Poppies.

It's shocking how few people seem to be wearing a poppy this year compared to previous years. The money goes to looking after British servicemen and women who have been injured fighting in various conflicts around the world, and also to help the families who have lost loved ones in action.

Surely it's not too much to expect people to buy a poppy and wear it. Wear your poppy with pride.

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Comments

  • +1

    I noticed that, its not difficult to pop some money in a box, and do something for the people who have done a lot for us.

  • I've got a poppy - but its always on the other coat. I'm sorry.
  • Maybe there should be some sort of anti-war poppy that people can wear. I will never wear a poppy but respect that people were forced to serve in two world wars and tragically lost their lives. I feel sad that people lost their lives in recent conflicts but they chose to go. 

  • Poppies don't actually celebrate war. They commemorate those that made the ultimate sacrifice.

  • Totally agree Rickster, what's a couple of quid, they last years if you look after them too, had mine since 1998.

  • I fall short of agreeing with him because I think if there was a stronger anti war message with the poppy day commemoration I think people would be more willing to wear one. 

  • DachsDachs ✭✭✭

    Remembrance day is the 11th November.  That's in five days.  I will buy one and wear it closer to the time, but I will not be guilt tripped into wandering around with one for what seems like an ever increasing amount of time beforehand.

  • You haven't seen me wear one cos I haven't got one yet, but I will because I think it's a good cause.  It does seem to be pretty close to the top of the guilt-trip list though.  Why isn't EVERYONE giving some of their money on a yearly basis to every cancer / homeless / old people / poor people / sick people / sick animals / starving children / destitute badger charity? And if they're not, why aren't we having a go about it?

  • i put money in the box and I remember those who died in my prayers and attend the rememberance service...

    I do not wear a poppy.....I do not wear little badges for every charity i support.......just so i can be seen to say....aren't I brilliant i put some spare change in the pot...or i kept mine from last year and its still good....

    or you can get a bigger more expensive poppy to show everyone how much better you are than them......

    but of those who wear the poppies for weeks or days....apart from giving a few pennies to the charity what do you do.....do you give up a day to volunteer colllection........or a day volunteering in a hospital that helps those who were hurt........

    maybe you have volunteered to be trained as  a councellor to help those who are sufferring......or have you slept rough in the streets trying to find those who need help

    or maybe you just wear your poppy to be smug without actually having to do much to help the people affected......

  • I happened to be in blackpool last year for remembrance sunday. i was taken aback by how widely acknowledged the day was. much more than is my experience in either dundee or glasgow. the streets were lined with people. I had lost my poppy (of course) but i  bought another.

    I do wear a poppy (when it has not fallen off) but I do not feel the need to comment on whether other people do or do not wear one.

    as seren pointed out, people make their contribution in different ways.

  • I'm with seren, I put some money in each year but don't take a poppy.

  • Rather than writing out a long diatribe, basically its easier to say 'See Sussex Runners response for what I think as well'

     

  • Mine fell off too. May get another but as I donate on a monthly basis I'm not too bothered. I'm also in with those who don't feel the need to wear a token for all the charities I support.

  • I have my poppy, which I will probably lose and end up buying a new one before Parade on Sunday (same happens every year)

     

     

  • I always put money in the pot but never take a poppy anymore.  I used to, but they inevitably got lost within the first hour and ended up littering somewhere.

    Surely the important thing is what goes on inside your head rather than whether you take a piece of commercial plastic or not

  • Sussex Runner NLR wrote (see)

    I fall short of agreeing with him because I think if there was a stronger anti war message with the poppy day commemoration I think people would be more willing to wear one. 

    The Peace Pledge Union actually sell white poppies because of their opinion that the red poppy is tied to military culture. White poppies also used to be worn by the Shot at Dawn campaigners until those British soldiers executed during WW1 were pardoned in 2006.

    So there is an alternative.

  • I buy a poppy each year, if it falls off or I wear another coat I do not worry too much. I have a poppy as a reminder for the fallen in war and also wear an ordinary brooch on my clothes as my great grandmother died on the 11th of November 1918, a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic.

  • I see just as many poppies around as I usually see at this time of year, certainly the majority of people I see day to day are wearing one.

    I didn't know about the shot at dawn campaign using the white poppy, but outside of that I  never understood the white poppy thing,  wearing a red poppy has only ever been about remembrance. 

  • Well it's a fine line for the Royal British Legion to tread.

    It seems to me that young people are the ones who don't wear poppies because they don't see the relevance. They won't have known many people, if any, that remember the Second World War, let alone the First.

    If the RBL wants to keep its donations up then it needs those younger people to buy into the idea of remembrance - in doing so it does run the risk of promoting the idea that war is inevitable, perpetual and perhaps even necessary.

    Recent conflicts in which British service personnel have died have also been controversial - which doesn't help.

  • I think most younger people are very good at "buying into the idea of remembrance" most schools will cover it with the children from a young age and I know on Sunday I am (with others of course) taking about 15 young people on parade, many others will be marching with other organisations and there are plenty of others who will be just watching with family. I assume similar happens at parades up and down the country.

  • Well I'm pretty sure I haven't yet seen a single person wearing one who, on appearance at least, is under 30.

    I will take a closer look on my way to work tomorrow. 

  • Do you think younger people might identify more closely with the work of Help for Heroes? I think most people in their twenties and thirties would have a friend or aquaintance in the services.

     

  • Help for Heroes has less of an 'old fuddy duddy' image so maybe you are right Mr P.

    For years I thought that Rememberance Sunday was for old people, as all the people that they showed on TV were elderly.  I assumed that it was only for the two World Wars and I remember being surprised when Mum explained that it was for everyone who had served in any war, and some of them were not even British.

  • i don't necessarily think it is a smug way of demonstrating your support for a charity.

    i like to wear a poppy because it makes my grandmother (a war child) happy to see that young people have not all completely forgotten about what happened. i do think it is important, generation to generation, in that sense.

  • Wear mine with pride and without question Too many people died for it ever to be just a symbol 

    100 years next year for the Great War and Hopefully it gets the respect it deserves

  • Well this morning I counted 54 people wearing poppies. 34 of those were in the short distance I have to walk along Victoria Street and only 5 of them were on the tube system which, personally, I found a bit odd.

    The youngest was a little girl of about 11 with her mum who was also wearing one. I see them quite a lot and they are quite posh so that may or may not have anything to do with it.

  • if you go to a remmberance parade you will lots of young people wearing one......on remebrance day or on remberance sunday........

    if you want to wear one all year around then thats fine for you.............but this wearing one for 5 days has become a week.then a fortnight and then a month........seems to be just the modern habit of people wanting to be seen to be doing something........

    like putting flowers on a roadside for someone they never knew just because they have died...........

     

    and remmeber many might not want to support the british legion but other charities.....

    the legion has just spent 9 million on restructuring......their charman had to resign for taking backhanders

    they spent over 10 million on campaigning......or lobbying as its also known .but do anyone of you know who or what companies those millions went to...........not to any ex soldiers thats for sure.......

    many youngsters hurt in todays campaign do not qualify for a penny of help........

     

    so you do not need to buy a poppy and display it to remember all those who have given services over the years..there are many other silent ways you can do it and maybe more direct help

  • I think your first two paragraphs rather contradict what Rickster was saying, Seren. If you are correct more people would be wearing them, not fewer.

    Oh and the flowers by the roadside - I don't believe that's part of the the same thing at all.

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