When I was a kid, it seemed
like Poppy Day happened at least once a year, if not several times a year. I
knew it was Poppy Day if I was out riding around in a car because whenever we’d
get stopped by a red light people would walk out into the intersection with
slotted cans in one hand and red flowers in the other. They’d come up to car
windows shaking the cans so that the people inside the car could hear the coins in
the can clanging around and if someone rolled down the window and dropped a few
more coins in the can they’d receive one of the red flowers as a token of
appreciation.
My mother always
enthusiastically rolled down her window and dropped coins in the cans on Poppy
Day. And she’d display her poppy by tying its stem to the rearview mirror. I noticed
that the poppy wasn’t even real. It was made of cloth. So I asked my mother why
she was so eager to buy and so proud to display a fake flower. She explained
that the poppy was a symbol of something of far greater importance. When she
purchased a poppy, she was helping the handicapped because the poppies were
made by handicapped people.
I also noticed that right
around Poppy Day a lot of people had cloth poppies hanging from their rearview
mirrors. So, I guess displaying a poppy had the added benefit of showing
everyone that you help the handicapped.
I think it’s a good thing
that they don’t have Poppy Days anymore. It shows that cripples have bigger and
better things going on than making cloth flowers. But sometimes even today when
I’m waiting for a red light I get solicited to give money for cripples. But
it’s the cripples themselves that approach my car, not their surrogates. These
cripples shake canisters full of coins. But the canisters are usually more
makeshift, like used cups from fast food restaurants. And if I give them coins,
they just say thanks and move on to the next car. They don’t give me a poppy or
anything.
Without a poppy to display. how is everyone going to
know that I help the handicapped?
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