Anzac Day Observations

Yesterday morning I took Maddy down to the Anzac Day service. In a sense we took the easy route and went to Berwick whose service was at 11am, rather than Narre Warren’s dawn service, although I plan to go to one there in future.

I can’t say I enjoyed it, although in a way I did, because of the things it made me think about.

Community: I am lousy at estimating crowd numbers, but I would guess that there was at least a thousand people there yesterday and that was apart from all those who participated in the march itself. And it was all about community. The war veterans were the focus, as well they should be, but also marching were current serving armed forces personnel, emergency services personnel and local scout and guide groups. It was an amazing atmosphere - everyone there to support each other and the goal for which we gathered. Sombre but not morose, grateful but not melancholy.

Putting others first: I’ll admit I cried when the veterans marched by. I was so proud of them, as they marched with heads held high - not for themselves, but for the mates they represented. And that was a real focus of the service yesterday. This is the first Anzac service I have been to, apart from those we had at school. I was at first surprised that all the focus seemed to have been on those who had died in the wars, with no talk about those who had suffered in imaginable ways and returned to us, changed and living with all they had endured during those conflicts. But I realised later on, that’s just the Aussie way. It’s about your mates and what they’ve lost, its not about you. Our returned soldiers don’t think about their own personal suffering on a day like Anzac Day, their focus is instead on their mates who never got the chance to experience anything ever again.

Those who aren’t remembered: Australia was lucky in a sense, that war only briefly touched our shores in terms of physical attacks on our soil. My grandparents were Dutch and German and suffered severe hardship during WWII and I know both my parents and my in-laws have their own horror stories about life during the war in Europe as kids. So yesterday for me was also about remembering those who aren’t commemorated in such services here - making sure my children know the stories of those in their family tree - making sure the same lessons of family, mateship and peace can be expressed to them with a personal touch, with a more direct sense of involvement, rather than only being stories of other people’s lives.

And I came to realise, even as the prayers and poems were read out during the service, that all this is paralleled in our Christian lives. Our country may not be considered as much a Christian nation as it used to be, but I saw the evidence yesterday that Christian values are still important, upheld in our nation and being showcased to a new generation of Australians.

To take a verse from Esther (14:4), although out of context - it fits what where I am right now. Yesterday made me realise once again, that I was glad to be in the “kingdom for such a time as this”. *(English Standard Version) *