why do you wear a poppy?

[oiolehnvn]

Lots of red poppies around us at the moment. Disclaimer I am not British but come from a country that is currently waging a war, in fact technically two countries that have been in the news for waging wars and have always been uncomfortable with people supporting or celebrating our army. I am therefore puzzled as to why the Brits wear poppies ever year. If you choose to wear one, what's your rationale? Equally, if you do not - what's yours?

I think there are better ways to support young people without advantages or exams, as a pp said, than letting them see the military as their only way out. They shouldn’t ever be in that situation.

I’m from a place where the British military were the aggressors so I’d never personally support them or the RBL, but I of course understand why British people do. But it’s a terrible tragedy for Lee whatever way you look at it. And the military should be compensating him and looking after him, not the public.

ETA I mean the public can help if they want of course, but that needs to be a choice freely made, and it’s not anymore. You’re censured and thought less of by some if you don’t wear a poppy.

Soldier F has nothing to do with the poppy symbol. It's to remember those that were killed in service.

But the money you spend buying a poppy goes to the RBL who supports currently serving personnel as well as veterans.

You’re censured and thought less of by some if you don’t wear a poppy.

You shouldn't be censured for it. But yes, some people will think less of you for it, and that's just something you'll have to accept; people will always think stuff. We've had some frankly barmy stretches on here about people who do wear poppies (not all non-poppy wearers, but several), and there's not much to be done about it. I'll wear a poppy, they'll think all sorts of stuff that's in their heads and not mine. People will wear or not wear poppies and people will think stuff either way.

Goodness, Mumsnet’s shareholders would be delighted to know that it is apparently rivalling Google as a source of information (sample size:1). I hope you get the response you’re looking for but if not, the British Legion website can perhaps assist you.

The RBL supports current and former soldiers by selling poppies. Literally, that is what it is for. Click onto their website. ‘We provide lifelong support to serving and ex-serving personnel and their families.’ No requirement to have been killed in service. No requirement to have been fighting in what’s generally considered a ‘good war’, safely over a long time ago. The same help is presumably available to those who shot and killed unarmed civilians while they were running away. Like Soldier F and his buddies in the Parachute Regiment. Soldier F who literally got away with murder last week in a British court.

A really interesting thread, thank you OP. I’m Australian with British heritage, settled in the UK. My grandfather served in France in WW1 - I’ve read his war diary, he was very cynical about the jingoism he saw back then in the camps at Southampton and on the ships to France. More recently, my uncles & friends served in Afghanistan & Iraq. I don’t wear a poppy (used to wear a white one which has a very long and meaningful history) and I am very wary of poppy season for several reasons. Firstly, I think it’s naive to say poppy wearing is still a form of remembrance for WW 1 & 2, given these events are largely beyond living memory, I think commemoration is more accurate. Not celebration. But not really “remembrance” - you can’t remember what you never experienced. In Australia poppy wearing is very much a case of nationalism, jingoism, etc - you only have to familiarise yourself with CW Bean’s rational for establishing the War Memorial (the most visited museum by domestic tourists, and a key site in John Howard’s history wars) to see remembrance & Anzac Day (another poppy event) have been deliberately & politically cultivated since the 1910s (eg war being a baptism of blood for a new nation). I’m very wary of the fact that one of the biggest corporate donors to Remembrance Day events is (or was last I checked) BAE Systems, a leading UK arms company. It makes sense, but can hardly be considered decrying war. And lastly, it’s not just poppy badges is it, it’s poppy tote bags, poppy umbrellas, poppy coffee mugs, poppy fashion, poppy jewellery, poppy placemats - it’s an entire commercial industry like Easter or Halloween that is cynically cashed in on and where is all this stuff being made and imported from anyway? In the past, before all this stuff became fashionable, people wore sprigs of rosemary (and in Australia) wattle for remembrance. I’m tempted to do that instead. No shade on the British legion, but there are other charities that support veterans too, that get overlooked. I’ve visited Gallipoli. I’ve spoken with veterans. I have only respect for those that died or have been injured/suffered since serving. But I don’t think poppy wearing means what it’s purported to mean, especially beyond the families of service men & women.

The RBL may support service personnel by proceeds of poppy sales but that is not the meaning of the poppy symbol. The Poppy was used in remembrance before the RBL even existed. Your are making sweeping generalisations about service personnel. My husband nearly died at the hands of the IRA aged 6, but that doesn't make me believe that all Irish catholic men would be willing to kill a young child!

The Poppy was used in remembrance before the RBL even existed.

Yes, it was chosen because of the poem
In Flanders Fields by John McCrae.
In the final verse he urged people to take up the quarrel with the foe, saying the dead would not rest otherwise. The poppy never solely represented remembrance imho, though I know that’s its meaning for lots of people today.

I think it’s naive to say poppy wearing is still a form of remembrance for WW 1 & 2
Not naive. Wrong. It’s for all the fallen, from all wars.
Remembrance is not the same as remembering.
RBL merchandise isn’t ’cynically cashing in” - it’s raising money to provide t(e services it was set up to do. If others are selling them for profit, that’s cashing 8n but is nothing at all to do with Remembrance.
I don’t think you understand it very well at all.

That last verse is about carrying on with the fight against evil. I think that’s compatible with remembrance for those who have died.

The battlefield poppies were mentioned way before WW1. John McCrae wrote that poem while grieving the very recent death of his friend, so the sentiment of the final verse is understandable. It was Moina Michael and Anna Guerin who championed the poppy as a symbol of rememberance. I agree, it wasn't just rememberance the poppy represented, but also hope.

I wear one to honour those who sacrificed for us. My uncle was killed at age 19 in the war.

Wowzers. Someone thinks they’re the main character… the reality is, most people don’t give a monkeys. Wear a poppy, don’t wear a poppy. Just don’t be a prick about it, would be my summary …

For my grandad. He was a war prisoner in Germany for 5 years during WW2.
That's my reason.

I wear one because The Royal British Legion were a huge part of my childhood we went on many holidays with friends my grandparents had made through them, my grandparents both fought in the war, my great grandfather was a POW and my paternal grandmother’s family was completely wiped out on the last Red Cross Ship out of their country. It’s my way of acknowledging them personally. My cousin is in the army we often don’t see him for months on end. A poppy for me signifies my family and all the other families that need to remember.

Soldier f and all the other murderers have everything to do with why many do not wear a symbol that represents support for soldiers like him.

In remembrance of my grandads who fought in WW2

I mean, it sounded like a bit more than remembrance and hope?

John McCrae:
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow In Flanders fields .

Moina Michael (in her response poem)
“We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died…
…And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.”

PP said she thought the poppy represented the continuing fight against evil, and that that was compatible with remembrance.
Maybe so, but that’s consistent with the point I’m making: that, to many, the poppy symbolises more than remembrance (and not just hope as an addition!).
And it has done so for a long time - the idea of the white poppy was introduced in 1926 and they were first made in 1933. Those who insist the red poppies solely mean remembrance (or hope!) are really only speaking for themselves.

The poppy means different things to different people and I think very, very few have issue with the remembrance part.
However, as well as any additional symbolism, the association with the RBL can be problematic, as is the fact that it has become something that’s forced.

Surely a simple google search would be able to answer your question on why brits wear a poppy?

This is my first year of not wearing one. I’ll happily donate, but I feel that in the last few years the ostentatious display of poppies seems almost inversely proportional to the actual act of remembrance.

For context. I come from a military family. My father died of injuries sustained from his military service. I married a military man who served in Iraq and Bosnia. Remembrance for all of us was a quiet and thoughtful thing.

I don't wear a red poppy, partly because of the RBL's ongoing links to armaments companies through corporate partnerships. The RBL's current corporate sponsors include at least two arms manufacturers (BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin) . RBL is therefore not an organisation I'd ever be willing to support.

Wow.

Because only the British fought in those two immense GLOBAL wars? Or because only British people are capable of understanding history or big concepts like sacrifice?

What an absolutely absurd comment to make.

Yes I agree, it sounded like grief.

Beyond producing white poppies I'm not sure what the Co-operative Women's Guild's plan was to stop Hitler. Emmy Freundlich ended up running away, not really a practical solution on a global scale!

It only becomes problematic if people allow it to. Some people like to hijack things and twist them for political point scoring.

For me it's remembering the Men, Woman and Boys that died to protect those they loved.
My Great Grandfather was invalided during WW1. His wife, my Great Grandmother was repeatedly harassed and sexually assaulted by a neighbour. He also beat up my Grandfather for defending his Mother. The RBL prosecuted the man on her behalf which stopped the abuse. They also helped relocate some of my family during WW2 when they were bombed out. Recently they helped a friend that is a double amputee with home adaptations and job retraining. Personally I don't begrudge people like that support but I can only speak for myself.

To homour the war dead.

Quite honestly, I'm fed up of this question or similar, being asked every bloody year. It's a tradition. Leave it alone.