ANZAC DAY THOUGHTS.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 83, 24 April 1937, Page 4

ANZAC DAY THOUGHTS.

To-morrow, throughout our own Dominion and the Commonweaith of Australia- an association which, with the pagsing years, we are apt to forget — we shall comxnemorate uot only a great and heroic feat of arms but also the beginning of a vast national sacrifice that went on for years and whose end has for many not even yet been reached, The day is one in whieh pride and grief are still sorrowfully mixed, for to nqt a few it vividly revives the memory of dear^ ones lost then and during the long, tense months that followed tiU the A^naistice was signed three and a half years later. To them, as it should be to us all, at least to those of the same generation, the day is one of saqred dedication upon, which no thought of pleasure should intrude. As was the case with the landing itself, this year its .anniversary falls on the Sabbath, a fact that should lend addod sanctity to the occasion, though in the interval it has to h© confessed the Sabbath has lost much of its character as a holy day. It is a day, however, on which at l)easb the elder among us will be apt to cast up in our minds what reward all this great sacrifice has brought. To those who took part in it our first deep feellng of gratitude is gradually fading out, and it is being left to only a comparative few to give it practical expression even where that is badly needed. This, of course, is the nab i.al trend oi human nature, but in this case the sentiment has been exceptionally blunted by a rapid succession of events aoid changes in cpnditions of the intervening years. That, Kowever, is no reason why, on this day of days, we should not strive to recall the irredeemaVJe debt we all owe to those who fpught sp long and so valiantly for us during those years that ajre now gradually passing out of personal memorj into national history. Especially is it a duty to impress this upon the minds of those whose memories do not reach back to those years and who thus cannot he expected to realise all that was suffered for them. Nor should this be the duty of but the one day in the year. It is a feature that shouldenter much more than it has been allowed to do into our educational system. * As for the better world we were led to hope would einerge from this great testing time it is, on the surface of things difficult to recognise ib Still, when we look into the deeper water® it is open for the older among us to see that the stirrings of that great time have done much in helping towards bringing about the brotherhood of man that is the dream of the great philanthropisfcs. At least, we think, that may be said of our own Empire, for the evidences of it are patent to all those who are old enough to make comparisons. Though we may yet have far to go along the road before we reach anything like their ideal, there can be no doubt in any observant mind that since the Great War a great deal has been done in the way of improving the lot of the great mass oi humanity — more probably than has ever been done before in a like time. And for this we may well believe that a wide spirit of comradeship and sense of mutual dependence, borri of a war in which millions of our kin were engaged, are in very great measure responsible. Even though it may have been only subconsciously, that spirit has undoubtedly permeated tbrough the whole body of the people who live under the British Flag. As among the nations, unhappily, the same cannot be said, for as yet the soothing influence of time has not worked as effectually as might have been hoped. For this we may without injustice lay the blame largely at the door of a few dominating personalities who have gained ascendency among their people and have not allowed the rankling wounds to heaj. However, with the two who have in the more recent years stood badly in the way of the establishment of more friendly relations there would seem just now to be some inclination to realise the folly of their ways. Both Hitler and Mussolini have of late months very notably moderated their tone. It may possibly be unfair to trace this to Great Britain's sudden resolve to prepare herself for all possible eventualities, but it is hard to escape the feeling that this may • at least have had something to do with their change of front. Be that as it may, the prospects on this Anzac Day of bringing about some lasting international reconciliation are better than they have been for some years.