There has been a lot of these types of articles over the last few days. I'm not sure of the motivation, maybe it's just some people tendency to over think these things. Maybe it's all part of the stupid push to know how people feel about things. Like shoving a microphone in a sports persons face after they have kicked the winning goal and asking them how they feel. We all have 364 days of that crap.

ANZAC day is not about reflecting on what was done or who did what to who. I don't care how you feel about it nor any other non servicemen views on anything. ANZAC is a day to your views to yourself and stand in respectful silence and let others grieve, remember our fallen servicemen and Women.

It's about them not you, for one day it's about them

'Lest we forget' means never forget their sacrifice. It is commemoration.

Our cultural inheritance also links it to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but more so to God's sacrifice,

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

BTW, that is the tone of Recessional by Rudyard Kipling, 1867

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word—
Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord!

CtH, I waited till ANZAC Day was over out of respect.

I'd have to say, from reading your comment that you may not have read my article before taking to the keyboard. There was nothing denigratory about it. It was simply my reflections on what I know of the values of an ordinary man who marched on the first Armistice Day and who, with his son, spent a large part of the rest of his life in the service of others who had served alongside him, as well as the families of those who didn't get the chance to be Returned Servicemen.

OTB, yes, a eulogy is a commemoration, but the poem is a lament for lost potential and wasted lives. Remembrance is a poor second best. My Mum was brought up by 3 "maiden aunts", my Nan's sisters, who had lost their men to the war. There was a lot of that going around.

"They shall not grow old
As we that are left grow old"

I do hope that our VCs choose a less visible role next year. They have nothing at all to prove to anyone.

thanks Craig for a nuanced and thoughtful piece, which catches some of the complexity and contradictions of Anzac commemoration

OTB
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

If a God who "so loved the world" really existed, surely He would have done something to stop the carnage that has taken place over the millennia. It has been estimated that about 30 million people lost their lives in world war one. Countless millions have died in wars since.

Jesus thought that he had been forsaken by God when He was dying on the cross. There was no God.

You should have stopped after the 2nd paragraph Craig.

Is there anything left in our society that the self loathing of progressives don't want to tear down?

Craig very well put. A difficult subject as many are when you see something of worth being distorted and that distortion has happened in a way that most take the current state as what it's always been.

runner, perhaps you should try a little self loathing. Might be good for some reflection on what you portray of the transformational power of the faith you proclaim.

I definitely don't consider myself a "progressive", as all to often it's just a different set of prejudices packaged up as as progressive views with the same old narrow bigotry behind it, just different targets. Whilst I often come to some different conclusions to Craig he displays a willingness to examine the different aspects of arguments, to try to understand the conflicting values behind issues. There is a lot you could learn from him.

R0bert

I lost both my Grandfathers to Wars
1 died overseas
1 was shot in the head and had a metal plate fitted ended up blowing his brains out in my nans kitchen.
Never Glorify war
The men that went were true heroes not the politicians that sent them or the ones trying to milk it today.
WAR is bad, evil things happen
Remember the brave men but don't hide the evils of war

Onya Spindoc.

the reason why trendies hate ANZAC Day is because it has become the unofficial Australia Day for the Australian people. Now that Australia Day has been hijacked by the multicultural lobby, with every minority group parading around in "their" national costumes and doing "their" little folk dances celebrating "their" culture, Australians need to find a way to celebrate our own people and our own culture.

And what better way than ANZAC Day? Please note that the Victoria Cross winners were not named Slobadan Dragonovich or Mahommad Al Rasli, they are all Australians. It has been noted that the Australian Armed forces are strangely bereft of immigrants willing to fight for Australia.

R0bert, thank you for the kind words.

Aussieboy, you've summed things up much more succinctly than I could, thanks.

LEGO, thanks for making the effort to make a comment. I can only applaud your strong commitment to encouraging ethnic diversity in our institutions of State.

To Craig.

When every government official in Australia telling you what you may do and what you may not do, is a Chinese or an Indian, perhaps then you may feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis?

And careful, Andrew Bolt got into trouble because he "offended" people by questioning their identity. If aboriginals and Chinese are free to define their identity by their race, why can't white Australians?