Please do not politicise ANZAC day

or anything about it.

I went off to a "Dawn service" this morning. I had promised a very elderly friend I would wheel him around to where it was being held in his nursing home. Yes, it was absolutely worth the effort of doing it. There were only a very few old men there and one woman. She had been in one of the medical units. All the men had seen active service.

I felt like an outsider but only for a moment because I knew all but one of them. They are all people who have lived in and around the district for many years. I was greeted with smiles and various comments. 

A young friend came in just as a staff member and I were making sure everyone was settled in a place where they would be able to see and hear what was going on.  P... is thinking seriously about entering the priesthood. It has been on his mind for several years now. His father, a man I know and like, is a priest. P... knows how hard it is. At present he helps with hospital visits, home visits and simple services in places like the nursing home I was in. 

P... had put a lot of thought into this occasion and I could see he was feeling a little nervous. He had told me earlier, "Cat, I have no idea what they went through. I can think it but I can't know it."

The staff member who was there nearly wrecked everything by insisting on a "welcome to country" - actually an "acknowledgment" before the service began.  She felt it was an "appropriate" way to begin. Nobody said anything but the four who are still very alert were upset by it. 

I admired P... for being able to pull things together after that. He did a very good job. He kept his words short and to the point. He told them he could not possibly know what they had been through but his appreciation of their service was genuine and it showed.

The staff member obviously saw the occasion differently. She wanted to hustle people out to their very late breakfast and get on with her day. Yes, I understand it in a way. There are things that need to be done and this was a disruption to routine but this is that "one day of the year" that means so much to some people. Their numbers are growing less every year.

P... helped one of the other residents into the dining room and we left them to the grey porridge and stewed tea. Outside P... told me, "Thanks for being there Cat. I should not say it but I wish that woman would stop it."

I knew exactly what he meant. There is a time and a place for an acknowledgment just as there is a time and a place for a welcome. They are essentially political statements. This morning's little service was not the right place or the right time. It should have simply focussed on the occasion.