Page 6 - Catholic Life, April 2013
Lavalla student living the Spirit of Anzac TRARALGON Bayley Charalambous, a Year 10 student at Lavalla Catholic College was recently awarded a Spirit of Anzac Prize. Along with nine other students from all over Victoria, Bayley and his family attended the prize giving at Parliament House. The students had been asked to create a piece of work that explained the Anzac Spirit and how it is relevant today. The prize, an escorted tour of significant theatres of war will see Bayley and the others visiting France, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands this month. To make for a more personal and meaningful experience part of the tour requires that each student ‘adopt’ a digger, whose history they will research and whose grave they will visit. Bayley
has ‘adopted’ his great uncle and plans to visit his grave at Lone Pine. When Bayley first visited Lavalla as a Grade 6 student he made contact with teacher Kim Widrich and told her he wanted to enter the Spirit of Anzac competition. This was quite an ambition and had been sparked by his primary teacher who told him
that Lavalla students often entered and won the competition. Three other Lavalla students had previously been award re-
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cipient with a fourth student being runner up twice. Bayley was determined to work with Mrs Widrich to be the fourth winner. He had to wait until Year 9 until he was eligible to enter. Entries are taken in many forms with previous winners writing essays, poems, creating paintings etc. Bayley chose a multimedia form and focused on producing a video. During the planning phase he turned his attention to Vietnam Veterans and sought information and materials from local RSLs. He originally planned to interview both combatants and nurses who served in Vietnam but had to restrict the project size and eventually settled on three local men as subjects for his presentation. The RSLs provided a treasure trove of information and material. Eventually Bayley used the libraries and collections as the back drop for the interviews. He has an eye for detail and presents his subjects with their medals and uniform spread before on the table as they speak about their personal reflections on the Anzac Spirit. His camera work, with slow zooms on the subjects and intimate conversations worked
Bayley Charalambous strongly on the emotions of the viewer. Rather than intrude on the interview, Bayley edited himself out and has the men speaking to him off screen. His rapport with these men and his ability to draw out sometimes painful memories is amazing in one so young. The three veterans Ted Dunstan, Ron Hall and Ron Randall spoke of being “there for your mates” and humbly getting on with their job. There were poignant comments when they talked of coming home, being reviled and under attack as “ba-
by-killers” and worse. Bayley’s presentation captured the pain, the pride and the humility of the three veterans as they reflected on their experiences and tried to define the Anzac spirit. He ended the piece with images switching between images of the Anzac spirit in war and images of SES workers, surf life savers and others who live out the Anzac spirit today. While Bayely never speaks in the presentation, his understanding of the Anzac Spirit is clear through the entire work. On the day of the award presentation, of the ten winners across the state six came from Catholic schools. When teacher Kim Widrich was queried about this, and the fact that Lavalla has now had four winners, she commented “I think they understand spirituality and ceremony” She believes that students in Catholic schools have an appreciation of symbols, rituals and commemoration that help them understand and express the spirit of Anzac. The Spirit of Anzac award was initiated to ensure that the Anzac story and spirit live on. In the hands , heads and hearts of people like Bayley Charalambous we know the story the will continue to be told and appreciated in the generations to come.
The great Easter message SOME years ago, a teacher told me about a Year 3 student who was listening to her relate the events of Easter. When they broke for lunch he was quite upset – he literally begged her: “Don’t stop, I want to know what happens to Him!” For those of us who do know “what happens to Him”, we still captivated by that tumultuous week which began with Jesus’ triumphant and joyful entry in to Jerusalem and ended with His death and resurrection. Even in advance, Isaiah summarised the extraordinary consequences of Easter: Do not be afraid For I have redeemed you: I have called you by your name, You are mine - Isaiah 43:1 Much of our struggle with faith is to come to terms with just how much God does love us. God’s love is unconditional. Yet we struggle with the notion that we are unlovable in some way or another or something we do will make God love us less. But if we really believe the events of this Easter celebration, how could we believe that? The Catechism tells us that “The desire for God is written in the human heart, because each person is created by God and for God, and God never ceases to draw each person to himself” #27. God never ceases to draw us to himself – not sometimes, or ‘only if….’, no, it’s never! “I have called you by your name, you are mine” – isn’t that extraordinary! In the Hebrew tradition, naming someone sets up a special relationship.
Reflections by Jim Quillinan Remember how God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, how God names each thing that is created? That means: “You are mine!” That’s no reason for complacency – it is not a case of God loves us so we can do anything we like! No, we must first engage in the struggle to really believe it. For some of us that means getting rid of the fear and anxiety we grew up with, the belief that we had, in some way, to earn our salvation. But Easter means that we have been redeemed – nothing we do can ‘earn’ our salvation. In St Paul’s words, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” Romans 8:38 Our belief in God’s unconditional love has enormous consequences: • We cannot look on others without acknowledging God’s unconditional love for them too no matter who they are. It is not up to us to judge anyone’s worthiness or otherwise. God loves them too. • So there is no escape from social justice. Respect for hu-
man dignity and integrity is a must. • Even this world of ours, with all its defects, cannot be seen as a place of exile and evil, but as God’s beloved creation crying out to be improved and made just and whole again. • Our lives cannot be imagined as a time of testing for we are loved by God. Our lives can only be a time of growing and maturing. Easter reminds us of God’s dream – a vision of the world where fear and anxiety before God give way to love and trust. Jesus told His disciples at the last meal he shared with them all: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” John 14 27 Easter is an invitation to grow – to accept God’s love and faithfully respond to it. Have a wonderful Easter!