In Remembrance...

Today is ANZAC Day.

It is the day that NZ and Australia join in remembrance of those who gave their lives in war.

It is not a celebration of victory.

It is not a commemoration of any particular military action or battle.

It is significant (at the very least to me) because it is for the memory of those many who gave their lives on the cliffs and beaches of Gallipoli. That action was conceived by men from another country. It was a futile and (in the light of history) unnecessary action. The planning was fundamentally flawed.

It is significant for the memory of those men and women who served and gave their lives in war since that "War to end all wars".

It is significant because it brings remembrance of a generation of men who were lost in the pusuit of glory by others.

I remember the men from the farms, from the factories, from the towns, who undertook "the great adventure" for patriotism, a sense of duty, society's expectations, and even the expectations of their own families.

I remember their sacrifice.