What does it mean to wear a poppy if you have never seen a battlefield or lost someone to war? As Remembrance Day fast approaches us, I have begun sporting the famed red flower and reflecting upon this commemoration.
During the moment of silence, I genuinely take the time to reflect upon the sacrifices soldiers have made throughout history. Nonetheless, the memorial is a somewhat foreign concept for me to grasp, seeing as I have never really experienced any hardship or witnessed a war firsthand. It seems like I have the easy life compared to the suffering others go through every day or have gone through. In the second grade, I remember a classmate whose father was soon to be sent overseas to the conflict in the Middle East. Instead of playing at recess, she would sit by herself and sob (despite my futile efforts to cheer her up), fearsome of what would become of her father overseas. My own mother was a witness of the Vietnam War, her journey to refuge in Canada a result of the dangers of war. She has told me memories of friends left behind because they did not have money to leave Vietnam and of the overall bloodiness of it all.
My reflection continued in my English class when we started reading the Canadian novel The Wars by Timothy Findley. The story chronicles the experience of a soldier, Robert Ross, during World War I and all the aspects that come along with it. As Findley describes the inefficient nature of trench warfare and the stinging of chlorine on the battlefield, for a second, I was fooled into believing that I was an eye witness of the war. In passages about grieving family members, I felt like I too had lost a loved one to the evils of war. Through his novel, Findley made me more knowledgeable on the War that would end all wars, the reason that we honor Remembrance Day at all.
In my eyes, those elderly men who sit with a cardboard box of poppies and a donation tin every November are living history. Their wrinkles betray their age as a true sign of their experience in war. A red poppy is more than acknowledgement of those who have fallen honorably for their country. What is sometimes ignored is the other after-effects of war such as the post-traumatic stress and the psychologically damaged state of mind as well as physical state of many soldiers who survive. After witnessing who-knows-what on a battlefield, the transition back to civilian life is a difficult one, not to mention severe injuries makes for a challenge that some are not ready or capable to face.
For me, wearing a red poppy is a symbol of respect and an oath to never forget. The donations collected go to funding for veterans such as scooters, food and shelter and more as listed on http://www.poppyfund.ca/.
With utmost respect, I salute our honorable veterans and those enlisted in our military that courageously defend. One can only dream that such a thing as war will one day be considered obsolete.