I've spent much of my adult life being a bit of an asshole about Remembrance Day.
I'd see some thirty-something wearing a poppy and think to myself, "Oh, did you lose a lot of good friends at Vimy Ridge?"
I wasn't mocking the dead. I was mocking the idea that people were remembering something they had never experienced. And I've never been particularly comfortable with the glorification of war, however politely it's dressed up.
But I've changed my mind.
I've come to realize that remembrance isn't necessarily personal memory. It's collective moral memory.
The poppy isn't a celebration of what we did. It's a reminder of what we must try not to do again.
And perhaps that's why we need to do it every year. Because we forget. We rationalize. We repeat ourselves.
I've also come to realize that it's pretty shitty of me to judge someone for wearing a poppy because they haven't invested much thought in the history behind it. They don't need to know the battles, the generals, or the politics. They don't need to have lost anyone.
They can simply be saying, "I will be better. We will be better."
I don't need to approve of the war, the generals, the politicians, or the mythology of sacrifice to recognize the value of an annual reminder of what humanity is capable of doing to itself.
And importantly, it's not about *them*. It's about *us*. You and me. We're no less capable of being terrible than those who came before us.
So this year I'll wear a poppy.
Not to celebrate the past, but to take some responsibility for the future.
I remember that we can be terrible. And I resolve to be better.