On why I do wear a red poppy
(The following is in response to various expressions of discomfort with Remembrance Day encountered on my f-list yesterday, in particular copperbadge's On why I don't wear a red poppy. I would have replied to that post itself, had comments not been disabled.)
The first time copperbadge really read the closing lines of "In Flanders Fields," he was dismayed by what he ( Read more... )
The first time copperbadge really read the closing lines of "In Flanders Fields," he was dismayed by what he ( Read more... )
You're absolutely right, and that is the next step. When someone is dying or in trouble right before your eyes, the choice to be heroic is an easy one, which is why so many accidental heroes protest (after saving someone from drowning or pulling someone from a burning car) that they were only doing what anyone would have done under the circumstances. But when the person in trouble isn't dying right before your eyes--when they're on the streets or in a nursing home or starving in another country--the choice doesn't seem so obvious, does it? What a world it would be if we all looked far enough beyond ourselves to see the opportunities for heroism.
It is wholesale slaughter, oh, yes, I will agree with that. Horrible and terrible and ugly. But not the most terrible of things.
I checked out your "bit in your own place" and I think you make this point admirably. Yes, a world without war would be ideal, but not at the cost of standing back and ignoring situations that truly call for intervention.
Thanks for sharing your thoughtful comments.
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