Bring Me Your Poppies
/We Remember On Memorial Day
On Memorial Day in the United States, we remember and honor those who have fallen in the line of duty, in combat and in service to their country. It's a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of human lives.
"Freedom is not free, it comes with a price," it is often said. Many have paid the high cost of dying while serving their country.
Even if you never served in the armed forces, it's likely you have a family member or a friend who did. Sometimes, it's family from our past. It might be an uncle in WWII, a relative from WWI, a great-grandfather who served with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders.
Remembrance is not limited to specific wars. All conflicts are embraced and held in our hearts. It doesn't matter if we agreed with it or not. Those who have been lost still need our love and healing.
Poppies For Remembrance
Poppies symbolize our remembrance of our fallen military members. Red blossoms sway in the fields and evoke drops of sacred blood spilled in the battles of conflict.
Out of the mud created by combat boots in the fields of Europe, poppies were one of the first flowers to spring up. These delicate flowers stood strong as an affirmation of the persistence of life.
Poppies are used as a symbol of remembrance on both Memorial and Veteran's Day, also marked as Armistice Day in Europe. It's always worthwhile to remember that each conflict has more than one side and people were lost on both sides. Although losers of a war are never honored, they too, had family members who grieved their loss.
Poppies And A Single Poem
The poem, In Flanders Fields, written early in the conflict of World War I by Canadian John McCrae gained popularity and placed red poppies at the center of remembering our fallen soldiers. It was taught in our schools when I was young.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
In the 1960s, we still had a sense of the impact of World War I and used phrases like "All's quiet on the Western Front" and "I work in the trenches" in our normal conversations.
The Healing Begins Within Us
For students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®), we are able to use the support of TRT® with all who were affected by the wars. We don't have to choose sides. We don't have to be ashamed if our relatives were on the losing side. And we can direct to those who were on the "other side" from where we grew up.
Students of The First Degree of The Radiance Technique® can apply hands-on in their meditations and focus on their own feelings with a specific war or the loss of a family member. Perhaps you want to focus on the complex issue of war. Explore your own feelings and fears that may arise. Allow the healing energy accessed by TRT® to bring balance to your emotions and thoughts.
For students of The Second Degree of The Radiance Technique®, they can use the technique taught at that level to direct energy to specific wars, or to focus on a certain individual. Maybe even someone from their own family or a neighbor. Perhaps The Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. Each country has their own memorial for those who are lost in battle without a trace to be found.
It's a time of remembrance, a time of perspective from a whole, not just a part, of our history.
First image of poppies by Heidi Reil
Second image of a single poppy from The Jitterbug Studio
Field poppy Papaver rhoeas, on which the remembrance poppy is based
