Anzac Day today. It is a day of emotion for me, I grab the tissues and watch the parade on TV. A very special time of year to celebrate the men and women who went off to war(s).
Celebrate here is a word that means to celebrate those people who served, for their actions and for their bravery, it does not mean to blow up balloons, drink to excess and make a nuisance of oneself. A game of two up maybe obligatory.
The thing on TV I have noticed just lately are the ads for beer. They get me noticing because of the elderly men talking about what they are remembering, and then I see it's just a beer ad. It annoys me to tell you the truth because I feel tricked into watching it.
I don't mind anyone having a beer, goodness knows the veterans wouldn't either, but all I seem to hear about this Anzac Day is beer, a footy match (and beer ads) as if that is our Anzac Day tradition. It's not, the RSL breakfasts and the Anzac Day Parades are! I cry every year watching them on the telly.
My dad was a run away boy at 14, he joined the army, and was in Darwin when it was bombed till Gran brought him home; he then went on to join the navy and stayed until the end of the second world war.
I never met my maternal grandpa because he became sick on his way home from the second world war after eating from a contaminated tin can, then got thrombosis and died a young man of 53. He was a soldier in the first world war too, what an amazing sense of duty, and by all accounts a lovely gentleman. So many of the people of the 1st and 2nd world war eras can wear the title of gentle person.
We are different now, but it's not hard to stand with them today is it?
Here is a picture of Mr Fraser, in France 2nd May 1917. He was a treasured friend of my great aunts': They never married, I guess if you lost all the friends you loved...... it would have been so very hard, Lest We Forget..
I do hope we Australian's can remember why we have a public holiday today. I hope we celebrate it as a remembrance day, and go about our lives with a sense of wonder and awe at the sacrifice defense forces have made.
We don't celebrate wars, nor Anzac Day really, we celebrate the people, those like my grandpa and Mr Fraser, and stand with those who will remember them.
Does your heart just sing with a loving sense of peaceful joy when you watch them tell their stories? Mine does, pass me the tissues please.
Dedicated with love to all the men and women and animals who lost their lives to war, and to all those who lived to tell the stories, the truth of war.
Take care friends, till we meet again next time
WendyJoy xxx
