As I walk the streets this day a symbol is forced upon me. The poppy. As I scan the various social networking sites a symbol is forced upon me. The poppy. As commercials interrupt the television programs I am watching, a symbol is forced upon me. The poppy. As I enter and exit the grocery store a symbol is forced upon me. The poppy.
I will not wear a poppy. I never have. I never will. Does anyone else have a problem with the term “fought for our freedom?” It doesn’t make sense. The death and destruction of another life to preserve the “freedom” of another. At what point did the term “freedom” gain the definition “get what I want”? Who is the grand decider of freedom? How can one’s freedom be traded for another’s?
I recently read a post by fellow blogger Jules Cosby. It was a take on the poppy that was similar to mine and brought new points and a fresh idea on this topic. It has forced me to thinking.
Every year everyone starts wearing the poppy and thinking about lives lost, and the travesties of war and so on and so forth. Remembering as it were. What is it that we are remembering? Pain. Death. Destruction. Political travesties. Children without fathers. Wives without husbands. Parents without children. And what is it for? Freedom?
I have a personal idea of freedom. It involves a much greater symbol than the poppy. It is something that doesn’t need to be fought for. It is, in fact the opposite of fighting.
It is time to forget the poppy. It is time to move on. Remember your grandfathers. Remember your great grandfathers. Do not symbolize it with a flower. Remember it by the symbol they would want you to. By the symbol they hoped to accomplish.
It is time for a new symbol. For now. Forever.
Any grandfather veterans still alive aren’t going to understand why you’re not wearing a poppy. All they’ll understand from it is that you do not acknowledge their sacrifice, which is a shame.
We need to remember terrible things from the past so that they’re not repeated. Whether a plastic flower can accomplish this, well, i don’t know. We we’rn’t just fighting for freedom in the great wars, we were fighting for life. The nazis would have put many of us into concentration camps if they’d taken over.
By: remi stevens on November 10, 2009
at 12:49 am