Can A Pacifist Wear a Poppy?

 

Can a pacifist wear a poppy? The answer is yes—I’m a pacifist, and I wear one. A few others that I know do, too.

But many people who oppose war have ambivalent feelings about poppies. I think they’re afraid that wearing one will suggest that they are, tacitly or otherwise, supporting war and militarism.

Some compromise by wearing red buttons that say “To remember is to work for peace.” Every year Mennonite Central Committee distributes thousands of them. It’s a good message. But I think a poppy says the same thing—I’ve never met a veteran who thinks war is a good idea.

I don’t wear a poppy to celebrate war. I wear it as a sign of respect for the many men and women who sacrificed years, youth and, for some, their lives during this country’s wars.

They did not plan those wars. They did not seek them. They did what they thought was right at the time. In the same situation, I might have done the same.

I also wear a poppy for personal reasons. I wear it for my Uncle Harry, who was wounded in Europe in World War Two. Each remembrance day he would march with the other veterans to the cenotaph in my hometown, pausing for two minutes to remember the dead.

Later, he’d go the Legion and drink and reminisce and cry with his buddies, remembering the friends who never made it home.

Uncle Harry, like most vets, never talked about the war, even though I pestered him as a child. He’d just shake his head and change the subject.

I also wear the poppy for my father. Due to a medical condition, he was rejected for military service in 1944. This bothered him his whole life, especially since so many of his high school friends went overseas, and some of them were killed.

After he died, I went though his belongings. Among his prized possession I found his certificate for rejection for general service. Why did he keep it all those years? I think it was his way of proving, to himself, at least, that he was no shirker.

Maybe it was his special way of keeping faith with friends who served and died.

I wear a poppy for conscientious objectors—for those who bravely decided to go against prevailing opinion by choosing not participate in the military during this country’s wars.

During World War Two, 10,782 men did some form of alternative service on farms, in hospitals, planting trees, building roads and other things, showing there were ways other than fighting to serve their country. Over 3,000 were from Manitoba—more than any other province. 

I wear a poppy because I am a pacifist. Over my career in international relief and development, much of my work has been in response to hunger and suffering caused by war—people uprooted by conflict, in need of food, shelter and safety. 

According to the World Food Program, of the more than 800 million hungry people in the world, about 490 million, or 60 per cent, live in countries affected by conflict. Some 74 million people, or two thirds of the 113 million people facing acute hunger in the world, are located in 21 countries affected by conflict and insecurity. 

And more than 80 per cent of resources requested by UN humanitarian appeals in recent years have been for humanitarian action in conflict situations.

Finally, I wear a poppy to show that pacifists can be patriotic, too. Being against war or militarization is not to be anti-Canadian. And service to country is not reserved for those who put on a uniform.

We can all serve by volunteering, by supporting charities that help needy people here and around the world, and by promoting a vision of peace for everyone, everywhere.

That’s why I wear a poppy. Why do you wear one? 

(Originally published in the November 10, 2012 Winnipeg Free Press.)