Lest we forget?

25th April is ANZAC day - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This is supposed to be a solemn remembrance of soldiers who fought and died in WW1. On the 25th of April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers joined together to set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. Anzac Day was officially named in 1916, and the Australian Army website says: "With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day also served to commemorate the lives of Australians who died in that war. The meaning of Anzac Day today includes the remembrance of all Australians killed in military operations." Just Australians?

ANZAC included New Zealanders, who might not have reflected as many soldiers as Australia, but they fought just as well as Australians, they died just as Australians, and Anzac Day is still remembered in New Zealand. In a New Zealand history website they explain that for later wars - WW2 and Vietnam - Anzac soldiers fought together against the enemy. Why don't the Australians remember this?

Australia remembers a military history which no longer has any relevation in current history. Since WW1 and WW2 there has been Korea, VietNam, Papua New Guinea, Gulf War, East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and, most current, military intevention against ISIL. Australia has been at the front of the war military, often with no New Zealand, yet they still, every 25th April, remember WW1, Anzac Day, and not New Zealanders.

I was in the New Zealand Army back in the 80s. On Anzac Days I used to go with my troop to local towns and stood as a guard on the memorial. It has been many years since then when I moved over here, yet at the one and only Anzac Day I would attend here I was told at one RFL that I wasn't allowed in that day because I was not "Australian" defence. I don't attend any more.

It winds me up that "Lest we forget" is still used, every year, when Australia is somehow only remembering their own soldiers in WW1. It's now 100 years. Isn't it time to lay it down? There are far too many issues and people in our current life. I have listed a few that I support. Do you?

• Brain Foundation introduces themselves as "a nationally registered charity dedicated to funding world-class research Australia-wide into neurological disorders, brain disease and brain injuries." The Brain Aneurysm Support Australia Facebook page which I admin has set up to try to win some funds for Brain Foundation to do research for aneurysms. There is a video included in this application which tells so much about what an aneurysm is and does. Will you vote for us?
• Indigenous people have been in this country for more than 60,000 years. Quite a few Aboriginals were in the Australian Army in WW1, but they were left behind when the white soldiers came home. Now, the current LNP government is still working against them, trying to get them off their own land in WA. That is absolutely unacceptable! Will you support them?
• There are many domestic violence groups throughout the country, yet LNP has cut funds. If you need to find a group in your own area, try the Google search. There are quite a few listed. Jess Hill in The Monthly noted that so far this year "a woman is murdered at least every week, another hospitalised every three hours." Do we allow this to happen, or do we do something to stop it? 
• Oscar's Law works in Victoria to protect companionable animals. It has supported cases against breeding factories. Their website explained: "The smell of a puppy factory is unforgettable, an overwhelming stench of urine and faeces. The simultaneous barking of hundreds of dogs creates a wall of sound that makes it hard to think, let alone converse." That is so sad that most people should support them! Will you?
• Throughout Australia here are some Blind Guide Dogs and Assistance Dogs, which have proven very helpful to people who do need them. These dogs are complete reversals from the Oscar's Law dogs, so support them because they will certainly be trained to help!
• The Heart Foundation "seeks to strategically drive cardiovascular research and facilitate high quality research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment, management and prevention of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, stroke and blood vessel disease." Their website is very good, full of information that every person should know about how their heart lives and how they should look after it. Just like the Brain Foundation, the Heart Foundation relates to everyone. Does it relate to you?
• People on the present unemployment benefit usually do look for work. The Statistics Bureau provides monthly reports which show the movements of the rates, and this has increased from 733,000 from February 2014 to 778,000 this year. In the last 5 years this has grown from 614,000, and does not ever look like getting lower. The government needs to increase the benefit. People need to be supported really. The Guardian wrote an article in February this year with very interesting details - have you read it? Do you support unemployed people? Or do you believe that all of these people choose to be unemployed? Perhaps you should be reading reality about this.

It's now April 2015. Many Australians will attend either the dawn parade or the main parade for the Anzac Day. It is, this year, 100 years since the history happened. For me, it was only a year ago when I had brain surgery for my aneurysm, accompanied by a stroke. I am not working now but I am volunteering in an Art Gallery. If you know people who don't work, for whatever the reason, help them. If you have your own dog because you love dogs, if you run to support some of the very large charities for your own or your relative's reason, if you know about Indigenous people, homeless people, refugees, people who are domestically beaten, people whose property has been stolen, people who are alone, so many people in this country who are not supported, help them.

Lest we forget.