Poppies make remembrance easy; that’s why they can become so tasteless. (They didn’t used to be like that. Times change.)
What those poppies represent isn’t as easy.
What they represent is real people who died, and other real people who learned about their deaths through the arid phrasing of an Army Council telegram.
The one that began “Deeply regret to inform you…”
Sometimes that sentiment was reduced to a rubber stamp…
…and sometimes it was pre-printed…
…all to save a couple of seconds in completing the thousands of telegrams needed after yet another Big Push on the Western Front went nowhere.
Sometimes the telegram was followed by a letter…
Maybe even a letter whose spaces were beautifully filled in…
Printed or stamped, pencilled scribble or copperplate script, they all meant the same thing: a husband or son, father or brother wouldn’t be coming home again.
They’d be staying with their mates.
If anyone ever learns a way to make this tasteless, I don’t want to know.
psh, this party sucks *teleports to the cactus dimension* oh i don’t like it here
Has this ever happened to you? You’re at a party, it sucks, and you decide to teleport to the cactus dimension.
Remember STD:
Stop.
Think.
Don’t teleport to the cactus dimension.
Teleporting to the cactus dimension is responsible for over fifty deaths or major injuries every decade, and recent studies show the long term side effects may include trying to enslave other dimensions to the cactus overlords or getting poked a lot.
Don’t let yourself become the next one to not like it in the cactus dimension. Just say, “I’m not teleporting to the cactus dimension” to teleporting to the cactus dimension.
