Remembering.

Today, the 11th of November 2017, marks 99 years since the end of the First World War. As events take place all over the world to remember the estimated 21 million people whose lives were lost during ‘the war to end all wars’, here’s my take on how a growing trend towards what former Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nicholas Houghton described as “poppy Stalinism” has led many to lose sight of the real need to remember those on all sides who, tragically, never had the opportunity to experience the world without war.

Controversy surrounding the use of the poppy is not a new phenomenon — the history of the controversy is as old as the poppy itself. However, in today’s polarised age of social media and rolling news coverage it is easier than ever before for outrage to become widespread, and as a result each year there seems to be a greater rush to ensure that the simple yet profound poppy is found plastered on everyone or everything to avoid a backlash from those who interpret not wearing one as an insult to the memory of those who died. (in one case last year, the ‘Cookie Monster’ of Sesame Street fame appeared on the BBC’s One Show sporting a poppy).

Whilst the optimist in me wants to believe that some of this is done with good intentions, ultimately I think that this attitude is far more insulting to the memory of those whose lives were lost for one main reason: it encroaches on the freedom which so many men and women signed up to the war effort to defend. Remembrance day should be about commemorating the sacrifice of the husbands, sons, wives, daughters, and parents who became the victims on both the frontlines and the homefront of something that I hope I will never have to play a role in during my lifetime: war. It should not be about forcing everyone to comply with a single way of paying respects to the dead.

In my opinion, the remembrance poppy symbolises this sacrifice. This is just my opinion. In my opinion it is also of vital importance that we do not see the poppy as the only means to remember the sacrifice of millions of human lives.

A couple of years ago West Brom and Republic of Ireland footballer James McClean was castigated on social media for choosing not to wear a poppy on his shirt during a match which took place on the weekend of Remembrance Sunday because of its connection with remembering British Troops who died during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. This did not mean that he is a terrorist, or that he was showing enormous disrespect to those who had died in all wars. It simply meant he was exercising his right to remember those who died in a different way. We should wholeheartedly embrace an individual’s right to choose how they remember the dead.

Elsewhere there has been controversy after an article on the Independent Online argued that those who voted to leave the European Union should not be allowed to wear a poppy. Naturally I defend the right of the reporter to make their argument — a free press is one of the cornerstones of a functioning democracy. However, I also believe that this represents the sad monopolisation of a way of remembering by someone who holds a particular set of views. We should not be dictating to anyone how they should remember the dead, or what kind of person may take part in a certain way of remembering. As with the case of James McClean or any other person who chooses to wear or not to wear a poppy, the choice of how to remember should lie with the individual. There is no moral high ground when it comes to how we remember the dead and their sacrifice.

I hope this short piece made some sort of sense to those of you who, like me, are somewhat distressed by the way in which we are allowing petty squabbling and a failure to see things from other perspectives get in the way of remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Personally, I will be wearing a poppy on Remembrance Sunday as I believe it to be a poignant symbol of those who died in the hellish theatres of war from 1914–1918. That absolutely does not mean that I see those who choose not to as traitors or insulting the memory of the dead. It also does not mean that I believe that the poppy should only be worn by those who take my interpretation of it’s meaning, or that only people who abide by the same set of political beliefs as me may be allowed to wear it. Above all, I hope this has been somewhat thought provoking, as that is fundamentally what this time of year should be about.

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I am clearly no literary master, so now I think its right that I turn to a well known piece of poetry to symbolise the importance of remembering the 21 million people of the lost generation whose lives were cut horribly short by the scourge of war:

If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

This is of course open to interpretation, but in my view “In Flanders Fields”
by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae should serve as a reminder that, no matter how we choose to remember the dead, it is the act of doing it that is more important. It is only by doing this that we can stay conscious of the enormous human cost of war and at least try and learn from the past to avoid this happening again.

Again, it is not for anyone to tell you how to remember, or in fact to tell you that you should remember at all. If you do choose to, however, I hope my humble ramblings in some way make you think about the sacrifice people made and how, in my opinion, we today have a duty to live in as free a way as they never could.

Thanks for reading.