A plea for the sanctity of the day

A plea for the sanctity of the day :

"She believes Anzac Day is at the crossroads in its history. 'During the next few years we have to make sure we have the right balance between the integrity of Anzac Day and its promotion to make it sustainable.'

Dr Hede said in time 'the Traditionalists' - whose memories of Anzac Day 'go back almost to the day itself' - will become less involved in marches, dawn services and other activities."

We are at a crossroads and there is no going back. Dr. Hede has made a very valid point. Where do we go from here ? Many of those who fought are not with us. Many of the families who would march are not to march witht hte Diggers. We have discussed and evaluated all of that. It is something we have all been brought up with and Anzac Day itself has always been the centre of social debate in this country and should be valued for that. It makes us think about the balance, what we want, how we wish to honour something we consistently deem as important. We do not glorify war with it. We do not think it is there to make war look good, because we are honouring those who fell in defeat. Those we thought did the right thing and doing the right thing is Australian. Anzac Day has made us question war, it has made us question celebrating war and we have also questioned why we should forget those who thought they were doing the right thing and put their lives on the line for it. It's a lesson for us all. The ceremonies bring us together, they are held far and wide with people we have been close to and it's a day we honour links to our past, our families, our neighbours. In lots of ways it's a quiet stocktaking day. If the "hedonists" ruin it , it is because we let them, but maybe their behaviour will highlight how we will move this day into our future and how we will keep it meaningful. Stocktaking. Re evaluating. Valuing what we wish to value. What do we think?