ANZAC DAY

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1928, Page 4

ANZAC DAY

SILENCE AND REVERENCE. (Hy Eldred Dyer in Sydney paper-.) The story of Anzac Day has been told many times. Already 'it is much more than a ‘'twice-told tale.’’ And in tluit very fact lies ils claim to he told and retold and told again. The morning of that day is a fadeless morning. It broke oil a world that looked not for such a day; it will never he forgotten. The still procession ol those ships and boats will always cause real men to hear their heads. Ihe leap for the shore and the rush up the beaches will always stir the very depth of the hearts of those who really see it. The grim holding on the l idges. won hy assault that could not he resisted, when the morning has passed hy a long day to evening and to night, will sober more gaiety as long as men cm, remember it. The sacrifice by wounds and death that laid characterised that day will make the niem.uy of Anzac Day a tender and hallowed memorv for many years. The story m „.st he told and told again : and that for their sakes and for our snkes also. They made the day what it was and what it will he; we need the day lor wliat we are and for what we must he. for, TT-TEIR SAKES.

Wonderful as that story is. it is not <« much a story for words as for thought -like a supreme song without words. Tt is a story of silence and silences. more than of speech and of utterance. Tiy a sound instinct those two minute's of silence wore put into the commemoration and year bv year they give the keynote for the daysilence for thought, silence for rever- . In the .-lienee we need to give our imagination a little exercise; and we also need to open our hearts t" truth. Tn the silence we need to get the great matter dear in thought and vision. Then we can rightly think of them. We should never forget that our Anzacs were not enlisted in any ordinary way. They had not watched a great world war for years. I hoy were lioi soldiers of fortune, hut men of peace. They were not "called up" they went. They were not compelled in any sense to join the colours; they came to the Colours. Tiny wore idle best of our young manhood. the very flower of our race; and f,„,„ far and near they came to oiler t hemseives. They tame quickly, too; hut they came very deliberately. I hey laid aside their work, turned from their own concerns, left their mothers and sweethearts in tears and wonderment. and their lathers m a heartwrenching silence. 'I heir own Australia eoillil see nothing hut them just then Why all this! J Why all thus? What moved them, called them, urged them united them in one heart mind and will ? Not any thought ol gain, or tame or mere adventure; lor they were moved by far deeper things. There came to them, to their young hearts the great cry of a stricken, world. The tramp of the many feet of men who were their kindred ns i hey answered the call of duty, marching to I lie music of "Tipperary," echoed in the hearts of our young men. They saw danger looming up over that dear old land which their fathers and mothers had always called "Home. The true blood of those who had made England what she has been, what she was. ran in the* veins of our young men. V ilhin them rose u], a free manhood . Impelled 'hy such tilings our men moved as by one impulse, rose up to the help ol the stricken world. And on the morning of An/.ac Day it was thus they had faced what ever stood in their path or disputed the way with them. T,e| us keep tin* silence and think till we see it dearly. As year by year the morning of An/.ac Day breaks lor us let us. he reverent. Wo really need to see that here we must he reverent, or els)' he recreant to the best that, is in us. For I heir sakes. as well as for our own we cannot afford to he recreant to any high thing. Their grnyes are still oyer there. Their mothers are still amongst us. mid they will he reverent c,n every Anziie Day. Some of the veterans arc also with us after all tin terrible ordeals of the great war; and they will he reverently silent on Anzac Pay. On that day. if never before. Australia became a nation —we must needs he reverent. It is all much less a matter of words than of deeper things.

FOR OUR OWN’ SAKES. For many reasons we ourselves need to hear the story of Anzac Day. It is a story for men. II in all respects our lite is virile, the story ot Anzac Day is the story of us; and it our manhood is failing ot its full manliness. it in doubtful practice, petty, self-seeking, narrow vision, or dirty scheming, it has descended hy its own weak will into trick, dishonesty, or cowardice, then hy so much the more is the story of Anzac Day a story tor moil. There may lie times in our history when men will not turn to the story ot Anzac Day; tint in those days men will need that story as the sick need physic.

Let it therefore never lie said, "we have heard enough of Anzac Day." Men may question if anything new can he said about it ; tint they ought to see that such questioning supplies

110 valid reason why the old story should not be told again. Some stories are like clothing when out of fashion counted only fit to go to the hen]) of cast-offs. Some stories, like the salt that has lost its savour, are only fit to be cast out and trodden under the loot of man. But the story of Anzac Day will never he among such stories. It is easy to make a cheap sneer at Anzac Day, or at the An/.ac spirit, hut a man who so sneers only shows the cheapness of his own words, and the poverty, if not the utter bankruptcy, of his own spirit. It is easy to say, "There should he no war.” and to add, "There should have been no Anzac Day.” And it. is equally casv to he saying all that, and at the .same time to he lighting for some position or advantage over other men. and scheming unscrupulously for Ihe unclean gain men call hy many had names. That is the most petty, and often the most bitter, of all warfare, 'ft is easy to challenge war. and yet be among those who would he quite ■prepared to set up the new steal order of their dreams hy sword and fire, and in a spirit ns hitler and vinictiyc and relentless as hell. He. who practices, or he who thinks, such tilings is no prophet of the time wlien war shall he no more.

Tt is quite easy to hold that Anzac Day is not among the great days; and, yet, holding that to ho, and to live, among the very smallest of •things 11ml the smallest of men. All that kind of thing comes of the hick of silence and the lack of reverent. clear thinking. Tie who by his work or his deed seeks to belittle Anzac Day sets himself a tremendous task. He must first of all prove that bis motive is pure and above all suspicion; he must ho scrupulously ethical in all his conduct, ethical after the ‘asiiioii of the Carpenter of Nazareth; he must teach men concerning the wrong in their lives sorrowfully nud tenderly. and lie must have m> thought but to teach them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing lull, the ■truth. How many are there who ~-oiild care to he tried hy standards like those, and tried before the Judge of all men ? Tf he could measure well up to such standards then he must demonstrate that he is not mistaken in his views, that he is not one of those the common jury finds to he "cranks.” Tn the court where these issues must he tried that other case, which men have never quite known what to do with, must he cited, and the judgment ill that case must ho duly weighed. “Let him that is without, sin cast the first stone.” In the silence of Anzac Day men must think till they see clearly that we had no choice as between war and no war. War had been flung out over Europe, (lung round the world. It ■was fierce, red war flung out hy men greedy for world dominion. Their brain was dominated by war. 3 heir imagination made war the one glory of life. All their ncieuce lost its morality as it strained itself to carry on war hy every means it could conjure up. Their ships of war were at our very doors. If we had said we shall not tout'll this business of Avar, we should Mill have been involved in Mint war. In these days we say little olioiit the guilt and responsibility of those who Jet loose the dogs of wni upon the world. We are endeavouring to mend the terrible hurt- war inflated ; hut nevertheless there both guilt mid responsibility are real: and wlieii Ihe matter is finally judged tlie authors of the war must carry both these. An/.ac Day is a perpetual reminder of this lest, we also come ■to think that guilt and responsibility | are merely very old-fashioned words— , empty words used to sea re the mienl'mlitcncd. Tn (1 1 o silmii'P nf Aiiwir P;iy l‘*i men stand with I heir women and children, and reverently honour the Anzacs. In so doing they shall roeeivc more than they give. Then lot |lieni reverently tell the story to ,l,e I'irls and hoys, for they too need to hear it. The story of Anzac Day m „st he told and retold, and then told again.