It was a bitter 12 degrees in Port Melbourne on Saturday morning.
The wind was high and the water was grey and choppy on Port Phillip Bay. The intermittent showers were coming in sideways.
I was doing my usual Saturday morning shop run and was walking briskly down Bay Street with a bag of groceries. I had the warmth of my car very much in mind as I approached the Rouse Street corner, when I noticed there an old guy in a suit and tie standing near the corner, pressed into the minimal shelter offered by a café window. He was holding a small tray which was attached to a strap which ran around his neck. As I turned the corner and I (and no doubt, he) was hit by another spray of rain, I realized it was a guy selling poppy badges for the November 11 RSL Legacy appeal.
I reached the shelter of my car and I contemplated how cold he must be standing there largely unprotected from the wicked weather. As I drove to the next stop on my routine shopping journey, I could not stop thinking about how dedicated he must be to the cause of caring for the families of Australian soldiers who were killed or injured in the service of our nation. As I completed my shopping I reflected on the possibility that he himself was a returned veteran or might have had a personal connection to one – perhaps he had been the beneficiary of Legacy assistance as a boy. Perhaps his Dad had fought the Nazis for our freedoms, or trekked through New Guinea to protect his family in Australia from authoritarian invasion and rule. And as I shut the car boot I knew I had to go back and buy one of his badges and have a chat.
By the time I got back, if anything, the weather was a little worse. But he was still standing up and straight. I guessed he was in his 70s or 80s.
I picked out a poppy badge and he produced an eftpos terminal. I asked him if he was cold and he assured me he was fine. Contrary to appearances, he said business had been picking up. He chuckled and said “I think people feel sorry for me standing here in the cold!” I knew what he meant. I smiled that he was making light of what must have been an uncomfortable station. I guessed he had endured worse.
I thanked him for his dedication and endurance in the conditions. He nodded. Something else occurred to me. “We should never forget” I said, probably superfluously given my audience – that was why he was standing there – but a timely reminder to myself. He nodded again.
As I bustled back to the car I invoked the blessings upon him of whatever Gods were out early this bitter Stakes Day, as well-dressed punters hurried by me heading for transport to Flemington.
Later that day in Sydney, young men who were members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network stood, dressed in black, in front of the New South Wales parliament chanting anti-Jewish slogans.
Not a poppy among them.
To read more by John Gordon click HERE.
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