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Remembering to not to go to war again

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posted on Nov, 11 2011 @ 03:50 PM
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The great war ,the war to end all wars(aka world war one) were most soldiers died to a stalemate.November 11th 1919 ,11am comemorated the end of war when Germany signed to the armistice and remember those that gave their lives but also to remember the horrors of war.Lest we forget and to never go to war again.Now it is Veterans Day in USA the whole meaning is gone.It is just celebrating war and its heroes.Dont get me wrong Vets are brave and pay the ultimate price but the what happened to not going to war again part.

There are some ancient legends associating the poppy with war. An ancient connection going back to Ghengis Khan. It is said that after his annihilation of the enemy the fields were churned up and drenched in blood. Soon they were covered in pure white blooms of the poppy. During the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century the same phenomenon occurred. Churned up blood-drenched fields erupted in poppy flowers.

Moina Michael, an American woman, wrote this

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies

She then adopted the custom of wearing a red poppy in memory of the sacrifices of war and also as a symbol of keeping the faith.

Homer mentions poppies in the Iliad, comparing the head of a dying warrior to that of a hanging poppy flower.

Then there is the famous poem by John McCrea, In Flanders field.

As Siegfried Sassoon, one of the most militant poets of the First World War, wrote:

Have you forgotten yet?...
For the world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the past is just the same--and War's a bloody game...
Have you forgotten yet?...
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.


In 1926, a few years after the introduction of the red poppy in the UK, the idea of pacifists making their own poppies was put forward by a member of the No More War Movement (and that the black centre of the British Legion's red poppies should be imprinted with "No More War"). Their intention was to remember casualties of all wars, with the added meaning of a hope for the end of all wars; the red poppy, they felt, signified only the British military dead. The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) took part in its distribution from 1934, and white poppy wreaths were laid from 1937 as a pledge to peace that war must not happen again. Anti-war organisations such as the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship now support the White Poppy Movement.

Those who promote the wearing of white poppies argue that the red poppy also conveys a specific political standpoint, and point to the divisive nature of the red poppy in Northern Ireland, where it is worn mainly by the Unionist community. They choose the white poppy over the red often because they wish to disassociate themselves from the militaristic aspects of Remembrance Day, rather than the commemoration itself.

The veterans' letter organiser is Ben Griffin, a London ambulance driver who served nine years in the Parachute Regiment, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, before refusing to return for a further term of service because of his concerns about US military tactics.

He said: "We are concerned that people are trying to take ownership of the poppy for political ends. It is almost as if they are trying to garner support for our boys and any criticism of the wars is a betrayal.

"That is not what the poppy was all about to start with: it was all about remembrance and peace: never again. The government should be supporting these casualties: they are their liability, not the British Legion's."

This guy has a point the government should be supporting all the veterans.You see an over abundance of vets that are homeless and cant get work.They are afraid to leave the military because they have nothing to go back too.Wounded vets dont get the assistance they need.

Dont you find it like a thumb to the nose to people when these politicians/leaders wear the poppy.

When people saw the horror of war during the vietnam war it caused people to protest.Today we dont see the horror of war.Out of sight out mind and therefore forget.

Now with every generation things are forgotten, meaning of symbols change and politized.People pay the price for war and it is a bad deal.Today lets celebrate peace not war because we have forgotten what peace is



posted on Nov, 11 2011 @ 04:01 PM
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Maj Gen Smedley Butler saw war for what it is. He was a highly decorated Marine seeing action in the Philippines, China, the 'Banana Wars', and France in World War I. He received 16 medals, five for heroism, and is one of only 19 men to receive the Medal of Honor twice. He's 1 of 3 to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only man to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions. Let's say the man is a military legend to be sure.

He wrote a book entitled, 'War is a Racket' in which he blasted the military-industrial complex and called-out war as simply a way for a handful of people to enrich themselves on the blood of soldiers. The only thing that has changed since WWI is the scale of money to be made. It's all a business model. That's it. God Bless the men and women who have served and may the perpetrators of these atrocities rot in hell for what gthey've done.



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