Every Rememberance Sunday I have the same wrangle with my conscience - whether or not to wear a red poppy.
It seems I am not alone in this quandry. Jon Snow has made his feelings very clear over the years on what he terms as and he has a point. As early as September it seems people are out in force displaying their poppies which now come encrusted in jewels or as giant symbols to affix onto cars and lorries. Almost every single person in the media seems contractually obliged to sport one, and when one person abstains they receive volleys of abuse as Mr Snow can attest to. Let's just think about that for a minute shall we? The poppy was a symbol of the sacrifices soldiers made in WWI to protect our liberties and freedom and yet here we have people being abused for taking advantages of those liberties and refusing to wear one. Hypocrisy non? "poppy facism"
A few brave souls even elect to wear a white poppy as a symbol of peace and an acknowledgement that civilian casualties of war far outweigh those of the armed forces. The white poppy is now seen as a pacifist symbol.
The origins of the red poppy as a symbol of the war dead lies in the US; the poppy being chosen as it grew quickly in the disturbed soil in France and Belgium. As a child I remember wearing one on Armistice Day (Poppy Day) and bowing my head at 11am to remember the dead soldiers of WWI and WWII.
As the veterans of those World Wars grow fewer each year, the poppy now symbolises a very modern war. We are supposed to remember our soldiers who died in Iraq, Afghanistan and more recently, Syria. Some would argue that these were not our wars and that actually our forces being in these countries has only worsened an already fraught situation.
For myself the quandry is a very difficult one. My brother fought in the army in Germany and Northern Ireland. He saw his friends blown to pieces in front of him. His experiences were so harrowing that he suffered a breakdown years later and was diagnosed with PTSD. The organisation Combat Stress were a lifeline for him and others like him. I also know of the support that Help the Heroes provides soldiers who have been physically and mentally scarred by wars. My only wish is that that they would also help fund some form of rehabilation for the families of the dead and wounded in the countries we fought in. We forget at times how lucky we are to have all these services available whilst families without a father in Iraq or Syria are left to beg on the streets or starve. Aren't we just as responsible for those families?
But I cannot wear a white poppy as I am not a true pacifist. Of course the call to arms should be a last resort, when all other methods have failed (unlike the infamous Iraq war). But can we really stand by as women and girls are oppressed and denied the right to be treated as human beings, as civilians are slaughtered in what can only be called ethnic cleansing, as the most barbaric acts are carried out on men, women and children? How do you negotiate with such hatred and bigotry? Chamberlain tried with Hitler and even got him to sign the Munich Pact - but all negotiations failed and Hitler did simply what Hitler had planned to do all along. Would pacifism have worked against facism? Would it have prevented the massacre of the Jewish people? No.
I am not a pacifist in the sense that if all else failed then I would support an armed conflict for the greater good of the people. In Iraq, that was most certainly not the case and I'm unsure whether the conflict in Syria and Afghanistan has been handled particularly well, so I shall certainly not be wearing any symbol which could be seen as a token of support for the conflicts in these countries.
I would much prefer a fund to support all victims of war - soldiers and civilians alike no matter which side of the conflict they were on. Until that happens I will not wear either a red or white poppy. But I will remember the high price we paid during WWI and I will be feverently hoping that we never make the same mistakes again.
It seems I am not alone in this quandry. Jon Snow has made his feelings very clear over the years on what he terms as and he has a point. As early as September it seems people are out in force displaying their poppies which now come encrusted in jewels or as giant symbols to affix onto cars and lorries. Almost every single person in the media seems contractually obliged to sport one, and when one person abstains they receive volleys of abuse as Mr Snow can attest to. Let's just think about that for a minute shall we? The poppy was a symbol of the sacrifices soldiers made in WWI to protect our liberties and freedom and yet here we have people being abused for taking advantages of those liberties and refusing to wear one. Hypocrisy non? "poppy facism"
A few brave souls even elect to wear a white poppy as a symbol of peace and an acknowledgement that civilian casualties of war far outweigh those of the armed forces. The white poppy is now seen as a pacifist symbol.
The origins of the red poppy as a symbol of the war dead lies in the US; the poppy being chosen as it grew quickly in the disturbed soil in France and Belgium. As a child I remember wearing one on Armistice Day (Poppy Day) and bowing my head at 11am to remember the dead soldiers of WWI and WWII.
As the veterans of those World Wars grow fewer each year, the poppy now symbolises a very modern war. We are supposed to remember our soldiers who died in Iraq, Afghanistan and more recently, Syria. Some would argue that these were not our wars and that actually our forces being in these countries has only worsened an already fraught situation.
For myself the quandry is a very difficult one. My brother fought in the army in Germany and Northern Ireland. He saw his friends blown to pieces in front of him. His experiences were so harrowing that he suffered a breakdown years later and was diagnosed with PTSD. The organisation Combat Stress were a lifeline for him and others like him. I also know of the support that Help the Heroes provides soldiers who have been physically and mentally scarred by wars. My only wish is that that they would also help fund some form of rehabilation for the families of the dead and wounded in the countries we fought in. We forget at times how lucky we are to have all these services available whilst families without a father in Iraq or Syria are left to beg on the streets or starve. Aren't we just as responsible for those families?
But I cannot wear a white poppy as I am not a true pacifist. Of course the call to arms should be a last resort, when all other methods have failed (unlike the infamous Iraq war). But can we really stand by as women and girls are oppressed and denied the right to be treated as human beings, as civilians are slaughtered in what can only be called ethnic cleansing, as the most barbaric acts are carried out on men, women and children? How do you negotiate with such hatred and bigotry? Chamberlain tried with Hitler and even got him to sign the Munich Pact - but all negotiations failed and Hitler did simply what Hitler had planned to do all along. Would pacifism have worked against facism? Would it have prevented the massacre of the Jewish people? No.
I am not a pacifist in the sense that if all else failed then I would support an armed conflict for the greater good of the people. In Iraq, that was most certainly not the case and I'm unsure whether the conflict in Syria and Afghanistan has been handled particularly well, so I shall certainly not be wearing any symbol which could be seen as a token of support for the conflicts in these countries.
I would much prefer a fund to support all victims of war - soldiers and civilians alike no matter which side of the conflict they were on. Until that happens I will not wear either a red or white poppy. But I will remember the high price we paid during WWI and I will be feverently hoping that we never make the same mistakes again.