MARY GIUFFRE: Leading up to Remembrance Day this year I dealt with a great personal struggle. You see every year, as long as I can remember, like most people, I made sure I posted a bright red poppy on my lapel beginning around November 1st.
This year for the first time I passed by the poppy seller. On my way into the grocery store, I didn't have any change and unexpectedly while collecting and depositing groceries into my shopping cart, I starting pondering those little crimson flowers and the statement they make. By the end of my grocery tour, my gut wasn't feeling quite right about making that poppy purchase, so on my way out of the store I went out of my way to avoid the dedicated legion rep.
After two weeks passed, on November 10 my husband Paul climbed into the car and presented me with a little gift - yes a poppy. His was already proudly pinned to his jacket when I admitted I really didn't know how I felt about wearing it.
On our trips to Toronto we're usually accompanied by CBC's Jian Gomeshi and the in-depth interviews on his popular radio show 'Q'. As we settled in for the drive he revealed the guest list for the next hour - a chat with author Stephen King - great! Followed by a very serious conversation with war correspondent Robert Fisk - seemed that Mr. Fisk, a reporter with more International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent, was creating quite a stir over his most recent article: Do those who flaunt the poppy on their lapels know that they mock the war dead?
It has been my experience that when we ask the universe a sincere question, if we pay attention, the universe always answers. I'd been rolling my concern over wearing that little red war remembrance symbol for days and when I came face to face with the decision to wear or not to wear, a very clear response was gracefully provided.
You see, Robert Fisk stopped wearing a poppy because of his dad Bill Fisk, a WWI vet ~ I asked him once why the Great War was fought. "All I can tell you, fellah," he said, "was that it was a great waste." ...Then he stopped wearing his poppy. I asked him why, and he said that he didn't want to see "so many damn fools" wearing it. Fisk junior goes on to explain that, The original idea came, of course, from the Toronto military surgeon and poet John McCrae and was inspired by the death of his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, killed on 3 May 1915. "In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row." But it's a propaganda poem, urging readers to "take up the quarrel with the foe". Bill Fisk eventually understood this and turned against it. He was right.
I'm on the same page as Fisks senior and junior about poppy wearing and I thank the Universal oneness for the beautiful synchronicities it showers us with daily. These Divine coincidences present themselves to us in so many ways. But, in order to see and hear them it's vital we give our attention to the present moment and stay grounded in our loving hearts.
In his interview on 'Q', Robert Fisk states sincerely, "...It's seemed to me that it [wearing the poppy] was encouraging people to support war...The wearing of the poppy in a sense is saying that war can be a good thing and I don't believe it can...I came to the conclusion that wearing the poppy doesn't end war. I think in a sense we commemorate war and I'm against that...When you live in wars, which unfortunately I have to, you realize that they are not primarily about victory or defeat, they're about the dissolution of the human spirit..."
Amen Mr. Fisk. I thank you.
|
Biography
