WE are all discussing and learning about the Anzacs and what these young people faced at Gallipoli 100 years ago.
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What are the lessons from partaking in war?
In January 2003, many suburbs of our capital city, Canberra, were ravaged by fire.
Hundreds of homes were wrecked with residents fleeing for their lives and losing everything.
They had little help from emergency services and there were no broadcasts to let them know what was happening.
As one resident said: “There was tennis on one channel and cricket on another.”
About a kilometre from the devastation, at Parliament House, then prime minister John Howard was proudly announcing that Australian troops were on their way to war in the Middle East.
Yesterday, I read a story of an Australian teenager who suffered and died in World War I.
It was so sad to picture the boy going to war. When I looked up at the TV, and there was today’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, sending troops to the Middle East.
I hope Anzac Day is not a glorification of war but rather solemn reflection on the hopelessness of sending our young to the front.
— ANN BRENNAN,
West Albury