White Poppies

Nip white poppies in the bud, legion says

Antiwar symbol 'illegal, disturbing'

Illegal? Copywrite infringement? Hmm I think what is really disturbing is the fact the Legion is more concerned about its profiting from the Poppy campaign then the message behind the symbol. They are making a fuss over less than 200 white poppies being sold in Edmonton becuase it might cut into their privatized business.

Off our jackets the poppies blow
The Legion is working with a supplier making poppy stickers with glue that won't ruin fabric and leather — perfect for kids who lose poppies even quicker than adults.For now, Legion branches sell red plastic "We remember" wristbands for children. Also available are poppy scarf pins, earrings, tie tacks and metal poppy pins that use clasps or two-piece magnets to stay attached to clothes.The Legion began selling poppies four years after the end of World War I. They were made by disabled veterans and production continued until 1996 in sheltered workshops run by Veterans Affairs Canada in Toronto and Montreal, staffed by disabled former members of the military and their dependants. Poppies are now made by a private company.

My pal Robin wrote this letter to the Journal in response to the White Poppy kerfufell, well said Robin. His sentiment was echoed by other writers. No one is NOT wearing a red poppy so why the fuss. Called it corporate monopoly.

Why not wear both?

The Edmonton Journal

Published: Thursday, November 09, 2006

I think the Royal Canadian Legion is in error in arguing they have a patent on poppies, and I am rather surprised that a spokesperson for the legion thinks that the call for peace is an "inappropriate political message" for Remembrance Day.

My paternal grandfather was killed in the First World War. My father never knew his dad. He was born after my grandfather died, and felt his whole life that he had missed something precious in not knowing his father.

My maternal grandfather was gassed in the first poison gas attack in history. A Canadian volunteer, he spent nearly four years in a German POW camp and, 38 years later, died from medical complications arising from the gassing.

the Arnhem airborne landing in 1944. He was an non-commissioned officer in the Canadian Army when I was growing up.

I was honourably discharged from the Canadian Army in 1962.

I mention this because I intend to wear a white poppy, alongside the red poppy I always wear at this time of year.

If the legion thinks I'm not being respectful of my forebears, I must respectfully disagree.

If they think they have property rights on white poppies as well as red ones, let them take me to court and determine the matter in a civil and orderly fashion.

As for my mixing my call for peace with my remembrance of the unfortunate victims of warfare, I'm sorry if the legion feels it is "inappropriate," though they are correct in charging that in calling for peace I am being "political."

I learned my attitudes toward war from Jesus, among others.

And if calling for peace is "political," I suppose I shall have to be.

Robin S. Hunter, Edmonton

And after all White Poppies seem appropriate when you consider that our Troops are in Afghanistan home of the Opium Poppy trade, and those poppies are white.


See:

Opium


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