In between sipping your latte and bitching about how tough life is, buy a poppy. There's a stand around most stations and in busy places. Buy one.There are no excuses. Nope not even that one.
If you really don't understand why you should buy one - and wear it, I hope Henry Allingham, one of three living veterans of the First World War battlefields, can help you understand: "These hellish memories of war are ones I'd rather forget. But never my comrades. Never the men who gave their everything...All of us must remember them, always."
Now read this...
In Flanders Fields
Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army
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.
It's a shame these days, people seem to get confused about what Poppies are for. I would never describe myself as a supporter of war, quite the opposite in fact.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I wear a Poppy with pride to show my respect for all the men and women that have died in service, but especially for those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars - it was compulsory for them to sign up, they had no choice but leave there families and go to war and many didn't return.