I have not been a very traditional person in my life. Those who know me know that I'm happy to have a new Australian national anthem, would like a different flag and would be happy to move the date to Australia day. But something this week got me thinking that maybe ANZAC Day isn't such a bad thing.
I hate the concept of war and in the past i saw some people's actions around ANZAC Day as a way to glorify or even accept war. This last week I have been starting to think of it as more as a personal thing about how an individual comes to terms with war when their exposure is usually only through a TV or internet. By taking part of the dawn service I saw it as a way to break down the fourth wall and make war real, a real warning that these situations do happen and we should be consciously aiming to avoid it.
I have read and studied more than your average person's worth of material over the various wars people have fought in so I don't feel too ignorant about the realities of it, but none of what I know was passed own to me. I found it all in my own adult time. I want to at least make my daughter aware of the nature of war and the sentiment that it should be learned from and not glorified.
Being 38 years old and going to my first dawn service felt strange. To me it was something I felt was meant for actual service people. I have no family I know of that went to war, no connection to the sacrifice on a conscious level so I felt I was not meant to go and nor did I feel I should bother. That change this week came from the fact that I grew up with a disconnect from that part of my society, and I didn't want my daughter to feel that same disconnect; I want her to be a part of her country, her land.
In my mind I had a vision of about fifty or so die hard patriots. The service I attended was at Cranbourne RSL in Melbourne, Victoria. As we drove up I quickly noticed there were cards everywhere. The parking lot was filled with hundreds of people of all ages and backgrounds. It was very humbling to see so many people get up so early to pay tribute to those who have been affected by war.
The ceremony was short, but said what it needed to. Both Charlee and I left feeling a part of something and I believe that's what is important about this day of remembeance, we are all a part of something.