ANZAC DAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19956, 26 May 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

ANZAC DAY.

IS IT WORTH THE MONEY?

BY ELSIE K. MORTON.

After the passing oi five years, controversy has risen once again round the question of our national commemoration of Anzac Day. First came criticism of the form of service adopted for public observance, then the thread-bare plaint that because of the loss of a day's pay to a certain section of workers, Anzac Day shoult, be moved backward or forward to the nearest Sunday. Once again it may well be asked, why this constant centreing of a wage-controversy round Anzac Day, the one day, surely, in all the year, that might have been spared the humility of beingdragged into the dust ot petty argument, and bitterness of conflict? When are our workers going to waken to the fact that they arc being callousij done out of a day's pay not only ou Labour Day, but on Boxing Day, and on January 2, also? The two latter carry no associations, have no meaning whatsoever, and are not observed as holidays in other countries. Why, then, should men be forced into idleness on those days, made to suffer the loss of a day's pay? Why have no associations, unions, local bodies or leagues of mothers taken up the cudgels 011 their behalf ? Can it possibly be that Anzac Day, as a Holy Day, not a holiday, is considered to be not worth the money because it leaves some people with too much time on their hands and nothing to occupy their thoughts ? If Anzac Dav were held on the nearest Sunday, would they pass the day in solemn commemoration, in contemplation of a world's lesson in heroic sacrifice, or would they, by any chance, spend it exactly as they spend some fifty other Sundays in the year, in following their own pleasure ? That, I think, is the crux of the matter. Our present Anzac Day, our ono completely sacred day in the whole year, is too tedious and mournful, not worth the money. . . For just a few people, thank God, not for all. . . Work for Practical Patriots. If these agitators really feel so acutely for tho working man, let them set their brains to work, and try to devise some workable scheifie to present to the Government, to local bodies and employers generally, under which one section of workers will no longer be penalised. For it is not to bo denied for one moment that under the present arrangement seme are penalised, while the same financial disadvantage is also associated with numerous public holidays) it is unfortunate that this disadvantage has not been lifted in favour of Anzac Day, which above every other day, stands for. equality of sacrifice and service. One might have hoped that long ere this, patriotism and a sound public spirit would have combined to place this day of national remembrance in a position completely unassailable, beyond the acrimony of public controversy and wordy warfare of malcontents. Their presumption and offence lies not so much in their emphasis on the financial aspect as in the suggestion that because of hardship to the few, the great body of the people should be called upon to give up day made sacred by undying associations. For there can be no room for argument on the one vital point. Merged in a Sunday, as suggested, Anzac Day would inevitably lose its identity. Why talk of keeping Anzac Day sacred " as a Sunday," when we cannot even hold completely sacred the Day on which Christ Himself was nailed to the Cross for the sins of the world ? At present, and in the form of service which has come to be associated with its commemoration, Anzac Day is the one day in the whole year that really strikes home to the hearts of the people. It is a poignant reminder of things the world is only too swiftly and surely forgetting. It was much easier to live on higher planes of thought, to reach out after lofty ideals during the war than it is now, after ten years of so-called peace. People suffered than and were proud t- suffer. Everyone suffered. Hearts weie broken day by day, but who talked of it ? We just went ahead with things, our men dying out there in Gallipoli and France, we here at home, just waiting and praying for the horror to end and the black cloud to lift. It lifted. And in the swift passing of ten years of peace, many have now almost forgotten there was a war. Not all; there are many who can never forget, to whom the passing of each year is but a step along the path that_ is slowly leading onward to the Great Light into which our beloved have long since entered. . . . A Day of Hallowed Memories. Surely it is we who have the right to say how and when Anzac Day shall be observed, we to whom April 26 is a day apart, wherein the veil of the years is lifted, and the spirits of the dead stir one© more to life within our heaits . Wait just a little longer, you altruists who are so anxious for the welfare of your fellow-men that you would rob the Anzac mourners of their Day of Days. Leavo to the parents, wives, sisters and dear comrades of the Anzacs a few moie years in which to honour our dead, and then do as vou please. With the passing of this generation, Anzac Day will inevitably lose its significance; the poignant personal associations that have so long set it apart in the hearts of the people will be gone for ever. But until that day comes let us resist with utmost strength and doteimination this affront to the dead, and to those who, passing through tho tragedy and glory of Anzac, were spared to return. It is not much to ask, when you come to think of it, just one day—even one day's pay!—in return for what has been given, is still being given, the human suffering and loss, the inward burden that lifts not with the passing of the years. The Lesson of Sorrow. As for the suggestion that the present form of commemoration should be changed to something brighter, more triumphal, with less emphasis on sorrowful associations, again 1 would say "No!" Anzac Day to many of us can never be anything but a day of poignant memory, brightened with gleams of pride, but still a day of sorrow. We talk much of the pride of remembrance, the glory of sacrifice and thanksgiving that our men were not afraid to die, and that is right. These tilings are the shining golden threads in the dark cloud of our sorrow; they help us to walk straight and proud and steadfast, remembering that is how our men went to their death. But deep in her heart, no mother ever yet gloried in the death of a dear son, nor gave thanks to God that he was killed in battle. . . . His country wanted him, took him, and for her sake lie died. Quietly, without bitterness or protest, his mother gave him. That is patriotism. But to ask that mother to rejoice and give thanks, to regard Anzac Day as a day of triumph and glory, that is too much. It may be that the present form of commemoration is saddening, that it revives poignant memories. Let it do so: a little more saddening and pain will do no harm. Hearts that have borne so much are not going to be broken by a little more aching, and hearts that have felt no ache, eyes that have never wept for the men who sleep at Anzac, will be all the better for a passing touch of pain, a few cleansing tears of sorrow. . . . Not for us is the lesson of Anzac. We learned it long years ago. It is for those others who passed not down that dark way, the careless, the selfish and unheeding, untouched by sorrow or loss, for the children who are growing up so quickly, to whom Anzac even now is only a name. Let us, then, leave it where it stands at present, a day apart, for tho commemoration of a nation's fnprcme sorrow, touched with the glory of a deathless pride.