaw]

Is everybody wearing a poppy this month?

I've always bought a few every year, usually because I lose em or throw them in the wash with whichever shirt I was wearing that day, but this year I cant bring myself to buy one and I cant decide if i'm being irrational or not.

I've always seen the poppy as a way of honouring our ancestors who fought in WW1 & WW2 but it just strikes me it's been hijacked lately into some sort of emblem of support for troops in Afghanistan and support of that campaign generally.

I am opposed to our presence in Afghanistan and felt the same about Iraq so is not wearing a poppy a legitimate protest, does anybody else feel the same way, or am I missing the point entirely?

[Hoboh]

Is everybody wearing a poppy this month?

I've always bought a few every year, usually because I lose em or throw them in the wash with whichever shirt I was wearing that day, but this year I cant bring myself to buy one and I cant decide if i'm being irrational or not.

I've always seen the poppy as a way of honouring our ancestors who fought in WW1 & WW2 but it just strikes me it's been hijacked lately into some sort of emblem of support for troops in Afghanistan and support of that campaign generally.

I am opposed to our presence in Afghanistan and felt the same about Iraq so is not wearing a poppy a legitimate protest, does anybody else feel the same way, or am I missing the point entirely?

I think your missing the point Harry, I agree with you on the Aghan war and Iraq2 (the first had to happen IMO) Soldiers do what Soldiers are told to do, right or wrong, ain't their fault.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

I'm wearing a poppy, and if asked, I tell people why I wear it - in memory of my Grandad, who lost an arm in WW2, and of those who fought alongside him. Doesn't mean I'm legitimising war, nor am I supporting the Iraq war. If people are hell bent on over-reacting by hijacking age-old symbols in order to lord it over people, so be it. I wear it for purely selfish reasons - in memory of my family. Evil, ain't I?

[officer_dibble]

I always buy one but always forget to wear it! Or it ends up in the washing basket....

Anyone ever get dirty looks for not wearing one? In a meeting tomorrow am and obviously want to respect 11am, but not quite sure whether everyone will or not.

[TANGODANCER]

Decidedly yes. Father and brother were both regular soldiers and the poppy was there a long time before recent wars, and for an entirely different reason. Like someone said, soldiers go where they're sent to do a job. Only fit to honour their memory whatever your views on war.

[thebish]

I always wear one - in fact - I organise a large field of remembrance on our church lawns where people place poppy-crosses in the lawns in memory of loved ones - and will be leading a ceremony of remembrance there tomorrow at 11am.

HOWEVER - just like Jon Snow - I object to people insisting I wear one. last Sunday I wasn't wearing one - more than one person pointed it out. I replied that it was neither remembrance day or even remembrance Sunday - I object to the ridiculous idea that you have to wear one for a period of about 3 weeks or risk some kind of snide comment.

I wear one - I CHOOSE to wear one - BUT, respect completely the right of anyone to choose not to. I happen to give away about 10% of my disposable income - I could do more - but - I object to morons telling me what I should and shouldn't support - especially when I suspect that giving 20p for a poppy is the only giving they ever contemplate giving.

I don't think wearing one is ANYTHING AT ALL to do with glorifying or supporting war - for me it is a symbol of sadness at the cruel and bitter waste of life and blood that war is.

this is part of last year's...

[Dujon]

Harry, I'm with our late night snack vendor and the alien.

'Poppy Day' is not aggrandisement of war as it's proper name of course is 'Remembrance Day'. If some group or other is attempting to use it specifically to make a political point about the current deployment of troops then they are way, way, out of order.

In many ways, due to the hurly-burly of daily life, we can forget what our fathers and their fathers went through to ensure our freedom and democracy. November 11 is wonderful way in which to jog our collective memory.

Officer_dibble - if I were you I and it was practical I would approach the chair of the meeting and request that s/he announce that silence will be observed at 11am. If you are faced with a refusal then you have two choices; excuse yourself at the appropriate time or find personal time later (or earlier) to do the same. The time is merely symbolic, the feelings are not. As I type this note the last post will be bugled around this part of my country in about 35 minutes, whilst in yours it's just under 11 hours away.

[William the White]

Twelve years ago I, together with his family, planted a miniature Lancashire rose at the grave of a Bolton soldier shot at dawn in World War 1. He was a regular soldier, of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He fought in the Dardanelles, the Somme and Passchendaele. He was wounded in 1916 and executed in 1917 after leaving the front line just before an imminent push. I had the job of examining his life. And, through that, the lives of common soldiers in those terrible times.

I now feel comfortable about wearing the poppy. Very. And I recognise the attempts of many to recruit this as a crude symbol of crude patriotism and feel nothing but contempt for that - they are contemptible. My poppy is worn for a particular Bolton soldier, and a million others, the dead, the maimed, who did not choose but performed bravely in impossible ways, that I don't know I could ever even begin to match.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

Anyone ever get dirty looks for not wearing one?

I got a couple of weird looks from one or two parents on Tuesday, when I first wore it. You could see them look at the poppy, have a strange recoiling thing, then quickly continue with what they were saying, as if not to offend me by talking to me about it.

I wear it because I WANT to talk about it, thank you. That's talk, not go back and forth about the whys and wherefores of Weapons of Mass Destruction, of whether or not I have blood on my hands because I've bought a bit of paper and plastic in aid of a charity who still helps out the welfare of people who had no choice but to fight for the country seventy years ago.

I don't have a problem with people not wearing one. Neither do I have a problem with people who wear one in support of all soldiers. As our gun toting vigilante said earlier, the soldiers just do what they're told, regardless of the ethics of the political games being played.

[Verbal]

Surely it's a symbol of remembrance above all else.

[TANGODANCER]

Surely it's a symbol of remembrance above all else.

Aye, remeberance of the fact that if all those that fell hadn't died fighting for us, we just might not have been here today. I've still got a card my dad sent from France for my first birthday seventy years ago. It's one of my proudest possesions. Depite being in the depths of war, he didn't forget me, why should I forget him? Those we commemorate died while the rest of us were still calling Iran, Persia . To even relate poppies with modern warfare and refuse to acknowlege them is plain supidity. I'm all for people not being forced to wear them but doing so is a sign of resect for the victims of war, not warmongering.

[William the White]

Surely it's a symbol of remembrance above all else.

Aye, remeberance of the fact that if all those that fell hadn't died fighting for us, we just might not have been here today. I've still got a card my dad sent from France for my first birthday seventy years ago. It's one of my proudest possesions. Depite being in the depths of war, he didn't forget me, why should I forget him? Those we commemorate died while the rest of us were still calling Iran, Persia . To even relate poppies with modern warfare and refuse to acknowlege them is plain supidity. I'm all for people not being forced to wear them but doing so is a sign of resect for the victims of war, not warmongering.

Just to say yes to this - I've still got my dad who served in the forces... I'm grateful...

[Athers]

Walk up and down Deansgate in Manchester a couple times a day and I've honestly not seen anyone selling them.

[Gravedigger]

I did a couple of shifts in the Fleet Air Arm and afterwards worked with USAF Europe. I entered the military in 1959 and in all that time I never thought of poppies as anything other than a remebrance of World War One and Two. Not even Korea and the few policing operations I was involved in. Poppies help the British Legion do their work. The main Afghan/Iraqui charities are generally centred on Help for Heroes and various offshoots. It's nice to wear a poppy or a Help for Heroes wristband to remember those who have died or been injured in past conflicts. As always, we are free not to wear poppies because so many people died gaining us those freedoms. As has been mentioned, soldiers go where they are sent. Some of us have relatives out there now. Where's Bliar and The Broon now?

TOMMY

by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)



I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

[seanworth]

I could get arrested in Thailand if I went around wearing poppies.

Seriously though I think idea of wearing poppies on around November 11th is an excellent idea. It helped educate me as a youngster about war, what people did to defend our countries, and the devastating effects it had. Strangely enough it made WWI and WWII more real for me as I started to talk to veterans including my Grandfather etc who fought in the war. In Canada, war is not talked about much. We don't glorify our war efforts like some nationalities, it is just something that has to be done now and then. Remembrance day as a result let you not forget.

[General Mannerheim]

ive had the same one for a few years now! not being tight, just seems to have kept well! still chuck a quid in the tubs now n'then when i see them.

i pop it on if i dress formal, if i wear a suit for anything. dont bother if im just in me civvies.

[Lofthouse Lower]

Is everybody wearing a poppy this month?

I've always bought a few every year, usually because I lose em or throw them in the wash with whichever shirt I was wearing that day, but this year I cant bring myself to buy one and I cant decide if i'm being irrational or not.

I've always seen the poppy as a way of honouring our ancestors who fought in WW1 & WW2 but it just strikes me it's been hijacked lately into some sort of emblem of support for troops in Afghanistan and support of that campaign generally.

I am opposed to our presence in Afghanistan and felt the same about Iraq so is not wearing a poppy a legitimate protest, does anybody else feel the same way, or am I missing the point entirely?

Nope, won't be wearing one this year as usual.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Every year.

[clapton is god]

Always buy and always wear.

[Raven]

Rarely wear one as i lose them too quick but put a few bob in the tins