Our generation has it so lucky.
In a privileged country like Australia, or any western country, we simply have no concept of a harsh life. Sure, there are vagrants and people who live on the street, who have just cause to complain about their standards of living, but compared to past generations – I would still argue they have it easy.
Every single time I pass an older person in the street I can’t help but imagine what kind of youth they had. I just have this insatiable desire for knowledge, and a penchant for stories of life experience.
I have been going through a bit of a phase at the moment… I have been reading a lot on World War 2, and watching documentaries and such on the subject… This aspect of our history never ceases to amaze me.
I have nothing but eternal respect for those that lived in the periods of the two World Wars. The hardship and emotional stress they must have endured would be nothing short of astonishing… I don’t really have a superlative to describe my admiration for these people.
It was amazing how the diggers just packed up everything and went to fight, not necessarily because they wanted to, but because they didn’t really have a choice. There were exceptions of course… these gentleman had an opportunity to see the world, and naïve young men don’t think about dying on the battlefield until they are there. You can’t operate as a soldier unless you accept the fact that you could die, it’s just how it is.
I have heard many a recollection of young men who shot themselves because they weren’t accepted into the army… They were not allowed to join all of their friends, brothers, fathers and compatriots. The thought of not being able to fight for the cause drove them to kill them selves… if that doesn’t make you ask what dedication is – I don’t know what will.
Could you imagine being stuck in a trench for months on end, with comrades dying around you constantly? I can imagine it, but I am sure it’s amazingly distant from how it really was. I have these diggers to thank for the fact that I have no idea what warfare is like.
They weren’t the only heroes of the Wars though – the ladies really made their contribution felt. They had to live on rations, without most of their male loved ones… There is a town in country New South Wales called Orange, and all of their male population except 13 men were killed in the First World War. As you can imagine, the town never recovered to its original prosperity. This happened all over Australia.
The ladies had to show a front of strength for the other ladies and children… and they had to keep on writing those letters to the boys to keep their spirits up… the morale of the ladies has always been attributed to the success of the Australian soldier.
The Australian’s suffered ridiculous losses in WWI. We were only a fresh nation at the ripe young age of 15 years old. Roughly 500,000 Australians died from a country with a population of about 3-4 Million at that point. This is something I will never forgive the British Military for. Australians had earned a reputation as fearless warriors who won battles. Instead of using the diggers to their full advantage, they were used as cannon fodder. Australian broke so many lines on the Western Front, by being used as the shock troops… the only problem was that they were ALWAYS the shock troops, the line breakers, and they’re was no rest. They still did as they were told by the colonial power, and they make me and the rest of my country extremely proud to be Australian.
I am looking forward to going to Gallipoli in Turkey on Anzac Day next year to enjoy the dawn service. Gallipoli is the most famous battle in Australian wartime history. Thousands of Australian troops stuck on a beach in Turkey due to a miscalculation from the British high command… they bore the brunt of artillery and thousand of Turkish troops in elevated positions – they were so disadvantaged, they didn’t even take the beach, but the never gave any ground either – and I must pay my respects to these men where so many of them died.
Not only can I not entertain the concept of fighting a war, but living in a country that is being bombed relentlessly - I can’t fathom that concept either.
The house next door to my fathers childhood home was bombed back to the Stone Age during Hitler’s air campaign against Britain. I struggle to come to the terms that if the pilot/gunner of that German plane had of fired a split second earlier… I probably wouldn’t be here today.
The youth of today is losing its reverence for the people that lived in these times, and made it possible for us to live in our current forms of life… I could never wish going to War or living in War upon my worst enemies, but sometime, I really think the younger generations need a wake up call to realise what the older generations lived through and sacrificed for us.
Next time you hear a young whipper snapper complain about University fees, or the price of a pair of jeans, just maybe gently remind them that in 2004, we have got it very easy, and we must thank those who had it much harder than us for our current way of life.