"Without the birds I dare not think how I should have gone through the War at all"

'Extraordinary.'  The old man beside me breathed in wonder.  'Absolutely extraordinary.'  

'Yes.  I agree.'  His wife murmured.  'The detail is wonderful, the colours!  The art is beautiful.  Beautiful.'  

Are you kidding me?  I went to see the poppy display today and it definitely wasn't beautiful.  True, in these photographs the juxtaposition of the vibrant red against the grey stone walls does look really artistic, but when I looked down at those poppies I saw the hundreds of thousands of dead bodies that they represented.  I just wanted the poppies to stop.  I couldn't bear the fact that there were so many.  I didn't see a thing of beauty.  I saw one of horror.  

Tourists were milling around taking photos (selfies mainly) of them grinning next to this display, chatting enthusiastically about how they'll buy a poppy when an exhibition is done.  It was infuriating.  I wanted to scream at them that each poppy represented a dead person.  I wasn't being morbid!  I wasn't saying that we should all roll around and cry with grief, but I was astounded that it didn't give people more chills.

All the while I couldn't stop thinking about the political organisation 'Britain first'.  They are a Marmite group, you either love them or hate them and I fall into the latter category.  Their logo is an African lion.  The majority of them worship a man from Jerusalem, even the ones who don't get a symbol of him on their flag and Britain is from Latin terminology.  Since time began humans have been travelling around the world sharing their knowledge and moving forwards.  That's how we've had progress!  There would be so many things missing from our society today had it not been for the influence of other cultures.  

Why do we get offended if we learn that our children are going to learn about another faith at school?  Seriously, why?  They're being educated about another part of human life, what is the problem with that?  

Why are we so happy to spend £300 on a handbag but get absolutely outraged when it comes to sending foreign aid?  Where did this 'look after our own' attitude come from?  The only problem I have with sending money abroad is making sure it goes to the right people, but there are some who are quite happy to see thousands of people die just for being unlucky enough to be born in a corrupt country.  I wonder how they would feel if the shoe was on the other foot.  

Xenophobia is a very new thing.  Sure, we've always had our problems with the French - it's a long standing joke.  There have been problems with racism in the past.  But this passionate hatred for change and other cultures is new.  If you do your proper thorough research, you'll see that our history is threaded so much with immigration and they loved it.  There's a reason why the May Day Riot of the medieval times has always been known as 'Evil'.  

All of these poppies represent someone who died in The Great War.  It's often said that they died fighting for their country.  But they died for a reason far sadder than that.  They were fighting against a group of people who were more concerned with taking power and conquering rather than living peacefully and learning from one another.  Years later their descendants died fighting racists.  So don't lecture me on British pride and wear your poppy if you're going to be so intolerant of other human beings.

I then got emotional coming across this grave.  One of my idols, Queen Anne Boleyn.  Seriously, I teared up.  422 (if my maths is right) years later and she still has a girl getting weepy by her grave.  I then stood by where her scaffold was built all the time just thinking of what it would be like knowing that you were about to be murdered on the orders if your love and the father of your child.  

When we got tired of being morbid, we moved over to The Globe.  I'm studying Elizabethan Theatre at the moment so this was fantastic.  I walked around there praying to God that one day I'd get to perform on that stage.  

But the thought of all those poppies didn't leave me.  So I ask this of anyone who has managed to get to the end of this blog.  Please, be more compassionate.  We have lost so much of that.  

Onwards and upwards

xx