The Poppy

A Morning Selling Poppies  (11 November 2018)

"Poppies should always be red. The blessings bestowed on our country are overflowing. But if you reach down into our history, also overflowing is the blood of millions of our ancestors and those in recent wars - profusely and thickly and deeply - the earth is socked in the blood of the slain. This Remembrance Sunday, when we stand silent, we will remember those who died, sacrificed and never came home, and those left behind. I hope we never stop wearing our Poppies."

The Poppies Should Always Be Red  (09 November 2018)

"As I waited for the lift, I stared at the Poppy display table next to it. It looked so serene and peaceful, with red poppies strewn over a white cloth, a poppy wreath and a small cross. A simple yet beautiful homage to deep sacrifice and terrible bloodshed..."

Remembrance Day: The Story of the Poppy  (06 November 2017)

"Much of the fighting in the First World War took place in the once peaceful and beautiful countryside of Western Europe. Landscapes, villages and lives were destroyed - torn to pieces by the shelling which took place over the four years of conflict. The once beautiful countryside was transformed into bleak and barren fields of mud where no sign of life could be found. But, it was in one such seemingly-lifeless field that bright red 'Flanders' poppies, surprisingly resilient for their delicate appearance, began to grow..."

YOUTUBE:  Explanation of Poppies and Remembrance  (04 November 2014)

Viewer's comment:  "Very informative and should be relevant to everyone"

We Shall Not Sleep Though Poppies Grow in Flanders Fields  (11 November 2011)

"The 11th November marks the end of the Great War that ended at 11am 11/11/1918, specifically known as Armistice Day. Remembrance day, an alternative name since 1919, holds a 2 minute silence on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month for remembering and reflecting upon the courage and the pure selflessness of [the soldiers'] actions. The significance of the poppy, as it traditionally worn, marks our respect for these heroes who have fought and for those who have lost their lives in the Great War in order to make us free..."

Remembrance  (by Lawrence A. Foxen.  No Date)

"'In Flanders fields, the poppies grow',  Those famous words that we all know.  But through the year and in November,  Do we truly all remember?..."

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields  (Page Last Edited 01 November 2018)

"John McCrae was inspired to write [his poem] on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres ... Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognised memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict..."

Revisionism

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... proud ... disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection ... fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ... ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ... their folly shall be manifest unto all men" (2 Timothy 3:1-4,7,9)

Our Pride in the Poppy  (15 October 2018)

"What has really stuck with me through the years were the ages of the fallen, they were all so young, they never had a life. Yet modern youth ... who have never done anything but whine, feel able to condemn a single moment in a year when we can remember the sacrifice of those that gave us our today" / "We remember those who gave their lives for us because (1) It is the right thing to do, (2) It stops us repeating the mistakes of the past. These spoilt and delicate children have no idea what is the right thing to do and no idea what they are destroying and thus what they are creating for the future" / "May we never break faith. The young don't know there are things worth dying for."

The Poppy Doesn't Glorify War, You Cambridge Snowflakes. It Recognises Our Debt to the Fallen  (14 October 2018)

"There is no glorification of the horror of war in Remembrance Sunday. Wearing a poppy doesn't, to use that horrible neologism, 'valorise' anything. We are simply acknowledging a debt ... That we live in a free and democratic country is something we owe to all of them, and we recognise this through acts of collective remembrance. It's difficult to believe this needs restating to anyone, let alone to the privileged elites who attend institutions such as Cambridge University, but it seems it does..."

Poor Fools...

"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks.
Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools.
And their grandchildren are once more slaves."

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.

John McCrae, MD,
Canadian Army (1872-1918)

"[T]he foe of which John McCrae wrote were not the people in the opposite trenches.
The foe were tyranny and dictatorship ... our soldiers knew this ...
Yes, we have indeed dropped the torch! Yes, we have indeed broken faith with those who died and lie in Flanders Fields! ...
and yes, we will have to bear the consequences in the years to come..."
[source]

© Elizabeth McDonald     https://www.bayith.org     bayith@blueyonder.co.uk