Wear a poppy, but remember what freedom actually means

Over the past few weeks, millions of Canadians proudly wore a red poppy to honour the men and women who fought, suffered, and died defending our country.

But I have a serious problem with some of the people wearing those poppies.

If you enforced vaccine mandates, demanded vaccine passports, supported firing people for refusing a medical procedure, or helped exclude children from everyday activities because of their vaccination status, I have one question for you.

What exactly do you think that poppy represents?

Because you cannot spend one day honouring freedom and then pretend you had nothing to do with restricting it.

During COVID, Canadians lost jobs, businesses collapsed, families were divided, children were excluded from activities, and people were pressured to make medical decisions under the threat of losing their livelihoods.

Some Canadians were told they could no longer work, travel, or participate in ordinary society unless they complied with government requirements.

And who helped enforce those decisions?

Employers. Politicians. Public officials. Ordinary Canadians who decided that obedience mattered more than individual rights.

Many of those same people will stand solemnly today, wearing their poppies, talking about courage, sacrifice, and freedom.

Where was that courage when your fellow Canadians needed it?

Where was your respect for individual liberty when someone faced losing a 20-year career?

Where was your compassion when parents were struggling to feed their children because their employment depended on complying with a mandate?

Where was your concern for freedom when Canadians were being divided into categories of compliant and noncompliant citizens?

Our veterans fought against enemies who threatened the freedoms and security of their country. Their sacrifices helped preserve a society where governments could be questioned, individual rights defended, and authority challenged.

Those principles should matter during a crisis just as much as they matter during a ceremony.

You don’t honour that sacrifice simply by wearing a flower on your jacket.

You honour it by defending the freedoms that flower is supposed to remind us of, especially when doing so is unpopular.

A poppy should represent remembrance, sacrifice, courage, and principle.

Not a convenient opportunity to look patriotic for one day.

So wear your poppy proudly.

But if you helped punish your fellow Canadians for exercising personal choice, don’t expect everyone to applaud your display of patriotism.

Because freedom means very little when you only defend it after the government gives you permission.

Question everything. Fear nothing. Freedom belongs to those who think for themselves.

And what about our war heroes? Are they not also victims of political and psychological manipulation, losing their lives for the benefit of those in power, with everything neatly wrapped in words like honour, patriotism, and freedom?

In reality, aren’t they, just like the rest of us, pawns in a much bigger game?

RA, DB