Lest we forget

My most favourite holiday in Australia is today. ANZAC day. The day we remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.

For the last 25 years my daughter and I have attended the dawn service at Surfers Paradise Beach. I find the experience deeply moving.

To be on the beach in the predawn light, thinking of the oh-too-young men about to jump out of a boat and into the gauntlet of machine gun fire, the sheer terror, the sheer lunacy of it all….the tragedy. Loss. Heartbreak.

This year, under strict lockdown laws, my love and I went to the beach together, lighting a candle, listening to the radio service. 

It was beautiful, and emotional. There were discrete groups of twos on the beach doing the same. 

Australia, never a country to showcase its patriotism, is at heart a deeply egalitarian nation. ANZAC day is as significant to us as any religious holiday.

We need to remember, to honour, not just those who died in military service, but those who give their lives to a cause greater than self.

Those on the front line of a viral war. 

And to keep the flame alive, to never forget, lest we be foolish enough to repeat the mistakes of a humanity that says the solution is war.

Lest we forget.

April 25th 2020

Photo taken April 25th, 2020