Each has won a glorious grave - not that sepulchre of earth wherein they lie, but the living tomb of everlasting remembrance wherein their glory is enshrined. For the whole earth is the sepulchre of heroes. Monuments may rise and tablets be set up to them in their own land, but on far-off shores there is an abiding memorial that no pen or chisel has traced; it is graven not on stone or brass, but on the living hearts of humanity.
Take these men for your example. Like them, remember that prosperity can be only for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.

Pericles. 495–429 BC.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon

Contemn! Nor the years CONTEMN!

Nothing is more cloying on ANZAC day than jingoistic, faux-American patriots putting their hands on their hearts and getting the words wrong.

Jingoistic. I feel like I've been saying this to other ignorant agenda driven twats all day. Actually, I have. But there's nothing Jingoistic about ANZAC day. The day is about the men and women in the 'mud'. Politics and propaganda, yours and theirs, don't have a place on this day.

Faux-American?. You're a clown with a funny red nose that's only good for laughing at. Now get back to your 9/11 conspiracy videos like a good boy. Actually, I hear an 'extraordinary rendition' plane with a truck load of cocaine crashed in Mexico. Go play with that.

By the way, 'clown with a funny red nose':

"The Ode: is it ‘condemn’ or ‘contemn’?

[...]

The issue raised by most letters is whether the last word of the second line should be ‘condemn’ or ‘contemn’. Contemn means to ‘despise or treat with disregard’, so both words fit the context.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

DVA’s Commemorations Branch has been researching the poem and its background. [...] This poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914.

The Times shows ‘condemn’. Some people have suggested [it] was a typographical error. If it were, one would have expected then that the word would be correctly shown in The Winnowing Fan, published only a few months later and for which Binyon would have had galley proofs on which to mark amendments. Binyon was a highly educated man and very precise in his language and use of words. There is no doubt that had he intended ‘contemn’, then it would have been used.

[...]

The British Society of Authors, who are executors of the Binyon estate, says the word is definitely ‘condemn’, while the British Museum, where Binyon worked, says its memorial stone also shows ‘condemn’.

[...]

...Inquiries with the British, Canadian, and American Legions reveal that none has heard of the debate. Despite an exhaustive search by Commemorations Branch through Binyon’s published anthologies, no copy of the poem using ‘contemn’ was found. [...] Although inquiries are continuing, there now seems little prospect of finding anything to support even a little the ‘contemn’ claim.

In Australia, the Returned and Services League, in its League handbook, shows ‘condemn’, while a representative of the Australian War Memorial said it always uses ‘condemn’ in its ceremonies. So how did the confusion start? No-one knows, but certainly the question has been debated for many years. Surely now it’s time to put the matter to rest.

Information courtesy of DVA

(edited for wordspace)

Contemn! Nor the years CONTEMN!

Nothing is more cloying on ANZAC day than jingoistic, faux-American patriots putting their hands on their hearts and getting the words wrong.
Posted by Sancho, Thursday, 24 April 2008 11:03:19 AM

Lmao. Pwnd.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row..."
Liet.-Col. John McCrae, M.D.

Let us remember them. The words don't matter.
It's what's in our hearts that counts.
We owe them a debt we can never repay.

Bow our heads in silence and give them the honours due.

May they Rest In Peace!

And don't be so stingy on the War Veteran's pensions!

When I see "multiculturists" demonstrating and fighting on our Aussie streets-I wonder why our diggers fought and died.
Was it for this?

Ah, you're right StG: it IS "condemn". Exactly what the IMI teen-speak was in aid of eludes me, though.

And you're right about the other thing: anyone who feels nauseated at the moronic, TV-driven aping of mindless nationalistic masturbation, US-style, must be a drug-addicted conspiracy theorist. The line of logic is so clear, it's a wonder that adults don't use it.

""When I see "multiculturists" demonstrating and fighting on our Aussie streets-I wonder why our diggers fought and died.
Was it for this?
Posted by mickijo, Thursday, 24 April 2008 2:12:20 PM""

I hope so, the fact that the 'multiculturalists' are able to demonstrate on our streets is the reason why.

Australians have freedom of speech, I would hope that this is what the diggers died for.

Dear Mickijo,

You wondered what our diggers fought for?

On 25th April 1915 a new world was born. A new side of man's character was revealed. The spirit of ANZAC was kindled. It flared with a previously unknown, almost superhuman strength. There was a determination, a zest, a drive which swept up from the beaches on Gallipoli Peninsula as the ANZACs thrust forward with their torch of freedom.

As they fell, they threw those following the torch so their quest would maintain its momentum. That Torch of Freedom has continually been thrown from falling hands, has kindled in the catchers' souls a zeal and desire for both our individual liberty and our countries' liberty. That desire has been handed down with the memory that burns as brightly as the flame which first kindled it.

But the spirit of ANZACs is not confined to the battlefield. It lives in the schools, on the sports fields, in fact all over these great countries of Australia and New Zealand.

The sun invades our bodies and makes us "mad," mad for freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to live and think as you will.

The spirit of ANZAC is not something we can see but a powerful driving sensation that can only be felt. It is a feeling that burns in the heart of every Australian and New Zealand countryman. A warm, tender, fiery, even melancholy ideal that nurtures intense patriotism in the innermost soul of every body. Many foundation ANZACs died, but their glorious challenge to catch the thrown torch shouts loud and strong to all.

Their goal was freedom for the land they loved. Today we stand safe and free, clothed with all the privileges and rights of citizens in these great free countries - we owe to those men who fought, endured, suffered, and died for us and for their country. Most of all we owe them the celebration of recognising values that unite rather than divide us. And that includes recognising our Indigenous history and the celebration of our status as an immigrant nation.

"Like them, remember that prosperity can be only for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."

Interestingly, it is domestic tyranny and authoritarianism in all western nations that must be defended against, rather than an external enemy.

Dear Steel,

I agree with you. However we're lucky in this country.

We don't give unquestioning allegiance to the State or goose-step in blind obedience.

We question the actions of our leaders. And vote them out after a three year term if we don't like what they represent.

Sancho, how can you so callously insult our fallen heroes?

Foxy, while 'We question the actions of our leaders', it's bloody hard to get a reply when we do so, at least that's been my experience. I recently sent an anniversary card to an MP as it has been over a year since I first wrote on a problem, and still no reply.

Ah, you're right StG: it IS "condemn". Exactly what the IMI teen-speak was in aid of eludes me, though.

And you're right about the other thing: anyone who feels nauseated at the moronic, TV-driven aping of mindless nationalistic masturbation, US-style, must be a drug-addicted conspiracy theorist. The line of logic is so clear, it's a wonder that adults don't use it.

Posted by Sancho, Thursday, 24 April 2008 2:45:47 PM

Yeah, ok. Who came in and polluted the thread with uneducated shots from the hip?. This was suppose to be our tribute to the men and women who sacrificed so much for us and their mates and you come along raving about A WORD in a poem. Well done. And you accuse me of being a child.

Dear Austin,

I've had a similar problem with an MP (Liberal). They seem to ignore letters for some reason.

So I wrote to his Labor equivalent and got a response.

I guess it depends on the MP.

Try again, threatening not to vote for him/her next time around.

Good Luck.

Foxy, I tried writing to MPs from both sides in the past on other matters. Silence from Labour and Liberal each time. I felt as if I was wasting my time with them.

Maybe I should just shut up and keep paying my countless taxes, fees etc. That's what they seem to want.

Austin Powerless,
When they think or know that you will shut up your mouth they will ignore you but if the know that you will create problems to them, that you will publish their names and they will lose votes, then sure they will try to assist you. If we are weak, if we seem weak they will ignore us but if they know that we will bite them in the next elections then they could not ignore us. We need them BUT THEY NEED US TOO. Do not forget it. THEY NEED US

Antonios, in my experience, politicians don't give a stuff if you name them as being unhelpful. The only 'causes' they support are the ones that earn the most publicity. The average voter can't see past this and when someone does give them negative press, it isn't taken seriously. In pre-election weeks, they will sometimes listen to your problem and even say that, after the election, they will help. If still in power after the election, they conveniently forget and again fail to answer correspondence.

Look at how many politicians have been exposed for abuse of their office, caught feeding at the trough, helping industries that they have private holdings in etc. Yet they are still there and, when they finally do go, it's with a generous pension, enough to support quite a few retiree households.

You've probably guessed my view- politicians stink.