Editorial: Anzac Day key part of our essence

My son came home with a letter from his school - always a potentially interesting scenario.

He had been invited to attend an Anzac Day ceremony at Laurie Hall park in Whangarei. Specifically, he had been asked to help place the white crosses that serve as a poignant reminder of the Northlanders who died during wartime service.

The notice sat for a day or two until his busy Dad caught up with it, and asked him about what was happening, when I realised that the school was waiting for a yes/no from us.

"I said 'no'," he told me.

"Is that right," I said.

"Yeah," he said. "Rugby starts on Saturday."

Actually, rugby wasn't starting on Saturday - he was a week early.

The conversation that ensued covered off quite a wide range of topics.

One of which was the fact that the only reason he had the freedom to be able to play rugby on Saturday, was because thousands of New Zealanders died fighting for that freedom. We talked about how his great-grandparents and great-great grandparents were lucky enough to go to war, and come back.

And about how his great-grandparents had met in Egypt, and came home to Whangarei where they married, and built a house using finance offered to ex-servicemen.

He understood. And we agreed he would go along to the ceremony.

At the ceremony, he gained a greater understanding of Anzac Day. And at his school, during an Anzac Day ceremony, the education continued.

Present that day were boys and staff from the Leadership Academy of A Company - a hugely successful Northland initiative. The school heard that Anzac Day was not just about the sacrifice of lives, but the sacrifice that all soldiers made, in fighting for a just cause, away from their loved ones.

Every day was Anzac Day for the members of A Company.

In a few short days, my young Northlander learned history, and knowledge that will contribute to his sense of place as a New Zealander.

And this is why Anzac Day is so important, simply because we must never forget.