ANZAC Day Dawn Service

So.. it was 2.30 am when my alarm went off this morning. It was 3.30 by the time we got there, and about 3.50 by the time that it started to pour down with rain.

There is something amazing about it, something profound. I was standing in the rain, getting wet, having umbrella wars, while thinking about people that all that time ago fought a war. How have we come to be so distanced from the past or even wars that are happening today. It all seems to0 foreign.

But these men fought. They sacrificed. And they lost. For what? For us? For what they thought was right? For what they were told to fight for? And who am I to judge?

I appreciate all that they did. Those wars fought yesterday have influenced our today far more that we acknowledge on a daily basis. How can you ever express gratitude to people who have died for their country? By keeping their memory alive? By choosing not to forget? By enjoying what we have, and stopping every now and then to think about what had to happen so that we could live like we do? Maybe, maybe all of the above, maybe it needs more, I don't know.


I don't know how I feel about war. Sometimes we are forced to engage in ways that we would not hold as an ideal. Often action does need to be taken. But who decides in what form that comes? They said this morning that 3,000 Australians are currently engaged in warfare. I live in a democracy, does that mean I sent them to war?

Of late I have been reading a bit about Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Jesus, all people who faced opposition, but chose not to engage or retaliate with violence. Is this what Jesus was saying about turn the other cheek? How do you balance that with standing up for what you believe in? Where is the middle ground? How many wars have started, and continue, because we all have different ideas about where that line should be drawn.

Do we live in a society with freedom of though? Or just freedom to think within the box that have been set and enforced by our society, politicians, teachers, parents and friends. I don't like to think that there are Australians at war. But I don't imagine that I can even begin to understand enough to comment on how we should engage otherwise. So I don't like it, but I can't fix it, so I say nothing. How many others are left in that position?

So there it is, there are my thoughts on war. I have written that much to say that I don't know what I think. What I do know is that I am glad that I know God. I am glad that I live where I do. I am glad that I have the freedom to live the way I choose. I am glad that I can learn, and that I have the option to choose what I believe. Today is a day to remember, and maybe just engage in a bit of thought about it all. Maybe one day I will be able to articulate what I believe about it all, maybe I won't. Maybe this is the kind of issue that doesn't have any clean lines.