Pride in your country

Whitewavemark2

I found the Tower of London installation very moving.

Poppies don’t mean pride to me - just profound sadness.

Poppies don’t mean pride to me - just profound sadness.
That and a fervent hope for peace.

The prayers at a Remembrance service are always about those who are suffering and a fervent prayer for peace.

Like these Standing With Giants displays - moving, thought provoking and sad. Causes you to reflect on the sacrifices so many individual made and families endured.

It’s a matter of personal choice whether someone chooses to wear a poppy and how they choose to wear it. We simply ask that if you do wear a poppy, you wear it with pride

Royal British Legion .

Thanks WWM and escaped
I hadn't seen the article.

At this time of year I remember all those who have fallen and have been affected by war. I don’t wear a poppy but I always light a candle and remember.

StoneofDestiny

*It’s a matter of personal choice whether someone chooses to wear a poppy and how they choose to wear it. We simply ask that if you do wear a poppy, you wear it with pride*

Royal British Legion .

Yes, wear your poppy with pride and do not be afraid to wear it because there are those who believe, wrongly, that it a symbol of war, of jingoism etc.

It is not, it is for Remembrance and for Peace. We can be proud of those who fought for our freedom.

Babs03

At this time of year I remember all those who have fallen and have been affected by war. I don’t wear a poppy but I always light a candle and remember.

Rosemary is for Remembrance too.

We wear it at Gallipoli services because there were rosemary bushes growing wild on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

StoneofDestiny

It’s like these breathtaking Standing with Giants displays. Really makes you stop and think of the sacrifice and sadness many families endured.

Booked to visit at Fort Nelson

I don’t wear a poppy for a variety of reasons. However, I find these poppy displays very dignified and unifying - a symbol of a common cause. Sad as they may make us, they serve a great purpose of helping us to remember.

I want to put in a word for pillar box toppers. The scenes of British life that they portray show a real pride in our way of life, and the skill and creativity of some of them is amazing.

I believe the title of the Standing with Giants installations is :
"For your tomorrow". As sad as it is, I think that the biggest respect we can give is to maintain the peace they gave everything for. We owe them so much, and, without sounding too poetical, the main message is to look forward with hope to a better tomorrow.

Deedaa

I want to put in a word for pillar box toppers. The scenes of British life that they portray show a real pride in our way of life, and the skill and creativity of some of them is amazing.

I agree. They are topical and lots of hard work has been put into them ( and, dare I say, love?). They aren’t something that is made in China and bought via Amazon. Every time I see one it lifts my heart unlike shabby scruffy flags hanging from bridges that make my heart sink.

Jaxjacky you will be very moved by it - scarily realistic.

agree MayBee70. The difference is that some actions are done with love for the right reasons and some are not.

Made in a retirement village

Allira

StoneofDestiny

It’s a matter of personal choice whether someone chooses to wear a poppy and how they choose to wear it. We simply ask that if you do wear a poppy, you wear it with pride

Royal British Legion .

Yes, wear your poppy with pride and do not be afraid to wear it because there are those who believe, wrongly, that it a symbol of war, of jingoism etc.

It is not, it is for Remembrance and for Peace. We can be proud of those who fought for our freedom.

I agree.
There are some amazing poppy displays and postbox toppers around every year.
Lots of kind people who give their time to sell poppies in supermarkets too.

I’ve knitted over 100 poppies for our Remembrance Day display at our church in our village.
My dad lost two brothers in WWII.
Mam lost her youngest brother aged 21 in WWII
Dad came back with PTSD. He committed suicide at the age of 58. Mam told everyone that he died of cancer. There was still shame attached to suicide back then.
Poppies mean only one thing - Remembrance. Lest we forget.

The poppies are made by veterans at the poppy factory and all proceeds goes via British Legion to support and help armed forces. So I wear my poppy with gratitude for those that died so we might live, most of them very young people with all their lives before them., Poppies are for Remembrance. Also all those poppies made by schools and organisations are wonderful, long may it continue.

That's very sad about your dad Purplepixie, I understand, (my father's fate was similar).

Of course, remembrance of all the sodiers killed is at the core of poppies. Pride in your country somehow touches on a certain arrogance to believe that your fellow countrymen are somehow inherently more valuable than people born in other nations.

As Allsorts says, everyone today has their lives before them. The brave died so we might live and hope moving forward.

It's a wonderful sign of respect for those who gave their lives in a terrible war .
I hope and pray that our values continue .

I think what OP is trying to say is that it it so much more uplifting to see these beautifully hand made poppies and post box toppers, signifying “Lest We Forget”, remembering and celebrating the great sacrifices our service personnel made, fighting alongside many other nations so we could all be free.

Frankly, I’d rather see these than tatty cheap England flags, which for some signify this ridiculous “take our country back” rhetoric.

Purplepixie

I’ve knitted over 100 poppies for our Remembrance Day display at our church in our village.
My dad lost two brothers in WWII.
Mam lost her youngest brother aged 21 in WWII
Dad came back with PTSD. He committed suicide at the age of 58. Mam told everyone that he died of cancer. There was still shame attached to suicide back then.
Poppies mean only one thing - Remembrance. Lest we forget.

I love my country and I also love my country of birth. Current Politicians ? No. They are a disgrace to the country, both ours and yours . My various family members didn’t die for how things are now. I have both British and Australian family members who gave their lives, World War I and World War 2.

MayBee70

It only just crossed my mind after they were mentioned in a previous post but, to me knitted post box toppers represent everything good about this country.

Really? I'm not sure why ours are such a mess. They look ok for a short time then start looking grubby, wet and bedraggled, eventually the colours fade and they look even worse. Thankfully most seem to have been removed.

Perhaps the people who make them are the ones that remove them when they no longer look their best? Unlike the flags…