Anzac Day

Anzac day.. this acronym stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps... I've always had a soft spot for war veterans.. men who gave their lives to defend their way of live... the nobility of putting the interest of the masses above your own life... the camaraderie exhibited...

Never heard of the word Anzac Day before i came to Murdoch... didn't know what it was actually about either till Anzac day itself... while some chose to venture onto the streets to watch the parades, i stayed home and flipped through the channels... watching Anzac Day ceremonies in 5 different locations...

The best ceremony was in Gallipoli... Kudos to the speech writers... I liked how the speech started off with the epitaph for the unknown soldier... as common as it may be.. it was quite fitting

"To save your world you asked this man to die; Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?" W.H. Auden

It wrapped up with some turkish guy giving a speech in well.. turkish... but it was translated... an interesting speech as well

After the speech, i decidedly to, morbidly, look up other tombstone wordings... here are 2 of my favourite:

The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it - Karl Marx

Against you I will fling myself,
Unvanquished and Unyielding, O Death! - Virginia Woolf

Formatia trans sicere educatorum

Angelus: Passion.
Angelus: It lies in all of us
Angelus: Sleeping...
Angelus: ...waiting... And though unwanted...
Angelus: ...unbidden... it will stir...

Angelus: It speaks to us... guides us... Passion rules us all.

Angelus: Passion is the source of our finest moments. The
joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief.

Angelus: It hurts sometimes more than we can bear.
Angelus: If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know
some kind of peace. But we would be hollow.
Angelus: Empty rooms, shuttered and dank...
Angelus: Without passion, we'd be truly dead.

- Taken from 'Passion' Buffy the vampire slayer