WEARING THE POPPY

Sir, Following a thoroughly discouraging column by Mary Holland, Dr Garret FitzGerald's insightful piece (November 16th) on the…

Sir, Following a thoroughly discouraging column by Mary Holland, Dr Garret FitzGerald's insightful piece (November 16th) on the poppy was welcome. Eddie Holt, also referring to the symbolism of the flower, pointed out that "the onus falls on the individual to think clearly".

Education helps to produce this clarity of thought. Davis's advice is still apt - "educate ourselves to be free". Free of cant and tribal taboos and, above all, free of fear of the truth.

Historical revisionism in other cultures involves meticulous examination of primary sources, discovery of new material and reevaluation of old in order to further sharpen the understanding of the past. In Ireland, revisionism is largely a question of the simple unveiling of significant, clearly recorded, elements in our recent past. The banishing from our consciousness of approximately a third of a million Irish soldiers who volunteered to fight in the 1914-1918 war was an extraordinary feat of mass complicity with the narrow political agenda of the purveyors of fantasy Ireland.

I wear the poppy because I recognise it as my own, as a constitutional nationalist, in honour of those men of the tradition I respect - who voted to follow their elected political leaders.

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Mary Holland is privileged to be a contributor to our informal education, and that is why her offering last week was so disappointing. It would be nice to wear the poppy to cheer up the other tribe - who really own it - but on second thoughts it might only stir up trouble, so don't bother. How many miles to Babylon? How many hours of deep thought did that take? - Yours, etc.,

(Capt rtd), Glenageary Woods,

Dun Laoghaire.