For Love of Country

Exercising our right to vote has been so tightly woven into the fabric of our democratic society, that we often take it for granted. Amidst the debates and media coverage ad nauseum, I am relieved the 2012 election is now over. This weekend, it is timely and appropriate that we honor and remember those who have sacrificed for our country and ensured our freedom. Our grandson invited us to attend his school's band and chorus performance to celebrate Veteran's Day and the narrator of the program mentioned Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's famous war poem, "In Flanders Fields."

After 17 days of brutal fighting in Ypers and the death of his close friend and fellow soldier, Alexis Helmer, in 1915, John McCrae sat on the back of an ambulance parked near a cemetery where he saw wild poppies growing among the graves and wrote his 15-line poem. It became and remains today, one of the most popular war poems and his mention of the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers led to the remembrance poppy, the iconic symbol for soldiers in war. When McCrae finished his poem, he handed it to a young sergeant major named Cyril Allison who stated, "The poem was ... an exact description of the scene in front of us both and ... the poppies were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind."

In Flanders Fields

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 the 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 gratitude, let us remember all those who have gone before us and honor those who have sacrificed for the love of country. And when you see red poppies, think of "In Flanders Fields."