How Can I describe Anzac day? A day that defines how I think of myself as an Australian.
A day that makes me immensely proud and immeasurably sad. Who else but Australians and our mad cousins, the New Zealanders, would take a disastrous defeat, military insanity and completely chaotic ineptitude and turn it into A matter of intense national pride.
Who else?
No one else that’s who, except possibly for the bloody Irish, because the Irish are fucking insane as well. The Irish whose blood runs thickly in my family and in a lot of Australian Families.
To celebrate the defeat and the senseless slaughter that was and is Gallipoli, is truly an Australian thing.
To be proud of the fact that we are descended from convicts and from the detritus of English society is a truly Australian thing.
I think that as Australians we really like to say, “Oh Get Fucked you Bastard.” which translates to, “It’s your shout” and “lets put our hands in our pockets”and “are you right mate?”
In secret squirrel language it means we want to help, this is truly an Australian thing
Phrases like, No Shit Sherlock. Flat out like a lizard drinking. You bewdy and *this is a knife* And never ever, ever! apologising for not knowing the words to our National Anthem, this is truly an Australian thing.
“Australians all let us rejoice for we are young and free..
oh dum de dum dee do de dum oh something gird by sea…,
blah blah blah blah bla bla bla etcetera etcetera. you seeeeee…”
But I reckon that every Australian knows the words to Waltzing Matilda.
And every Australian that I know embraces the Aussie idea of a Fair go.The Australians that I know range from Korean to Polish from Malaysian to Finnish. They all are My Australians.
Not the Aussies that the politicians would have us believe are true.
Not this bullshit political correctness that is crippling our society,
Not this bullshit terrorist fear.
Not this bullshit search for weapons of mass destruction.
Not this, not this bullshit, this isn’t Australian at all.
I often wonder what those young men and women that heeded the call to arms to serve their king and country. I wonder what they would think about the Australia of the 21st century.
Would they feel proud? Would we be suitable inheritors of their Australian dream?
Or would they feel sad that we are still squabbling?
Anzac day to me is My holy day. My day of tears and pride. A day that I never actually feel is a real day. I always wake up feeling disjointed on Anzac day. I am always close to tears on Anzac day and I always end up getting spectacularly smashed on Anzac day. I am signing off this Anzac day post with a shot of whiskey.
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cheers love!
I decided earlier not to post a comment on any ANZAC day posts as, well, it’s too solemn for my half arsedness to be messing up.
But Kimberly, I fucking LOVE this entry.
This is blogging.
I’m with XBox in that yours is the only ANZAC post I felt compelled to leave a comment on. You echoed my sentiments and articulated them far more eloquently than I ever could have Kim (maybe I should have had more alcohol). This is EXACTLY what it is to be an Australian – you rock sister 🙂
You should write your posts drunk more often!
I agree with every word. I always feel very ‘not really here’ on ANZAC day, and it is always a time of quiet reflection. It means more to me than any religious holiday, that’s for sure. I felt really weird this year, because I didn’t attend a service. I chose not to, but now I regret it. I watched the one in France on telly though, and had a little cry when they bugled the last post.
It’s definitely a strange concept though: celebrating defeat and loss. It’s what makes us ‘us’.
well written..
taz
very well written and interesting that you were pissed when you wrote it….as you say…the barriers completely go and the raw emotion pours out. However since you stopped drinking on this day i need to check out next years post!
I agree with so much of what you say BTW and I actually gave up twelve years of atheism on Anzac Day 25 years ago and became a Christian. Funny it had never really meant anything to me until I took a child I was looking after, a boy, to the march.
Thank you for keeping this post up after you sobered, I applaud your honesty
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