Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: November 2014

previous month | index | next month

eyeline

And then what?

tolr remembers poppy logoIf people buy a British Legion poppy for Remembrance Day, there is always a dilemma about what to do with it afterwards. To keep it for another year seems cheap, to throw it away seems callous, and yet there is really nowhere to put it. This year, 888,246 people seem quite happy to address that particular dilemma, at a cost of £25 per head.

poppyEvery single one of the poppies in Paul Cummins' and Tom Piper's installation at the Tower of London, 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' has been sold. Each ceramic poppy, which took three days to make, will find its way to a new home once the installation is dismantled.

poppy Where will they go, I wonder? Will they adorn a window box in a high rise block of flats, a chic office in the city, a potting shed in the suburbs or a cottage garden in the Home Counties? Once there, will they lose the significance afforded by their 888,245 companions - or will they gain a kind of poignancy of their own, like a lone piper playing a lament? Somebody could make a fascinating photo story by following these tokens of remembrance on their way (click here)

poppy The thing is, remembrance of any kind is intended to affect the future rather than dwelling on the past. The poppy should be as much a warning about what might be as a reminder of what was. Every time God urged his people to look back in the Old Testament it was to ensure that they might step forward in a better way.

poppy On this year, 100 years since the First World War began, acts of remembrance will hold a particular significance for many. Perhaps the most solemn site of all will be the National War Memorial in Ottawa, where Captain Nathan Cirillo was gunned down last month. That a soldier should fall victim to a new conflict whilst standing guard over the memorial to an old one seems especially sad. All the poppies in all the world have not yet stemmed the tide of violence, it would seem.

poppy 'Remember your creator' says the writer of Ecclesiastes, which seems sound advice at any time of year.

rjl signature

To see some images showing what has happened to the poppies
from 'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' click here
eyeline