"Lest we forget" are the words we say each year at Anzac Day following the Ode of Remembrance.
There's a subtle warning in there, one that is absent from the simple words - "we will remember them" - that precede the phrase.
"Lest we forget" carries a suggestion that we are not simply commemorating the sacrifices of the past - we are making sure that the future does not repeat the sorts of horrors that led to that sacrifice.
We don't want to forget them - our fathers and grandfathers and sisters and mothers and children - who we have lost, but we also don't want to discard the lessons of history.
Anzac Day this year - despite lingering COVID-19 concerns - demonstrated that our communities continue to turn up to honour the people who have served us in times of war.
Just check out the scores of photos taken yesterday (see below) of people, young and old, who were part of the day.
But the sober reminder of Anzac Day extends from the past to the present and into the future: peace and freedom must be preserved, and Australians - both as a country and as individuals - must always keep that in sight.
Lest we forget.
Michelle Thomas
Deputy Editor
