As in previous years, I attended my local ANZAC Day service and then watched the televised dawn service from Gallipoli, punctuated with a side of croissants and coffee.
At the local service, the mayor mentioned Inspector Amy Scott (the policewoman who stopped the recent knife attacks in Bondi Junction), drawing a parallel between Australian military heroes and the actions of Scott.
At the time I thought this conflation was a little odd but then I heard it again when Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles spoke at the Gallipoli service. Marles said: “The spirit of ANZAC was on display when Inspector Amy Scott faced the terror at Bondi just two weeks ago.”
The premise that the ANZAC spirit lives on in Australians is in the ether (unless, of course, my local mayor and the Deputy Prime Minister share a speech writer!!!).
Without taking anything away from Amy Scott or our military heroes, is it really true that ordinary Australians intuitively run toward danger?
It seems so when we face extreme challenges – like bush fires, floods and armed attackers – but in everyday life, in our workplaces and homes, I don’t see people consistently meeting conflict eyeball-to-eyeball. I don’t see them tackling the difficult conversations they should tackle or negotiating unwaveringly for changes that would improve their lives.
Heck, just getting managers to give timely feedback can be a challenge.
As a nation, we pride ourselves on our bravery, but culturally we are highly likely to avoid conflict.
In families and community groups, we see people holding onto grudges for so long they can barely remember what the initial issue was.
Avoiding conflict almost always makes things worse. Don’t do it. It is always a disservice to you and to the other person.
If you steer away from uncomfortable subjects, you miss career opportunities and you damage relationships. If you withhold feedback from someone, you deny them opportunities for improvements which otherwise may not be possible.
Surely we can be inspired by the ANZAC spirit to run toward danger in everyday life? Surely we can do better at squaring up to conflicts that are brewing with those in our lives?