Having lived in both Australia and New Zealand for many years each, it has been interesting to see the growing significance of Anzac Day for people in both countries. It seems to be bordering on religious observance these days.

I must admit I've not participated in an Anzac Day dawn service for a very long time. The times I did it was certainly a moving and powerful experience, but I always came away from them with a sense that the Anzac story legend was not really the exalted legend it was so often portrayed as.

A friend of mine has written about this much more eruditely over on her blog, and I commend her comments to you this Anzac Day, lest we forget what a horrific thing war really is.