Posted on 05/30/2005 8:15:09 AM PDT by SandRat
On a weekend when many Tucsonans are camping in the mountains or partying at poolside, Dan Hawkins has been standing outside a supermarket in 100-degree heat, clutching a fistful of memories that seem to grow dimmer each year.
There was a time when passers-by eagerly scooped up the scarlet Buddy Poppies Hawkins has peddled each Memorial Day weekend since 1987.
Nowadays, there are far fewer takers for the bright red flowers that recall America's fallen troops.
"It used to be a big thing," said Hawkins, 72, a Vietnam veteran and leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7399.
"Pretty much everybody knew what it was about when
(Excerpt) Read more at dailystar.com ...
Veteran's groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and many others and they will all have to be collected back up late tonight as well or by next Saturday.
I have my poppy too. Woven thru my purse. And I thanked the vet who gave it to me for his service. :o)
You'll laugh - being the mom of a 7 month old, when I forst saw your ping I read it as poopie! LOL!
My mother and father-in-law spend every memorial weekend selling the poppies in front of different businesses. We saw them this weekend and they were having a great time visiting with people who bought the poppies. God Bless their generation.
Good for you and what a great idea! Do you think you will have trouble getting hired and 'infultratint' the NEA barrier?
LOL.....I could have had stuttering fingers and spelled it that way.
I understand. Been there three times myself. Thoughts, ideas, concepts, motivation all centers around that young life.
Google, like eBay, and many other "librul" mainstays of contemporary American life, has had many such problems lately. We really shouldn't expect them to change their ways, so convinced are they that they are being neutral and objective.
Yes, I remember good old Buddy Poopie!
"Good for you and what a great idea! Do you think you will have trouble getting hired and 'infultratint' the NEA barrier?"
Nope, I've already joined, as a student, and once I have the certification for Special Ed, I'm practically guaranteed a job anywhere I want one. Spec Ed teachers are always in demand, and always in shortage.
I'm rather careful about how I approach politics with students; I tell them I don't want to change their minds, just to make sure they're educated sufficiently to make their own choices. Having been a liberal, once upon a time, I have an idea what it takes to change their minds; experience and a little maturity.
Well, you know the old saying: A liberal is a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet.
Keep up the good work.
I went to their portal page for the first time the other day, and they had as headline news an opinion piece from Common Dreams. If you don't know, Common Dreams is an extreme left site--so left you can't even post stories from it here on FR.
http://www.google.com/holidaylogos.html
It looks like they have never missed a St Patrick's Day or a Valentine's Day yet. But they have never done Memorial Day or Veteran's Day. At least they do Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day.
This shows my ignorance. I am 31. Had not heard of the Buddy Poppy before now.
Well that's why there is an FR. You learn something everytime you login.
Very true. I often will turn around and tell my kids, "You aren't going to believe this." I have an online friend who says she's glad I'm a Freeper, because I keep her updated.
Nah! My kids rarely watch the news. My 11 year old will sometimes look over my shoulder to see what's going on on FR. Last week he asked what a fillibuster was. When I told him, he quipped, "I thought it was a campaign to get rid of Dr. Phil."
LOL!
How well I remember "Buddy Poppies", and I buy one every chance I get. They used to be a sort of red-orange crepe paper made by disabled vets. I'm 58, and my father fought in WWII. "Buddy Poppies" meant so much to him. They stood not only for all the wounded and disabled buddies from the war, but also for all the buddies who would never come back. There was one cousin in my husband's family who was wounded and in a wheelchair all his life paralyzed. He gave so much. Never had a wife or children. He died a few years ago after a lifetime of all the physical struggles that come with paralysis. These WWII veterans are getting away from here at an alarming rate. If we're going to do for them, we better be about it.
I didn't see anyone selling them this year. Last year, I gave the girl selling them outside the grocery store a $5 bill and she asked me if I wanted some change. Not that $5 is anything much, but I think she was used to getting 50 cents or a dollar usually. Some PR information would sure be a good thing for the "Buddy Poppy" effort.
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