Anzac Day

So yesterday was Anzac day here. For those of you not in the know it's the antipodean rememberance day. It's a pretty sombre affair with a dawn service, wreath laying and a public holiday.

Funny thing is that there is a pretty high level of participation. People I would have assumed were pretty anti-war and even apolitical seemed to be keen to show their respects. The general theme of the day is "Lest we forget".

In looking at the whole day I found it really hard to identify with the kiwi attitude to rememberance. Perhaps it's a function of our neutrality or our jadedness with remembering war but it was extremely difficult to understand.

I suppose my conclusion on the matter is this: we've been out of the war loop too long. In Ireland there are few people left that were truly impacted by Great Wars. True, it was a time of hardship and there were a large number of people that served for Britain. But we were never subject to the decimation of our population that places like NZ were. There are small towns here with beautiful memorials to the war dead. Often there are scores of names of fallen engraved thereon. Some of these places are smaller that the towns in the hinterland of Tuam. One can only imagine what these places must have been like in the late 40s and early 50s.

Contrast that wth our recent history of conflict. For years now Ireland has been wrapped up in its internal struggle. There are few places in Ireland where the fallen of the troubles were honoured as those in NZ. There is no room for the nostalgia and the pride that the kiwis feel for their lost young men. In Ireland, the heroes on one side are the war criminals and terrorists of the other. In killing their fellow country men and dying at their hands they have created death filled with complexity of response that is alien to the shows of pride and national identity.

The recent commemoration of the easter rising juxtaposed with anzac day has caused me a bit of reflection. In another country, the event would either be seen as a glorious day of liberation or a shameful thing to be forgotten. In Ireland it is both intertwined. The assmebled dignitaries commemorated the occasion but the SF representative did not acknowledge the "Oglaigh na hEireann" not "Amhran na bhFiain". Even on a day like that the battlelines drawn in 21/22 were still manned. Our country is still blighted by the ghosts of our past. Their politics and philosophies, so alien to me nowadays, are still potent forces in our future.

In New Zealand the motto is "Lest we forget". Perhaps, in Ireland, that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

I've reread this post and I'm kinda feeling that it's a bit all over the place. I think I'm going to sit down soon and really put some thought into it and post a bit of a "manifesto". Until then, this jumble of thoughts will have to stand. maybe next time I'll stick with the rugby!!