ONCE again, thousands have got up early, smartened themselves up, pinned on a poppy and marked Anzac Day across the Whanganui district.
Those who served and suffered in conflicts far from their homeland are rightly remembered. Gallipoli is, of course, most notably evoked, but also many other battles that, inevitably,produced their share of dead and wounded.
Old boys fasten their medals and shuffle forth; wheelchairs abound ... it is a time for remembering. But, perhaps, also a time for contemplating the present and the future.
There has, over many years, been a maturing reflection on war. No longer is it glorified, no longer seen as action-comic heroics (though it still produces heroes) - the horrors and misery are now at the forefront of our consciousness, especially since technology has allowed the media to bring the frontline into our living rooms.
Vietnam, the first televised war, Iraq, the ongoing battles across the Middle East ... we non-combatants can get a sense of the depravity and terror.
Only last week, medals were handed out to two Kiwi soldiers for their valour in a skirmish in Afghanistan where two of their buddies were killed. The news report also featured dogs trained by Whanganui's Kotuku Foundation being given to veterans of Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
So the threat of further conflict is very real. It is particularly so when you have expansionist nations seeking to influence - or, should we say, intimidate - smaller nations; it is particularly so when you have arms dealers making millions; it is particularly so when those in power can see economic gain and prestige from a war they can wage from behind a desk.
So, I side with those from the Peace Movement who held a silent vigil in Majestic Square on Friday and chose to wear a red poppy for remembrance and a white poppy for peace.
When John Lennon said "Give peace a chance", he was vilified by a Nixon administration conducting a secret war in Cambodia, spied on by the FBI, and US immigration sought ways to deport him.
Fortunately, his message is likely to last a lot longer than those of his denigrators.
