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[psd1179]

Do you know that income tax was introduced in 1917 to support the war. And it never go away and will not in the future. That usually worth a lot of poppies. You pay your tax, and remember every penny and who have contributed to this country.

[Darko]

No, my response was not ignorant, nor did anyone do something bad to may cereal.
Let me explain what you are doing here.
You are doing something called 'virtual signaling'
Basically it means you are forcing your beliefs and ideals (what is important to YOU)....onto EVERYONE else.

Don't do that. It's rude and unkind.
Do you want others to force their beliefs and ideals on you? I'm pretty sure you don't. Perhaps I will tell you what charities you should give to, and then when you disagree with me I will tell you how disappointed I am when you don't give to those charities.

Are you starting to see the problem with your position yet?

I sort of agree. I almost see it as a plea for people to agree with you, in order to validate your opinion. Cant say I've never done this before but still, it is something which will not provide you with anything that meaningful as I have learned. You will not change other's opinions. Best thing to do is keep it to yourself. It may be important to you but probably 50% of people alive here have never seen/been in a war or such conditions. Some might just be lazy, some might have much bigger problems in life to worry about. Some may see it as a Canadian patriotic symbol and may not be patriotic to Canada. For example I am from Serbia and even though I was born here I live by my Serbian heritage %100. Canada is part of NATO who is responsible for bombing my country and my people, my mother was in the bombings and could have passed away or been injured. I am in no way patriotic towards Canada. I thinks its better here than America but my mother brought me here so I have an opportunity to be successful which wasn't present back home.

[Fish Assassin]

I will chime in to say I'm in total agreement with Booters. The past several years I have noticed that fewer and fewer people are wearing the poppy. My dad was a vet. He fought oversea to protect our freedom at a time when he was not allowed to vote. As a child, my dad would take my brothers and sisters down to the Cenotaph every November 11th. We often wondered why my dad's eyes would welled up with tears when they play the Last Post. It was years later we learned that he lost a lot of his comrades. Young men never to return to their families. Buried overseas. My dad suffered what is now known as PTSD. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming and drenched in sweat. As kids we thought he was just having a nightmare. Nightmares of parachuting behind enemy lines in the middle of the night and shot at by the enemy. Many died floating down to earth. So helpless. On November 11th I will stand for 2 minutes of silence to honour those who have or is currently serving.

[BMo86]

Those of you that call this virtue signalling are totally lost. The poppy is worn as a symbol of respect and remembrance for soldiers that gave their lives to protect everyone's at the time and moving forward. It protected the  freedoms and liberties of all. It was not just our country that was involved it was a world war. It would have affected everyone's day to day life if the US, Canada and all other allies had not gotten involved. The world we live in and get to enjoy to this day was because of the sacrifices made by those then. It should never be forgotten or made less of.

[roeman]

On November 11th I will stand for 2 minutes of silence to honour those who have or is currently serving.

+
Thats great. But its what you do the rest of the year that means something.. 
Like the people that go to church on Dec 25 and think it proves something.

[sumasriver]

Wife and I both rocked our Poppy's today.  Wifes poppy was hand woven which she got many compliments on.

CDN flag has been hijacked the last year....   
Can't even now wear my Hawaiian shirt / Fred Perry Polo shirts  now.....

Really hope the Poppy is NOT hijacked as well.....

[RalphH]

I have always thought it sad that no one remembers those who gave their lives for freedom of their countries during the Napoleonic Wars. It seems the same thing is happening with the 20th Century "World Wars". 

[hammer]

I wear a poppy - not because I agree everything Canada has done or continues to do. I share some of the same sentiment as Darko but not to the same degree (though I am older and the family experiences are quite different). My family was personally effected on both sides during Canadian war times and I have complex, mixed feelings about my Canadian identity.  When my mother was 7, she, her family, and other Japanese Canadians were rounded up, stripped of property and rights, held at Hastings Park, and then taken to the prison camps in the BC Interior. The rest is part of our country's history. However, Canada being young and a relatively wealthy country held opportunity for families to rebuild and in one generation the wealth of the land allowed my family (on both sides - for my Scottish side, it was mining in eastern Canada and on my Japanese side - it was from sockeye from the Skeena and Fraser Rivers) to eventually aquire a comfortable and safe living to raise the next generations. For that I am grateful and fortunate. I am also mindful that these opportunities (while coupled with hard work work) came from resource extraction from the traditional territories of Indigenous people- for which I am thankful. Do I feel fortunate to be a Canadian at this time and place in history- yes! I am certainly grateful to those who fought and sacrificed for the country I live in with relative peace and comfort.  I would also imagine for a lot of us being Canadian is a complex thing with a lot of layers and contradictions. Behind the visual symbol of wearing a poppy or not wearing one - there is lived experience and a family history that is hard to judge from the outside. That said, my family wears a poppy to honour and show respect.       

[clarki]

No, my response was not ignorant, nor did anyone do something bad to may cereal.
Let me explain what you are doing here.
You are doing something called 'virtual signaling'
Basically it means you are forcing your beliefs and ideals (what is important to YOU)....onto EVERYONE else.

Don't do that. It's rude and unkind.
Do you want others to force their beliefs and ideals on you? I'm pretty sure you don't. Perhaps I will tell you what charities you should give to, and then when you disagree with me I will tell you how disappointed I am when you don't give to those charities.

Are you starting to see the problem with your position yet?

A few problems with your comments:
1. It’s “virtue signalling”
2. Virtue signalling is not about forcing your beliefs and ideals
3. What booters wrote is not virtue signalling

Not so super, Bobby.

Besides I think we can cut a 77 yr old some slack when he expresses, in his way, that he thinks it’s important to wear a poppy.

[RalphH]

I didn't see it as virtue signalling either. i saw it more as a dog whistle; "this change in our society makes me angry and a lot of you like me who  have been part of this country for a long time know what I mean."

I've always had mixed feeling about Remembrance day. Like Darko I am the child of immigrants. As I wrote my parents had the direct experience of the war and they told me some of their stories. Remembrance Day never included them. It was more about the old ideal of British imperialism. It never recognized the mistakes that caused 2 world wars or the deal with the devil "our side" made to win them. Canada is no longer British. The population comes from backgrounds that aren't in love with the old imperialism but has good reasons to forget it. Remembrance Day is in danger of becoming as archaic as Victoria Day. As an institution it has to be changed or it will just become another excuse for a day off.

[bobby b]

I think it’s ridiculous to get steamed about someone not wearing a poppy when you expect them to. Who’s to say they weren’t going to wear it the next day? Some may start wearing it on a particular day for any number of reasons. One of my closest friends always starts wearing a poppy on Nov 7 as it was the day his grandfather died.

Don’t judge a book by its cover …. You don’t know a strangers  story …. Lives are lived with many events that shape the way we live.

[booters]

I think it’s ridiculous to get steamed about someone not wearing a poppy when you expect them to. Who’s to say they weren’t going to wear it the next day? Some may start wearing it on a particular day for any number of reasons. One of my closest friends always starts wearing a poppy on Nov 7 as it was the day his grandfather died.

Don’t judge a book by its cover …. You don’t know a strangers  story …. Lives are lived with many events that shape the way we live.

I am or was not steamed about people not wearing a poppy.
My initial post was
1- stores displaying and selling poppies however the clerks not wearing one,ironical and even somewhat amusing
Will they eventually wear one.maybe maybe not. because I have seen same individuals at those stores on Rememberance day void of wearing a poppy. A oservation and comment by me. Does that bother you?
2- People void wearing a poppy up to including the very day. Yeah I find it disappointing and unpatriotic.
I wont keep my thoughts to myself as you suggested among other things,I have and will always voice my opinion,my right,everyones right.
I dont understand why you argue,debate and slam me for my Post.
To me Rememberance Day stands for the patriotic thoughts and memories of those who fought for Canada.
Why would you even debate and be condescending about that. Best think about it a little more.

[vancook]

I wear a poppy - not because I agree everything Canada has done or continues to do. I share some of the same sentiment as Darko but not to the same degree (though I am older and the family experiences are quite different). My family was personally effected on both sides during Canadian war times and I have complex, mixed feelings about my Canadian identity.  When my mother was 7, she, her family, and other Japanese Canadians were rounded up, stripped of property and rights, held at Hastings Park, and then taken to the prison camps in the BC Interior. The rest is part of our country's history. However, Canada being young and a relatively wealthy country held opportunity for families to rebuild and in one generation the wealth of the land allowed my family (on both sides - for my Scottish side, it was mining in eastern Canada and on my Japanese side - it was from sockeye from the Skeena and Fraser Rivers) to eventually aquire a comfortable and safe living to raise the next generations. For that I am grateful and fortunate. I am also mindful that these opportunities (while coupled with hard work work) came from resource extraction from the traditional territories of Indigenous people- for which I am thankful. Do I feel fortunate to be a Canadian at this time and place in history- yes! I am certainly grateful to those who fought and sacrificed for the country I live in with relative peace and comfort.  I would also imagine for a lot of us being Canadian is a complex thing with a lot of layers and contradictions. Behind the visual symbol of wearing a poppy or not wearing one - there is lived experience and a family history that is hard to judge from the outside. That said, my family wears a poppy to honour and show respect.     

I relate to this. On my father's side my great grandfather fought in the trenches in WW1 and grandfather a WW2 vet. My mother's side, japanese, her parents were sent to internment camps in the interior. Everything taken, fishing business in steveston, a hotel in strathcona. Depending on where your family was sent there's a good chance our families could have known each other. I still wear a poppy, I don't have mine yet, to honour the memory of the soldiers who fought. Every remembrance day my family would go to my grandparent's and watch the ceremony on TV, they've long since passed but I still have my moment of silence on the 11th.

[coastangler]

Thanks for the reminder booters and will keep that in mind. My respect to those that fought for our freedom.

I do agree with Darko also in that not everything is black or white when it comes to world wars. Also being an European immigrant, I had relatives that were killed by the same fascists your ancestors fought and I have my own ways of remembering them. I may not wear the Poppy every day but still honour and respect their sacrifice and will share it with my children.

[booters]

I didn't see it as virtue signalling either. i saw it more as a dog whistle; "this change in our society makes me angry and a lot of you like me who  have been part of this country for a long time know what I mean."

I've always had mixed feeling about Remembrance day. Like Darko I am the child of immigrants. As I wrote my parents had the direct experience of the war and they told me some of their stories. Remembrance Day never included them. It was more about the old ideal of British imperialism. It never recognized the mistakes that caused 2 world wars or the deal with the devil "our side" made to win them. Canada is no longer British. The population comes from backgrounds that aren't in love with the old imperialism but has good reasons to forget it. Remembrance Day is in danger of becoming as archaic as Victoria Day. As an institution it has to be changed or it will just become another excuse for a day off.

I think Ralph explained it best here, Yes very sad with the new era including the new breed of people