Every April 25th, I rise before the sun and make my way to the Dawn Ceremony. No matter where I am living - or the weather - I stand beside my fellow kiwis and remember. Together, strangers in union, we shed a few silent tears. Together, the young and the old stand in the shadowy dawn light and remember our ancestors. I can't describe the feelings we all go through together. It is a beautiful sadness that somehow helps define what it means to be a kiwi. It is our way of showing gratitude to those that sacrificed so much. Lest we forget.
Across the Tasman Sea, a few hours behind us, our Aussie mates do the same.
ANZAC Day remembrance ceremonies have grown hugely the past decade or so. I have noticed it, car-parking is harder to get, the number of push-chairs and elderly folk in attendance is notably larger. Young folk, teenagers, rugged up warm, with somber faces stand with their mates. We all stand together in the chilly morning air. Kiwis.
An apology doesn't cut it OSA. You have offended something way deeper than you are capable of comprehending. You are so cut off from the reality of what it means to be part of a national spirit. You have no idea what true honour is. Not a clue what it means to actually care. With your war-mongering talk, you don't have a clue about humanity. Or peace.
Oh, they knew exactly what it means to people. That's why they used it. You can't be raised in one of those countries and NOT know how deep it runs. They just didn't expect to get caught.
To Malcolm McClintock...
When did you stop caring about the person in front of you to find the service that would help THEM in their lives - as you truly believed at the time? When did you become part of the cynical donation-for-no-exchange fundraising mentality that you KNOW Hubbard wrote policies against?
Are you seriously going back to the RPF if they RPF you for this?
You should have listened to your beautiful friend Gale many years ago. You were miserable then and you should have left. She was right. You've wasted most of your life - for what? A cleared planet? A cleared ANZO? A cleared city? Town? Village?? The maths doesn't work. It isn't even possible.
You are a smart man. You have a professional qualification. You could do something you love. You could still have a life.
You're not clearing any planet. You're being used to defraud people out of a LOT of their money so ONE man can get rich, and deep down you KNOW it.
That was never what you signed up for.
If you truly want to think about any ANZAC spirit that runs through your being, if you truly want to think about being an ANZAC - think where those men would have told the officers to go in your place. Tell them to suffer in their jocks. With all due respect, sir... fuck off! Tell them to get stuffed.
Walk out the door to your family who love you and have grieved every day for your involvement in this wretched cult. They will help you and take you back with open arms and help you rebuild your life. And if not there are heaps of ex-Scientologists you befriended over the years who would help you.
I guess you'll probably never see this, but don't go back to the RPF. Don't go back.
Just leave. Haven't you had enough?
Walk down to Eddy Ave and get on a bus.
You KNOW you want to.
