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Poppies
"In Flanders fields the poppies grow Between the crosses, row by row That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
"We are dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
"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
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow."
"In Flanders fields" - Dr John McCrea.
WHEN I was at college in Glasgow I took part in a production of "Oh What a Lovely War". I enjoyed the camaraderie of being in a show. There are still lots of little bits and pieces of that show that leap to mind when I hear the songs like, "Good-byeeee/ Don't cryee/ Wipe a tear baby dear/ From your eyeeee." Or "Oh, Oh, Oh, What a lovely war/ Who wouldn't be a soldier eh/ It's a shame to take the pay…"
But I could have had no possible inkling of how life in the military would affect me later on. As I write this, I am considering Remembrance Sunday.
Poppies are everywhere. Everyone on television is wearing one. They are being sold in every shop, and the poppy must be one of the most recognisable and poignant symbols of remembrance. I have been wondering why we wear poppies and found out why by doing very little research. Flanders is the area of Belgium which saw the bloodiest fighting of the First World War. Nothing survived on that dreadful battlefield except the seeds of the poppies. When the warmer weather came the poppies flowered bringing renewed hope and encouragement to the exhausted survivors.
I have always loved poppies. I love the wild resilience of them. I love their papery fragility, and their determination to come up where they want to. I dare anyone to call a poppy a weed. I love to see a field of corn threaded through with wild red poppies. It delights me like daffodils delighted William Wordsworth.
Poppies have taken on a new significance in the world for it is from poppies that opium comes, and opium used in a drug form causes death and destruction to whole societies.
Of course opium, in the form of morphine, is used to great effect in the medical world, as a powerful pain killer, used often on the battlefield when soldiers are seriously wounded. Soldiers of NATO are joined now with the Army of Afghanistan, in an effort to rescue Afghanistan from the hands of the Taliban, who want to gain power, by manipulating the farmers, who make their livelihood from growing poppies. So there we have this paradox, swirling around the humble poppy.
One thing I do know though is that, although soldiers nowadays have chosen their profession, there is nothing easy about what they do, especially when they are far away from home and actually involved in conflict. It is also incredibly difficult to come home and to try and adjust to life in a country where the majority of people have no idea or interest in what they have experienced.
I wonder how many people realise that over 300 veterans of the Falklands War have committed suicide since the war of 1982. That's far more than were killed in the actual war. When soldiers' minds are filled with nightmares, which drink and drugs won't help them to forget, that's when we need to remember them. They are not so easy to remember kindly, when they are not being very nice.
That's where the Poppy Fund comes in. The monies gathered is our way of saying thank you to all the people, who were and are still prepared to put their lives on the line, so that we can be as free as poppies to bloom and grow where we will.
So that is why I wear a poppy with pride, stood quietly for two minutes on Sunday. I also wish and pray that we could be done with war, but I am filled with gratitude for all the men and women who laid down their lives for us.
- Jo Middlemiss is a Personal Life Coach who lives and works in Edzell. She can be contacted on (01356) 648 329.
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Weather for Brechin
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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