The 111 Files: Help others and honour our Anzacs

Last year's Anzac Day dawn service at Muruika urupa (cemetery) at Ohinemutu was another reminder of our will to make the world a safer place.

Like many, I have been contemplating the significance of our annual Anzac Day commemorations.

Over recent years there has been an increased appreciation of the importance of this event; evidenced by the increasing number of New Zealanders of all ages attending Anzac services.

Although our location in a far corner of the South Pacific is a buffer against the many terrible conflicts raging elsewhere, every news bulletin provides a reminder that we live in a violent and dangerous world.

But rather than despairing at the madness of a relative few, I encourage you to take the opportunity this time of reflection provides to ponder what personal contribution you might make to help our world become a better one.

I recently read the memoir of Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who was one of the few to survive the Nazi death camps. Frankl experienced extreme suffering and loss. Nearly all his immediate family, including his wife, were killed.

His most well-known work, Man's Search for Meaning, has been in print since 1946. More than 11 million copies have been printed and it has been translated into over 20 languages.

There are two reasons why this short book has capture the attention of millions around the world for more than 60 years.

Firstly, Frankl succinctly addresses some of the most vexing questions that every person wrestles with at some point; how do we cope with severe suffering and loss? And how do we find meaning for our lives when our circumstances seem hopeless?

Due to his experience, he is able to speak to those issues with authority, insight and empathy. There is not sufficient space here to unpack all of Frankl's wisdom, but I will share one of his most profound insights that has been a source of encouragement and personal challenge.

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread.

"They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

On Saturday we have the opportunity to come together as a community to acknowledge the sacrifice of others; but also to remind ourselves of the reasons that sacrifice was made - a hope for a better world. Every day, every one of us is presented with opportunities to act in the service of others.

I suggest that to do so is one of the best ways we can honour the memory of the Anzac tradition.

- Inspector Bruce Horne is the Rotorua police Area Commander.