Oh, I love this quote. That's so true. Often people ask, "how can you do this?" You have to learn to live with the risk, grow in the risk. And naturally children do that. Look for your limits, stretch your limits. Kris, who is the autor? I think, I have to post it one time.
Hi Dina, I find that each year ANZAC Day riles me up a little more. My main issue is that is seemingly evolved into this nationalistic aggressive pride of ‘sacrifice’. Absolutely we should honour our war dead, but it saddens me that now all of the survivors have passed on, we’ve somehow as a nation reinterpreted what was once remembered and mourned a sacrifice in vain has now morphed into glorious sacrifice.
ANZAC Day with the survivors of WWI was always something of a day of bitterness to some, and this was always encapsulated by the prominence of the notion of the ‘futility of war’. Surely this is apt. Really, what event in Australia's history demonstrates more aptly the bloody-minded futility and unreserved waste of war than the miserable (and utterly futile) diversionary campaign in the Dardanelles?
Forgive me for thinking that what blokes like my grandfather – who served in WWI and whose father died in WWI – meant was that such days were about realising that war is a stupid, vain exercise and more often than not, not worth the sacrifice. Forgive me for thinking that such days were once about denouncing the notion of war as an appropriate means to resolve dispute. It was about reminding us what war is really like, and what the costs actually are.
That’s what ANZAC Day is supposed to be about in my eyes. Making sure that we remember what war is truly like. Remembering the sacrifice, absolutely. But also about remembering the true costs of war, reminding ourselves about the reality of war, and really and truthfully thinking about whether or not such costs are worth it.
7 comments:
Not quite as narrow as a tightrope, but narrow enough for Henry to practice his tightrope walking on.
Hi! Kris...
HENRY! be very careful...as you face the elements, sharks, and only God knows what else!!!! lol!
"It’s a good thing that Henry has nerves of steel."
Oh! Yes, he is..."fearless!
Thanks, for sharing the quote that rings so very true!
DeeDee ;-D
Oh, I love this quote. That's so true.
Often people ask, "how can you do this?" You have to learn to live with the risk, grow in the risk. And naturally children do that. Look for your limits, stretch your limits.
Kris, who is the autor?
I think, I have to post it one time.
Roddy, true.
DeeDee, it is a very scary world.
Carola, Jawaharlal Nehru is the one I'd read it from, but Alexander the Great is recorded as having said something similar too.
Good thing that Henry's parents have nerves of steel too.
I hope you did, or will, see my Jerusalem ANZAC Day commemoration posts a few days ago. Even here we do not forget.
Shalom to you all.
Hi Dina, I find that each year ANZAC Day riles me up a little more. My main issue is that is seemingly evolved into this nationalistic aggressive pride of ‘sacrifice’. Absolutely we should honour our war dead, but it saddens me that now all of the survivors have passed on, we’ve somehow as a nation reinterpreted what was once remembered and mourned a sacrifice in vain has now morphed into glorious sacrifice.
ANZAC Day with the survivors of WWI was always something of a day of bitterness to some, and this was always encapsulated by the prominence of the notion of the ‘futility of war’. Surely this is apt. Really, what event in Australia's history demonstrates more aptly the bloody-minded futility and unreserved waste of war than the miserable (and utterly futile) diversionary campaign in the Dardanelles?
Forgive me for thinking that what blokes like my grandfather – who served in WWI and whose father died in WWI – meant was that such days were about realising that war is a stupid, vain exercise and more often than not, not worth the sacrifice. Forgive me for thinking that such days were once about denouncing the notion of war as an appropriate means to resolve dispute. It was about reminding us what war is really like, and what the costs actually are.
That’s what ANZAC Day is supposed to be about in my eyes. Making sure that we remember what war is truly like. Remembering the sacrifice, absolutely. But also about remembering the true costs of war, reminding ourselves about the reality of war, and really and truthfully thinking about whether or not such costs are worth it.
Depends on what price you put on human life.
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