Lest We Forget

It is Anzac Day today in Australia, a day of remembrance.  Many years ago, in the little country town where I attended boarding school I was called upon to give the Anzac Day Speech.  At the time I was horrified, overwhelmed with nerves and wracked with indecision about what to actually say.  Now, recalling this moment in my life I can't believe I was given such an honour at the age of 17.  The same age, or close enough to so many of the young men who have lost their lives at war.

"In two major wars and in some smaller our young men have marched.  Some did not return, they rest in foreign fields or beneath the seas.  However, many more did return, bearing scars both emotional and physical, legacies of experiences too horrible and shocking for us to comprehend.  We young people today cannot visualise what they went through and how they suffered.  At school and through books we can learn about their experiences, yet to truly understand or more importantly to empathise with them, we need to have been alongside them.  As it cannot be our returned heroes must be satisfied with our remembrance, our compassion and our gratefulness.  In this way we do way little we can to truly honour you."

(An excerpt from my speech that day, 1990)

Lest We Forget.