If you want to shop on Anzac Day, you’re a flog

Surely we can live one day without going to the supermarket? If you don’t agree with this retail ban, sorry, but you’re an absolute flog.

Surely we can live one day without going to the supermarket?

NSW Premier Chris Minns deserves plaudits for banning retail trade on Anzac Day.

It deserves to be treated as one of the most sacred days on the Australian calendar – the day we commemorate and give thanks to those who have served, and given their lives for, our country.

Will it kill you to buy deodorant on the 24th of April instead of the 25th? No.

But many were killed defending your right to whinge about it.

There is, perhaps, a disconnect between many people today and what Anzac Day actually means.

And in some ways that’s a good thing because it’s a product of the fact we have lived through relative world peace since World War II ended nearly 80 years ago.

Unless you or a family member served in Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan, you may have little reason to think about, let alone acknowledge, military service.

I’m not saying that I like it or that it’s how things should be – just that it’s the reality.

The sad part of it is that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and Anzac Day, as much as it is a celebration of the freedoms for which our Diggers fought, is meant to serve as a reminder of the perils of war.

That’s why the day starts with a Dawn Service. Anzac Day begins as a solemn commemoration of our military men and women and then, in the later hours, becomes a celebration of all for which they fought.

Chris Minns has banned retail trade on Anzac Day in NSW. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Surely we can avoid supermarkets for one day? Picture: Suppled

Anzac Day is sacred. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

It’s appropriate for sporting matches such as AFL and NRL to remain on Anzac Day, for instance, because they are unifying events, celebrations of our country and displays of mateship and teamwork – values that typify the Anzac spirit.

Going for a spot of retail therapy or doing the weekly shopping? Not so much.

With any luck, the pause caused by shops having to close all day may lead some to actually think about the solemnity of Anzac Day.

We may have lived through all that world peace – but there is no guarantee it will continue.

The chances of global conflict are higher than they have been in decades, thanks in large part to a rising China.

China’s Xi Jinping poses a huge threat to global stability. Picture: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Journalist Caleb Bond. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Just imagine if China decided to invade Taiwan and the United States became militarily involved in the war. It’s hard to see how that would not expand into worldwide fighting into which Australia would be inevitably dragged.

That same China is clearly bolstering its military might in the Pacific and ingratiating itself – through debt diplomacy – with the small islands that neighbour Australia.

In unstable geopolitical times, it is more important than ever to understand the true meaning of Anzac Day and why we must commemorate it in the first place.

You’ll have a lot more to complain about than the supermarket being closed if we end up in another world war.

Originally published as If you want to shop on Anzac Day, you’re a flog