Monday, January 26, 2009

Australia Day

From Tim Blair's site.
(Private Greg Sher, deployed to Afghanistan with 1st Commando Regiment, served with the Special Operations Task Group. He was killed in a Taliban rocket attack on 4th January, 2009. Greg’s brother Steven wrote this piece.)

AUSTRALIA Day, and its annual attempts to define what it means to be Australian, formerly saw us subject to clichés about barbecues, beer, beaches and bronzed bodies.

We now live in a different time.

For the family and friends of all eight Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, perpetually linked by tragic loss and unlimited pride, Australia Day is an opportunity to consider anew who we are, and why we embark on what we do.

Our generously giving society is replete with those prepared to serve for the welfare of the broader Australian community. We are blessed with the many thousands of charity workers and unpaid volunteers who donate their time to care for those who cannot look after themselves. We are blessed with the SES workers who sacrifice unpaid days attending to natural disasters. We are blessed with the ambulance crews, fire-fighters and policemen who encounter the worst conceivable situations in order to ensure the public’s welfare. This is often done at risk to their own lives.

And so it is with the officers and enlisted personnel of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Whether ensuring stability for the populace of the Solomon Islands, securing aid for the destitute in East Timor, or providing armed force in Oruzgan Province so that Afghan females may attain an education free from Taliban retribution, our military members serve with distinction. They exhibit remarkable moral clarity even when faced with the most stressful humanitarian injustices imaginable.

It is they who step forward to safeguard our values, society, democratic institutions, our lives, and our Australian way of life.

For those who have never lived under the stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere of an oppressive regime, and may be tempted to take our freedoms for granted, this could seem far-fetched. But those who have endured life under an authoritarian government understand with a heavy heart these sentiments. When coming to Australia, the rights and privileges afforded to immigrants cannot but produce an immense and everlasting appreciation.

The parents of Greg Sher, a special forces Commando, brought their three children out of then-undemocratic South Africa in 1986 in order to embark on a new life in a new country. As immigrants who sought to soak up the Aussie culture and integrate into society, they were quickly imbued with notions of service and benevolence.

Australia welcomed our family to this country. And now our brother and son lies at one with this land, forever locked in its embrace. We, his family and friends, can only offer to return that embrace and hold this nation close to our hearts, asking it to remember that Gregory has given so much both to us and this country.

Private Greg Sher (top right) with his grandmother, parents and brothers.

For too long we’ve accorded the title of “hero” to sporting identities and entertainment personalities, whose impressive but relatively inconsequential contributions have somehow eclipsed those made by the truly brave and committed Australians seeking to guarantee a more just future.

The 26th of January is a fitting time to contemplate what Australia Day means to each of us. Certainly, our ADF personnel reflect the best of our country’s values. They embody the very ethics that Australia can be so proud of, especially in comparison to almost every other nation in the world. They strive to represent our ‘fair-go’ mentality. They encapsulate sacrifice and service. These are not just real heroes. They are humble Australian heroes.

Let his contribution to this upstanding tradition be the legacy of our Australian son, brother, partner and friend – Gregory Michael Sher.

No comments: