My grandfather was in the navy and spoke to me on only two occasions about his experiences - I had one of these brief discussions with him in my late teens, after having visited battle fields and memorials, having walked in trenches and down the holes in the earth from canon fire, having cried at the playing of the Last Post at Meningate... for the sixth time in my life. Forcing poppy wearing is, quite frankly, in my honest opinion, idiotic and I have (thankfully) never come across anyone who holds this view. I hadn't even heard of groups wanting this to be a requirement until only a few hours ago!!!
It would, surely, lead to ANY meaning behind it becoming lost on a sea of poppies??!!!
War is ugly.
Making the poppies with pretty Swarovski crystals that were profits do not go to the place where the origins of the poppy being made?? That would be greed on the part of someone else - the way so many fights and wars start...
And this 'pretty poppy'?
It does NOT make ANY war ANY LESS ugly.
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For me, the red poppies symbolise the bloodshed, the lives lost and wasted, the pain and heartache, the worst of human nature;
A white poppy to me is...- for a future of peace one day...
I hope the world finds peace one day before humandkind completely destroys the land on which they rely for life.
