Poppies


Every year in November I am annoyed by poppies. I love them as a symbol, I love seeing them on other people, but I buy one the first time I see it, and then I spend the next two weeks losing poppies, buying new poppies, catching poppies as they leap off my coat, and getting poked by poppy pins. If they want us all to wear poppies to show respect, if pinning it through the centre with something that will make it stay put is defacing it, I think, can they not improve the design so it's less of a giant pain in the ass?

Then I think about how, after everything else, Grandpa came home to his little Ontario town on the train and on his way home through town he ran into his father, who didn't recognize him.

And I try to become less of a petty, first-world-problem-bemoaning suckhole. 



Comments

Alison said…
Aww, what a great picture of your grandpa.

I think poppies are lovely, much prettier than [whispering] all the American flags. But hey, any kind of remembrance is good by me.
November 11, 2015 at 3:03 PM
Swistle said…
I know you know this, but annoying things are still annoying, even if appalling things are also appalling. You don't have to be a first-world suckhole to be annoyed by annoying things.
November 11, 2015 at 3:37 PM
Lynn said…
Every year near Remembrance Day I swear I am going to find some sort of poppy pin or broach with a closure on the back to wear, or maybe even make one out of felt and a safety pin which would probably take me 10 minutes. And yet I never do. GET IT TOGETHER, LYNN.
November 12, 2015 at 1:21 PM
Anonymous said…
That is a fabulous photo.

I have had great luck taping the pins of our poppies.

Scotch tape. Around the pointy part. Ta da!

No more lost poppies.
November 12, 2015 at 2:49 PM
Hannah said…
My father in law was a lieutenant commander in the Navy, and a survivor of the Kootenay disaster. He served proudly and loved his country.

And he complained about the poppy pins, too.

So there you go.
November 13, 2015 at 8:37 PM
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