I usually wait until I am passing a memorial monment ang then place it there or attach it to a wreath there ...just a tradition i started to do after seeing it in OPttawa on the tomb of the unknown soldier...hope my kids do it now
When To Take Poppy Off?
- Thread starter Keebler Elf
- Start date
Its not entirely about honouring the dead.....
The point of remembering is to ensure we are so appalled by the horrors and stupidity of war, that we think carefully about letting it happen again. If we stop observing remembrance day, if we stop being appalled at the losses taking place today, then at some point in our future our children or our children's children or their children will let national greed or political ambition drive their nations to war again. But if they remember the stupidity of the trenches and the lives wasted by the fascists and communists, maybe they will find a peaceful resolution to their differences. Honouring our fallen, bless them, is just the vehicle through which we keep alive the memories of how stupid war is.
The point of remembering is to ensure we are so appalled by the horrors and stupidity of war, that we think carefully about letting it happen again. If we stop observing remembrance day, if we stop being appalled at the losses taking place today, then at some point in our future our children or our children's children or their children will let national greed or political ambition drive their nations to war again. But if they remember the stupidity of the trenches and the lives wasted by the fascists and communists, maybe they will find a peaceful resolution to their differences. Honouring our fallen, bless them, is just the vehicle through which we keep alive the memories of how stupid war is.
Good post, Buttercup. I won't quote the whole thing. One point though, your phrase that 'the world has arranged itself' so that you don't have to face combat. While I appreciate the sentiment, I think it is worth realizing that the world didn't arrange itself this. We are all fortunate to be the beneficiaries of a series of deliberate actions and decisions by our predecessors to have the society we enjoy today. We are fortunate, yes, but lucky? Not so much.
Hope I'm not splitting hairs here, but the distinction is important to me.
Hope I'm not splitting hairs here, but the distinction is important to me.
Careful, that's exactly the sort of talk that people use to rationalize wars. Some would say the same thing about democracies (i.e., the USA in Vietnam or Iraq).
Nazi Germany wouldn't have gotten to where it did had the Allied Powers in WWI not treated them so harshly.
Playing the "they're bad, we're good" game is a very dangerous outlook because there's always someone on the other side saying the same thing about you...
I always have one stuck in the sun visor of my vehicle. I didn't lose anyone personally to any war but a few family members served and thousands died for our freedom. I don't think a day goes by when I don't think of the thousands who serve/served.
I think everyone should be aware and remember, always.
Not to hijack this thread but IMO Germany wasn't treated harshly enough. Germany as a country should have been eradicated after the first war and turned into an allied state with English as the main language, governed by a US system, and all the citizens become US (or allied). Then they go and do it again and (once again) thousands gave their lives to stop them.
+1
Remeber "Gott mit uns", God was on their side too.
And the Krauts were freeing the world from the perils of murderous communists, which were our allies by the way.
Wait, I'm oversimplifying too.
Likewise let us be careful about overdoing such statements as this. Sometimes they are true, other times they are not. There are are indeed aggressive and bad folks out there.
The Poppy
The poppy is all about sacrifice; the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in war.
The result of their sacrifice is the incredible freedom we enjoy as Canadians.
As an acknowledgement of that freedom there is no rule for wearing the poppy.
No one can be ordered to wear a poppy and no one can be ordered to remove their poppy. There is no start date and no end date............and hopefully no end to our freedom, as long as Canadians are prepared to sacrifice their lives for what we hold dear.
The poppy is all about sacrifice; the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in war.
The result of their sacrifice is the incredible freedom we enjoy as Canadians.
As an acknowledgement of that freedom there is no rule for wearing the poppy.
No one can be ordered to wear a poppy and no one can be ordered to remove their poppy. There is no start date and no end date............and hopefully no end to our freedom, as long as Canadians are prepared to sacrifice their lives for what we hold dear.
Although there was conscription in Canada during WW II the vast majority were for 'home service' only and never went overseas or saw combat. It wasn't until early 1945 that Canada's overseas forces were seriously depleted and some conscripts were finally sent overseas - most of whom arrived too late to join the fighting.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_Crisis_of_1944 "Few conscripts saw combat in Europe: only 2463 men reached units on the front lines. Out of these, 79 lost their lives.".
War is indeed in the words of General William T. Sherman "All Hell." It was a comment the sentiment of which he made consitently from the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War until well after its end. Yet Sherman also realized and repeatedly said that there are things worth going to war for. And of course he was a senior Officer in that war.
I do not believe if we had lost WW 1 we would have lost freedomGood for you. They died so you'd have that choice. Whether you'd like to admit it or not.
That is nonsense
Perhaps not, if the War had been able to have been settled by negotiation early on. But by 1918 the world would have been a much more unpleasant place had the Allies lost.
My Poppy
Has again taken its rightful spot on the visor of my vehicle. I wear it over my heart during "poppy season", and I always pop a couple loonies or toonies into the poppy box when they are "manned" by a member of the legion or a veteran. I always look them in the eye, extend my hand to say thanks. A practice that my son has also caught on to.
My parents lived through the Nazi occupation of Holland during WW2. They endured hardships that we here in Canada can't even imagine. Hardships which my mom and dad only recently started to talk about in any detail. Imagine not having heat or hydro in your home. Imagine not being able to go to the store when you needed groceries... why bother- the shelves were empty. Imagine not going to work everyday. Imagine not going to school? (They were all closed...) Imagine NOT knowing if you would wake up the next day. So much of what we take for granted was not possible for them.
Me, I can't imagine it...
The Canadian contingent of the Allied Forces was highly instrumental in liberating Holland from the Nazi regime (amongst many other things of course).
That is why I REMEMBER.
Has again taken its rightful spot on the visor of my vehicle. I wear it over my heart during "poppy season", and I always pop a couple loonies or toonies into the poppy box when they are "manned" by a member of the legion or a veteran. I always look them in the eye, extend my hand to say thanks. A practice that my son has also caught on to.
My parents lived through the Nazi occupation of Holland during WW2. They endured hardships that we here in Canada can't even imagine. Hardships which my mom and dad only recently started to talk about in any detail. Imagine not having heat or hydro in your home. Imagine not being able to go to the store when you needed groceries... why bother- the shelves were empty. Imagine not going to work everyday. Imagine not going to school? (They were all closed...) Imagine NOT knowing if you would wake up the next day. So much of what we take for granted was not possible for them.
Me, I can't imagine it...
The Canadian contingent of the Allied Forces was highly instrumental in liberating Holland from the Nazi regime (amongst many other things of course).
That is why I REMEMBER.
We may not have, but France and Belgium certainly would have. It may have worked out in the end any way. Who knows. WWI was about imperialist ambitions of the Germans, who achieved nation-hood too late to have been a colonial power, jingoism, etc.
WWII was a direct result of WWI. Read 1919, or watch the CBC special on it. Deals with the aftermath of the armistice, and the demand for vengeance by primarily the French. It left Germany a broken country with nothing to lose by listening to Hitler.
War sucks. But some wars do need to be fought. We're fortunate in that the last war that was fought on Canadian soil was almost 200 years ago. One of the reasons for that is we go somewhere else to fight before they can get here.
One final note: thanks to whoever recommended bending the pin back on the poppy. I did that and did not lose one this year, or was left without one. Thanks!!
+1.
Other examples of this oversimplification: if we lost WWII we would be all speaking German, eating more sauerkraut, drinking good beer not piss, driving on autobahns, etc.
All of us?
Jews?
Gypsies?
People of colour?
The mentally and physically disabled?
The level of your ignorance is astounding !
You're right, of course. I'm from England, where, in my parents' generation, every fit man between 18 and 45 who was not in a protected occupation was ordered to report for assignment to this or that unit of the military. Same in Germany, of course.
