Just before I was about to start writing a friend made a comment that maybe a good thing in relation to ANZAC day is to let the commemoration happen then perhaps wait until the day after for ways we can evolve to move on from it.  I thought that was good advice.

I read some really good posts today from Facebook friends and also some shares.  A Facebook friend posted how the lesson we must remember the futility of war of how rulers are able to manipulate the working class for their benefit.  This makes a lot of sense and links in a lot with work I am reading at the moment such as David Icke ‘Lifting the Veil’ and ‘9 11 Why the official story is a monumental lie’.

The post described above also says how we are never taught to question why and only to commemorate those fallen.  It becomes difficult as these people have paid the ultimate price.  Later relatives must fairly only remember as a time when great Grand dad whoever lost their life fighting for their country and this is fair.  It’s important we keep our strong compassion but at the same time search for ways to truly move on to a better world.

What’s concerning is that in this non questioning attitude about the nature of war and continuing this hero worshipping of people lost is that we are not really addressing how we can move on so it doesn’t happen again.  It seems we are as a whole accepting the current paradigm that war is just an inevitability and when there is one there are certain heroes who are willing to give up their lives for their country.  This seems to fail in that as well as not looking at the bigger picture we are not looking at how the people who are going to war are often just manipulated into believing this is a justified thing and to go to war is the right thing to do.  We just become lost in this patriotic sense of ‘standing up for your country’ which is created by those who have created the way.  Patriotism can be a dangerous thing.

I am not necessarily anti- war.  I believe maybe we all have to be in touch with our nature for potential violence should it really be necessary but isn’t there a sense that we need to be working to understand the powers that be and why it happened?  Then we can work forward so such a thing doesn’t happen again?

In the current climate we see the constant ‘war on terror’.  A skillfully manipulated game we can all see if we look under the surface.  We are conditioned to keep feeling afraid and into seeing an enemy ‘out there’.  We are then conditioned to feel sad if people in what we consider close countries die but those in the others somehow deserved it or are less important.

I read an excellent article which sums things up really well which I would recommend anyone take a look at here:    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10436683

I will quote a point from that here to show some insight into the tragedy of war itself as well as the fighting soldiers which could be good to keep bringing awareness to.
‘When our politicians lay claim to the sacrifice and bravery of our soldiers on Anzac Day, let’s not forget most of these men didn’t have much choice. New Zealand troops were a conscripted army and our then government allowed British firing squads to execute New Zealanders who wouldn’t fight. Many members of the first Labour Cabinet in 1935 actively opposed this war and went to jail for it. Several prominent Maori leaders were also imprisoned because they actively campaigned to stop Maori being conscripted. Much of the bravery shown was by people who refused to join this insanity and suffered mightily for it. It’s a reflection of the real mood of New Zealanders when, after the war, they elected these war opponents to Government.’ (Matt McCarten)

A second important point is that the way we are taught that certain events are so historically important and not others.  Ignorantly on my behalf I had not until a few days ago heard about the Armenian genocide which took place the same date in 1915 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide

Apparently there is a push to get this more documented in text books so people actually grow up knowing about it.  It would be great if we could know more about this so children could grow up actually learning about the overall travesty of war and how we can go about creating true democratic societies so it doesn’t happen again.

Another post here http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/302265/new-zealand’s-other-wars

discusses New Zealand land wars at this time and the loss of life of 3000 men and women again on almost the same date, barely covered at schools.

I think that respecting those who died is definitely a good thing and having a good bit of remembrance.  I think it is important that this is with some combination of looking at the nature of war as a whole and overall losses of life and how we can create less chance of wars in future.  We need to become more questioning.