Red Poppies

This Sunday is Mother's Day, so a happy one to all you mommies out there. Hope you have breakfast in bed and all the family stopping by with hugs and kisses. As for me, I just don't want to have to cook or do the dishes for one damn day, PLEASE! But that's not what this thread is about.

It's about red poppies.

You see them popping up all over the place this time every year. Not in your neighbor's garden or the local park, but outside grocery stores and shopping malls. Red poppies. Little old men wearing funny little slits for hats and sitting at card tables selling red poppies made from crape paper. No set price, just give what you can and a little red poppy is yours.

Most of us old farts sporting silver hair and pronounced limps can tell you in a flash what those poppies mean, but the kids? Not a chance. And that is a crime, because the symbol of those red poppies is painfully clear. Red for the blood of a generation spilt in battle and poppies for the poppy fields of France where so many young men fell in the war to end all wars: WWI.

And those little gentlemen in the funny hats? Well, they are in fact the bravest of the brave: our veterans of foreign wars-all of them. WWII (and damn few of them left), Koren, Vietnam, Iraq-TWICE and Afghanistan. They make and sell those little flowers to aid fellow veterans and they need and deserve every penny we can give.

So a word to those of you who have children or grandchildren: when you head for a bit of shopping these next few days, take the kids to the card table, buy a poppy. Explain what it means, or better yet, let them talk to the brave fellow sitting there. Thank a vet, buy a poppy and remember the ones who never came home. The one who sacrificed all in the name of freedom.

Memorial Day: It is about remembrance, not picnics.

Sue

 

Happy Mothers Day,God Bless America and ALL its VETERANS Thank You For Your Service.Anna&Steve

 

Happy Mother's Day to all! It's a beautiful day here in Illinois.

As to the Red Poppies...we support them every year! Thank you to all who served and continue to serve...