“What are they for?” I hear this question frequently at work when children see the poppy box on the counter.
A poppy has been an iconic symbol of Remembrance Day, but how many know the real reason behind the flower?
My guess is not very many these days.
It is nice to know that the younger generation are eager to know what things mean and represent.
The disappointing side is that their parents ignore them or change the subject because they can’t answer their simple question.
I was shocked when this happened right before my eyes; parents have clearly forgotten the meaning behind Remembrance Day.
It is even more disappointing when they can’t explain to their young one’s what “Poppy Day” is or what it is represents.
A poppy has been worn every November since 1919 to mark Remembrance Day, or as it is sometimes known, Armistice Day.
Unfortunately, some people just wear the poppy as a fashion statement without meaning or cause.
We all see the judges on Xfactor walk out with there special made poppies as to complete their outfit.
Poppies were the only living thing to survive in Flanders’s field which saw some of the bloodiest fighting during World War One.
Perhaps introducing this part of history in to schools at a younger age might help.
It is sad to walk around the college campus and see so few without the red flower, students and lecturers alike, surely they should be setting an example.
Jon Snow, a reporter for channel 4, has been refusing to wear a poppy on air, branding it ‘poppy fascism’. Some have said he is ‘dishonouring the dead’ by refusing to wear the emblem.
After all, we were fighting for freedom; perhaps more will follow by choosing not to wear a poppy until the eleventh, like Jon has.
How people showing respect is seen as poppy fascism I’ll never know.
So why have so many of us forgotten about the hundreds of thousands of people that lost their lives in two world wars when not even a hundred years have passed?
Personally,I think people don’t realise how big or how much was sacrificed for them to live how they do now.
 I think it is disrespectful not to wear a poppy, even if it is not the eleventh.
The World Wars are a big part of our history, it should mean a lot to us who live around here, knowing that there are relatives and friends out fighting in Afghanistan, it won’t be long before the poppy represents them as well. 
A minutes silence and a small donation isn’t much to show respect for those that have died for us, is it?