欧洲田野诞生美国假日传统

Some woman asked me if I wanted to buy a paper poppy,”said my college son.“I couldnt believe it. Why would she be doing that right outside the grocery store?”

Oh, my son, I thought. What else have I neglected to teach you?

This tradition of selling poppies on Memorial Day goes back to World War Ⅰ. American soldiers were buried in the pastures and wheat fields and on the battlefields of Europe, where bright red poppies grow wild.

The delicate poppy blossoms,as red as the shed blood they have come to symbolize,nodded among fresh graves.

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row....” are the lines jotted down by a Canadian doctor,Lt. Col. John McCrae,while caring for the wounded near a battlefield. His simple words inspired two women on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

When Georgia schoolteacher Moina Michael read Colonel McCraes poignant poem, she was so moved by it that she resolved to wear a red poppy to remember those who had died in the war. And she brought silk poppies for her co-workers to wear.

Across the ocean,children orphaned by the war picked poppies to lay on the graves of American soldiers.

A Frenchwoman named Anna Guerin watched them, and her heart went out to them and to the dead Americans who had delivered her country. She came up with the idea of selling silk poppies to help the orphans in the devastated areas of Europe.

The ideas of these two young women eventually grew into the poppy programs of the American Legion Auxiliary and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Both patriotic groups sell poppies made by disabled and hospitalized veterans. And the proceeds go to help disabled veterans and their families.

Those poppies,as I told my son,are to help us remember the young men and women who gave up their lives to secure our freedom. To me,these fragile flowers are the perfect remembrance of what our freedom cost.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

“有个妇女问我是否想买一朵纸罂粟花，”我上大学的儿子说。“我无法相信这是真的。为什么她会在杂货店做那样的事情？”

噢，我的儿子，我想。我还有别的事情没有教给你吗？

这种在纪念日卖罂粟花的传统可以追溯到第一次世界大战时期。美国士兵被埋葬在位于欧洲战场上的牧场和麦地中，在那里鲜红的罂粟在疯狂地生长着。

雅致的罂粟花朵，像流出的鲜血一样鲜红，它们逐渐成为一种象征，在刚刚出现的新的坟头摇曳着。

“在佛兰德斯的田野中，在佛兰德斯战场上，罂粟花随风飘荡/在十字架林立的墓地中，一排又一排……”这是加拿大医生约翰·麦克可里陆军上校在一个战场附近照顾伤员时记录下的文字。他朴素的语言激励着大西洋对岸的两位妇女。

当佐治亚州的教师蒙纳·迈克尔阅读到麦克可里上校令人痛苦的诗歌时，她非常激动，于是决心戴上一朵红罂粟来缅怀那些在战争中死去的人。并且她还带来一些丝绸罂粟花让她的同事佩戴。

穿越海洋，由于战争成为孤儿的孩子们也拣一些罂粟花放在这些美国士兵的墓前。

一位叫安娜·葛温的法国妇女看到这种情景，她的心也一起随着他们一起来到了那些为解放她祖国而牺牲的美国人的身旁。于是她想到了去卖丝织罂粟花来帮助那些欧洲遭受战火毁坏地区的儿童。

这两位女士的想法最终成为美国军队和外国军团中的罂粟花计划。两个爱国团体开始销售由残疾人和住院老兵制作的罂粟花。而这种收益可以帮助那些残疾的老兵和他们的家庭。

正如我所告诉儿子的那样，这些罂粟花正帮助我们回忆起那些为确保我们的自由而牺牲自己生命的人们。对我来说，这些脆弱的花儿正是我们自由代价的最好回忆。

在佛兰德斯战场上，罂粟花随风飘荡

十字架林立的墓地，

就是我们居住的地方；

勇敢歌唱云雀仍在天空中翱翔，

枪声却不再作响。

不久前，我们战死沙场。

我们曾经活着，感受过黎明和傍晚的霞光，

我们曾经为人所爱，现在我们却长眠于佛兰德斯战场。

我们要继续与敌人战斗：

你从我们垂下的手中接过火炬，

并把它高高举在手中。

如果你背弃我们的遗愿，

即使罂粟花开满了佛兰德斯，我们也不会安息。