Remembrance Sunday

I haven't worn a poppy today, which I feel bad about, but of late I don't like what Remembrance Day seems to be mutating into. A number of memes I've seen on Facebook and elsewhere describe it in terms of patriotism when that should be the last thing it should be about. I wear a poppy for the dead and it isn't dictated by what particular trench they died in. As Orwell noted, the closer you get to a front line the less flag waving and nationalism you see. As the battle lines of WWI and WWII recede over time's horizon (and become less real to those who weren't even born then) the union jacks unfurl and the saccharine fictions begin. 20th century bloodshed looks great and noble through a smartphone.