Where can I get a white poppy?

[Ellbell]

Some time ago, I used to wear a white poppy (for peace) at this time of year. I haven't seen them for some years now. Does anyone know if they are still produced and where I can get one? Thanks

but not everyone thinks war in pointless, of course in an ideal world there wouldn't be any!

in the context of ww1 soupy i don't think it is nonsense at all. and again in the current context. WW2 can be argued as a 'just' war whatever that means.

how is a white poppy trampling on remembering the dead. surely it does just that, when people look at it they think of the fallen in all wars, and hope for peace, rather than focussing on how necessary war is (it is that that i object to).

I know a woman, who lost two husbands to flying accidents. She asked for a full milliatary funeral, which they had, complete with missing man formation with A/c. Should she be denyed that because it was 'pomp'? I don't think so. She had given everything.

This is how the milartart deal with it. It is how many veterans want it done, as a mark of respect.

I can understand those veteran who don't like it, but they can avoid it, and remember in their own way

but when people look at a red poppy they think of the same thing! white poppies seem to just muddy the water..

i had never heard of or seen white poppies. however, having read this thread i will be looking out for one to wear.

I am very very anti-war - but white poppies on remembrance day just seems wrong for all the same reasons stated.

These people fought and died for us - it doesn't matter if you agree with why they were fighting or not. They joined the army to protect and serve their country. Thems in charge then decide what they should be doing to protect and serve.

We owe them remembrance. Isn't the whole Lest we Forget thing not just about forgetting the people, but also not forgetting what led to it - we shouldn't forget all the horrible things that have happened and lead to war, and by not forgetting, we are meant to prevent it happening.

Ok, so it is a bit of a work in progress, but that is the sentiment.

Wear a red poppy... and don't forget what wars have done, what they are doing, and why we should be against them.

By SoupDragon on Wednesday, 1 November, 2006 10:20:34 AM
I think it's wrong to wear a white poppy on Remembrance Day and yes, It hink it's offensive.

The whole point is remembering the dead, not glorifying war - you only need to look at the faces of the veterans etc in the parades to know that. when they play the last post after the silence it makes me cry every single time for the lost lives and lost potential. At no point in the remembrance day stuff is there anything other than sorrow and if you think otherwise than you've got the wrong end of the stick.

A seperate World Peace day with white poppies would be far more appropriate and I would gladly wear one then but on a day for remembering those who sacrificed their lives? No. I will wear my red poppy with pride, sorrow and thanks for those who lost their lives fighting in wars both necessary and futile alike.

hear bloody hear SoupDragon!

all those red petals falling at the Remberance Day service is so moving.

as much as i know it will offend people, the parade and the red poppies and remembering the dead doesn't move me at all. there are other things in this world that move me far more. so, i will be looking for a white poppy.

Like MB i am a military wife, (RAF), i also know people who have lost partners in recent conflicts. At the funerals of those people, the military personnel were involved in a full military funeral, which was their mark of respect. Like i consider my wearing of the red poppy to be my mark of respect to the fallen of any conflict - to people like my grandfather's brother, who at 19 was killed on the beaches of D-day, to people like the colleagues of surfersmummy's Dh who were killed in the Falklands, to people who lost their lives in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. I also consider it my way of saying "thank you" to all the ones who did come back from the war - any war- because most of the veterans will have to live with what they saw and what they did. Skanger says she/he has no respect for those who take up a gun now, but does for those who did in WW1 and WW2 (if i have read her post correctly). To me that's like you are saying you don't respect those who died in recent conflicts. Why should tehir deaths be any different to those who were killed in the earlier wars? If i have misunderstood your post then i'm sorry.
If people choose to wear the white poppy that's their right, but i don't think a red poppy glorifies war.
Sorry if i have waffled on, i have a streaming nose and a headache and should be in my bed!

have you been on the white poppies website? the guy implicated in founding them did the first remembrance sunday service (this was back in the days when they still have 'Victory Balls') which was then taken over by the British Legion.

well think yourself lucky that you live in the world today and not 60 years ago then dib. and if you care so little why wear a poppy at all

I always wear a white and a red poppy together. I do not see how that could be construed as offensive.

this is slightly ot but made me laugh from the white poppy site:
According to a recent poll, a not insignificant number of teenagers think that ?The Battle of Britain? was something Margaret Thatcher was involved in. (Of course, in a sense they are right.)

i think that is a great idea curlew and will be doing the same having read this thread as the last thing in the world i want to do is offend some poor war veteran. i do feel strongly that the emphasis should be on peace though when we remember war dead

I disagree - I don't think that the ceremony needs any additional spin. It is what it is - an act of remembrance completely outside of discussions about the rights and wrongs of conflicts and wars. It is simply a time to remember the dead. Adding subtexts muddies the water and it becomes something other than what it should be - remembrance. Sorry - finding it hard to eloquently say what I feel.

We should remeber those who died in the wars but also remember that peace is best I wear both a red adn white poppy because to me the two symbolise different things
The red poopy rememberance of thsie who died relatives included
The white poopy because I hope wolrd leaders and politicains will realise Peace is a better option than war

Everytning I've seen associated with the Red Poppy, reinforces the idea that war is bad. People dying young, losing their limbs or minds, and not being valued by the society they protected.

I pick up a smugness about white poppy wearers.
They seem to want to trumpet that they "care", and typically they object to some recent British military action. The right to do so is of course one of the things that the people who beneift from the Red Poppy fought to protect.

It is valid to object to any use of force, but that is very different from the twee self satisfied "more peaceful than thou" attitude they emanate.

The idea of wearing both is growing on me actually.

I find all this very difficult, because on one hand, on the level of principles and ethics, I think statements like "they died for our freedom" are facile and simply untrue - I don't believe that, I believe WW1 was a futile disgrace which need never have happened, people died for grubby political and fiscal objectives which I have no more respect for than I do for the "reasons" behind the current fiasco in Iraq. In that sense I feel the war dead deserve better from us in terms of actually learning something from the mistakes of the past. So the white poppy says everything I personally wish to say about remembering the dead in the way I feel they should be remembered. It seems to me to be a more constructive and hopeful symbol than the red poppy.

However I am very aware that there are veterans alive who DO believe that they were fighting for our freedom, they are brave men who have been through experiences I can only imagine - so on that level I have neither the right nor the desire to take that away from them. So there is a reason for wearing the red poppy, even though I personally don't feel it is an adequate symbol - they do, they interpret it as a remark of respect, and that should mean something.

So I might wear both.

I tend to think the white poppy is all about the wearer (look at ME! I'm so PEACEFUL!)while the red poppy is all about other people.

Hmmm, Bibliophile, that's an accusation that can be levelled at anyone who does anything which varies slightly from the mainstream. I don't think accusations of exhibitionism should be allowed to deter people from doing what they feel is the right and principled thing to do. We are not sheep.

southeastera- didn't say i didn't care, it just doesn't move me. i've never thought it should move me. i've found this thread quite enlightening. however there are lots of other important things, and groups of people, that don't get a special day or a silence. i was raised by my grandfather who fought in ww2, and my grandmother who lived through it at home. they never made it a big deal or wore poppies, though my grandad did wear his medals on rememberance sunday.

I'm afraid that I haven't had time to read every post but this is a post which has really touched a nerve with me. I was in the army for 12 years, my dad was in for 32 and my dh served for 6 months in Iraq last year and lost several colleagues.
I wear a poppy to remember all those who have given their lives in the service of their country. I certainly don't wear one to glamourise war, or to support what's going on in Iraq, or as a political statement. Merely as a symbol that I do remember all the hundreds of thousands who have died.
Most soldiers are anti war. They are not gung-ho trigger happy loonies and many think long and hard about what they do.
It is not the day to make a point about your view on war. Use the rest of the year to lobby your MP, to demonstrate, to work for anti-war organisations - and I'd applaud what you do. But Nov 11th is a time to simply say that those who have died are still remembered, whatever the conflict that killed them.
The money you give supports the neediest servicemen and their families - I can assure you, it's not dished out willy nilly.

This is such an interesting thread and I find myself agreeing with a lot of postings, this one for example ...

"By Bibliophile on Friday, 3 November, 2006 6:33:08 PMI tend to think the white poppy is all about the wearer (look at ME! I'm so PEACEFUL!)while the red poppy is all about other people. "

yes that's a good phrase

Where does the white poppy money go to ?