Anzac Day Dawn Service at Elephant Rock, Currumbin © Suzie Cheel.
Today is a holiday in Australia to celebrate Anzac Day.
Watching the service this morning made me realise how important freedom is to me. Something I used to take for granted.
Australia is often called The Lucky Country:
For many Australians the phrase ‘the lucky country’ has a particular resonance. Donald Horne’s famous words have been used in numerous ways to describe everything that is great about our nation.
The phrase has been used to describe our weather, our lifestyle and our history. It is often invoked to describe the nation’s good fortune, from gold booms to economic booms. Recently, our geographic isolation from the world’s trouble spots has again seen us labelled the lucky country.
Freedom is for me a very important part of that luck. Freedom was referred to this morning by the young and the old who spoke at the dawn service at Currumbin. The freedom we experience in Australia is very special. Today is a time when we remember those who fought for this country, both my grandfather and father were soldiers in the First and Second World War, respectively. It wasn’t until I attended the Currumbin dawn service last year that I really felt moved by this day and understood the Anzac Day significance.
I do feel very lucky to live where I live and the magic that I experience everyday is a constant reminder to me of how abundant and blessed I am.
Aussie Bloggers has a post on Heroes: reminding us to “remember these heroes, every day as we bask in the freedom they have afforded this fantastic country that we proudly call home.” There is an Anzac Day and Anniversary edition of the Carnival of Australia at Aussie Bloggers
We see daily people from many countries, holidaying where we live, a daily reminder to celebrate the richness we have.
This is Freedom, Kirra Beach April 24th 2008 © Suzie Cheel.
Do you celebrate your freedom?
Hey Suzie – I would put it to you that the freedom we enjoy in Australia has nothing to do with our going to war – especially the first world war when we were on the side of the “baddies”! – if you know anything about how the first world war started.
The first world war diggers did not “fight for this country”, and the Gallipoli ones invaded another country that had done nothing to Australia or anyone else.
ANZACS became important to Australia because it was the first time people from this continent really saw themselves as “Australian” as opposed to coming from Britain or wherever. It was just an identity thing.
Robin
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Hi Robin,
Of course the freedom we enjoy allows you to have your own interpretation of history.
The point I wanted to make was about my passion for freedom and the importance I see in celebrating it.
I don’t share your views.
In abundance
Suzie
Freedom – one that has been taken for granted by many and it is ever so precious when it is taken from them. Thank you for your post that allows me to be grateful for the freedom I have been enjoying. Love your photo of Kirra Beach. I can almost feel the peacefulness of the beach.
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