The sea of red poppies at the Tower of London were a powerful reminder of the senseless industrial slaughter of human beings.
10 million military personnel were butchered by high explosive.
7 million civilians were also killed in violently.
The poppy was adopted to remind us of the gruesome stupidity of war where weaponry has now reached a sophistication where a missile can be targeted from thousands of miles away and kill thousands of people, where a nuclear device can kill millions. There is nothing heroic about it
The poppy is a reminder that there are better ways. Violence is primitive behaviour.
It is also salutary to consider that the flu epidemic that followed the first World War killed between 20 and 40 million – more than were killed in both World Wars.
Perhaps we should be putting our efforts into solving the population explosion before the next virus disposes of us!
Build a better zeitgeist!