Sunday 26 April 2015

What has meaning to you? Anzac Day 2015?



It has been a miserable day here - the greyest of grey skies, non-stop rain and a wintery temperature. Yet none of this appears to have dampened the general public's observance of ritual and tradition this ANZAC day.

ANZAC Day occurs on 25 April every year in Australia and New Zealand. Today is the 100 year commemoration of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli in 1915. And the 'hype' through out the community and media has been big. Understandably so.

Yet I have approached this day with a mixture of ambivalence and trepidation. No buying of badges for me. No chatting with the oldies. No sentimentality here. Avoidance was my plan. Denial my overriding desire.

Why? I hear you ask. Well - this is the first year my child has been fully exposed to the ceremony of this event through the instruction of the educational institution she attends.  I was worried about her sensitivity to the facts of the occasion. I wanted to shield her from the harsh realities and horrors of both our present day and our past.

But what a great learning opportunity! I hear you suggest.  Here they argue 'young children will have an opportunity to understand the importance of this national day, and its role in building peace in communities today.' My child however had a lot of questions (and shed some tears) about war, guns, young men dying and 'baddies'. And yes this did give me the opportunity to allow her to speak of her anxieties and frame the day in a more child centred way.  

But I still feel angry. Actually I'm pissed-off. 

I'm pissed off that my child has begun the journey of the loss of her innocence. 

I'm pissed off that some random fourteen year old, thousands of miles away, thought it would be a great idea to behead a police officer at an ANZAC parade. 

I'm pissed off that 100 years ago thousands of young vital men of varied nationalities - and their families and communities - lost their innocence and hundreds more lost their lives. 

And what really sits under all my heated negative feelings?  I hear you wonder. The ever constant pain of grief.  I know I am not alone in my experience. Nor does it make me un-patriotic. Simply my meaning of this national day this year is separate from the masses.  I know my response is not fixed. It will change as I do. As we all do.

How has the anniversary impacted on you in 2015?  Let me know.

What a cruel thing war is... to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors - Robert E. Lee



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