Remembrance Day 2019

The celebrity who accused nameless immigrants for not wearing a poppy is not just a  bigoted curmudgeon. He is a trope puppet to keep men in line through a generalized accusation.

I am an immigrant who came to Canada from England in the sixties, made it my home, got married, had children, became a Canadian citizen, and do not wear a poppy.  I make a donation to  the poppy box but do not take a poppy.

The reason is a practical one — if I put a poppy on my jacket it falls off and I would rather leave it in the tray.

When I think of Remembrance Day I think of my grandfather, John Jackson, my grandmother, Rachel, her first and only son who was killed in his pram while he slept, my mother's first husband, and my half sister who never met her father. I think of all the families I know who lost loved ones in WW1 and WW2.

I think of the courage of young military personnel who join the forces, who mount the discipline and carry through their duty.

Then I think of the rulers who plan the strategies and the rulers who plan the social systems that lead to conflict.

As much as I would like to think with clarity about the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' I come away feeling uncertain and unsure.  War demands that we all become loyal to our tribe regardless of whether our 'leaders' have the common good at heart or not.

I am remembering without wearing a poppy. A poppy does not make you loyal. It is a symbol of remembering which is an emotional state of our species. 

I am also remembering the history that celebrates killing and being killed. And most of all I am remembering the propaganda that keeps us all divided. I am remembering my life in England where we were well trained by our culture to judge others. For their gender, their class, their good manners, the colour of their skin, their nationality and their language. I was part of that spitfire 'we' spouting beliefs as though they were laws, and also part of that group who wanted desperately to be accepted by others. I tried hard to do, say and think 'the right thing'.

So I would suggest that you don't have to wear a poppy or make a public display of remembering. You have to decide how you will remember war, those who were sent to war and those who create war. There are no rewards or outward signs that you are doing this, but it would help to save your world from unthinking violence caused by unreasonable manipulation.