Sunday 28 October 2007

White poppies


posted by kathy

If you feel uneasy about red poppies and would like to wear a white poppy instead, I have some which I ordered from the Peace Pledge Union. I'll try to remember to bring them to Meeting next Sunday, or you can ask me beforehand, if you would like. (Martin also has a couple in case of requests.)

The Peace Pledge Union offers a range of resources which can be ordered through their site. These include a history of conscientious objection in World War I which is recommended by Martin. Apparently First World War conscientious objectors lost the right to vote until 1926. I hadn't known that.

Here are a couple of useful on-line links:

The chapter on peace in Quaker Faith and Practice.

Quaker activities at Faslane.

Details of the Quaker-supported Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases at Menwith Hill.

Information and ideas on campaigning from Campaign Against Arms Trade, in which many Quakers and others are involved.

A useful article I found on the BBC website (from an interfaith group in West Wiltshire. This includes a particularly challenging sentence from John Woolman:

“May we look upon our treasures, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions.”

It's a helpful reminder that wearing a white poppy may not be enough.

2 comments:

Yewtree said...

Hello. What a great blog. If you or any of your readers are on Facebook, I have created a white poppy app on there, so you can display a white poppy on your profile. I love the John Woolman quote. I suppose the seeds of war would be dragons' teeth.

Also, have you seen the QuakerQuaker blog, which brings together lots of Quaker blogs? It's awesome.

Beeston Quakers said...

Hallo Yvonne. Thanks for your comment. I've just joined the white poppy group on Facebook but, before I saw your comment, posted a note with a link to the PPU site. I'll have a look at the application.

I have seen QuakerQuaker and should really get a link to it in the sidebar - sometimes it's hard to find the time.

kathy