Lest we forget

Remembrance Day will be upon us soon, and with it the eternal red poppy (though now we seem to be getting white, black and even pink poppies appearing). 

I am wearing a poppy this year and did last year, but for a few years I chose not to. 

There is a certain level of 'Poppy Facism'. as one TV Journalist labelled it and it is an individuals decision whether or not to wear the flower in remembrance of those who have lost their lives in conflict.

I had a certain conflict of conscience over the poppy a few years back.  Many people stopped wearing them, as I did, in a kind of protest at the wars we were being sucked into in Iraq, and then Afghanistan.  However, I, like many others, are wearing them again as we have realised that our misguided protest left many veterans without a source of financial assistance that they dearly need and we may not have agreed with the war, but we still wanted to honour those who chose to serve their country.

My Grandfather fought in WW2, he hated every minute of it and I believe suffered severely from shell shock.  He had been working in the coal mines in the UK from aged 14, despite suffering from claustrophobia, and suddenly then found himself in the trenches in France.  I don't think he ever truly recovered from the experience, and refused to speak about it to any of us.

His brother was more open with his memories of the war with his children, and I found out at his funeral, that not only had he served in the war, but he was one of those on the beaches at Dunkirk.

I wear a poppy for my Grandfather and his brother, but I also wear it for the many soldiers of many nations who find themselves in wars not of their own making, but who choose to serve in order to protect their lives, their homelands, their ideals.  I do not distinguish between sides.  In any war there are losses of lives, in any war there are innocent victims, I choose to wear a poppy for them.

I may not agree with a particular conflict, or the reasoning behind it, but I can still support our troops, in Canada, and the UK.  I also choose to remember those who died on the other side.

My Grandfather hated fighting in the war for a reason, because it was not in him to kill.  Many men on both sides of the lines felt that way, but they had little choice. Kill, or be killed, perhaps by your own countrymen in the firing line as a deserter - no conscientious objectors allowed then.

Wear a poppy, lest we forget those who have died in all conflicts, and pray to whichever God you chose that we can find a way to end war, in all its forms, in all countries, and share the miracle that is life.