Because in my family, and most other British families, young working-class men who had barely ever left their home towns volunteered or were sent to go to hellish battlefields in Europe, Asia and Africa in two world wars.
Many of them didn't come back to their families, many who returned were physically and psychologically disabled. Meanwhile their families were uprooted, suffered privations, lived in constant fear of bomb strikes and invasion. When I remember my family, I have to remember all the other families who have been through wars and conflicts in defence of my country.
That soldiers from my country were previously sent to fight colonial and civil wars initiated by powerful leaders does not diminish anything that ordinary soldiers and civilians have had to sacrifice in service.
In WWII, a truly huge contribution was made by the many soldiers and civilians in what were then British territories in South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean who went into the war on the Allied side, not forgetting the brave Irish soldiers who also went.
In later years, British soldiers were sent to fight all over the world, risking death and disability and struggling to adjust to civilian life afterwards.
I have led such a comfortable and secure life in this country compared to them and the very, very least I can do is wear a bloody poppy to remember all of those peoples' sacrifices and contribute some cash to veterans' charities.
Wearing a poppy isn't an endorsement of governments or war leaders or ideologies, It's a specific act of acknowledgement and remembrance. I'm pleased to see the purple poppies this year to also mark the loss of many service animals who died in the wars.
I despise the kinds of people who, for their own gormless political aims, attempt to disparage poppy day and remembrance.