THE PRICE OF LIBERTY

LEST WE FORGET …

On Anzac Day, we remember the dawn landing of the Australian and New Zealand troops on that rocky beach beneath the perpendicular cliffs of Gallipoli Peninsula.

Throughout that hellish day, thousands of our young lads were mown down almost to annihilation.

It is therefore with great humility and respect that the whole nation pays tribute to those who gave their lives on that day.

They did so in the service of two great ideals – Peace and Freedom.

Their example stands as an inspiration to us all.

It is our duty to honour their sacrifice, and our country’s heritage, by continuing to defend it against all tyrants and aggressors.

………….

Below is an excerpt from a 1929 Anzac Day address which I thought relevant to the situation we face today:

“We as a people are prone to take things very much for granted in this land where we are free to speak, think and worship without interference and to join any organisation which appeals to us.

From childhood this liberty has been part of the very air we breathe, and mostly we take it for granted without a single thought.

Anzac Day serves to remind us that we hold these liberties because a price was paid.

Liberty is not easily held.

Wherever men and women are free, as we are, it is because others in their thousands have paid a terrible price, the price of blood.

Anzac Remembrance is the most solemn thing Australia has ever celebrated as a nation.

We pause and remember all those Australians who gave everything they had to keep this country and the whole world free.

We, who are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, must never again regard our liberties lightly.

They were purchased by the blood of our best and bravest – the flower of a whole generation”.

“It is not only in battle that the price of liberty must be paid”.

“Often it is easier to guard our freedoms and liberties when the menace of war is upon us, because our enemy is visible and known.

In peacetime, however, when the immediate threat of a known enemy is removed, there is a tendency to sit back, relax and believe we are safe.

History is strewn with the remains of nations, once great, who relaxed, grew soft and were ultimately enslaved.

When those nations fell, it was rarely because they were defeated on the battlefield.  Most were subjected to a subtle form of white-anting from within, during long periods of Peace and Prosperity.”

This, he said, is why the RSL chose as its motto:

“The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance”.

Lest we Forget!