I have taken to baking bread lately. This is my latest efforts- two loaves of sour dough. Bread is not as hard as I thought but still the learning curve is steep and I hope to get better with every loaf.
This morning I attended a pre-dawn service to commemorate Anzac Day which is like Veterans Day. The New Zealanders fought along side Australians in Gallipoli, Turkey in what became New Zealand's most important battle. 2,500 New Zealanders were killed there and more than 18,000 died in WWI for a country with a population of only 1 million. The impact was enormous with almost no family spared. 
The service this morning was led by a WWII chaplain. He still appeared to be in good health and had some touching remarks. There was a speech by the mayor and some speeches by two local students, one of which was nice poem. There was a plane that flew overhead and a three-gun volley as well as the New Zealand anthem. Various representatives from different organizations laid wreaths down and it was a very respectful service attended by several thousand all willing to get up at 5:00 AM to sacrifice in just a small way to show respect for those who served and died. For me personally, it was a good time to think of those soldiers risking everything in Afghanistan and Iraq and how little the average person understands of the sacrifices made for our freedom.
No comments:
Post a Comment