The day innocence lost its innocence

Well, yesterday was ANZAC day, the most sacred day on the Australian calender. More sacred than Christmas, more sacred than Australia Day, even more sacred than Grand Final day and that's saying something. It's the day that - as every paper and news story will tell you - Australia lost its innocence.

Funny thing is, we've lost our innocence a few times since then. Just a few times I can remember off the top of my head: Cyclone Tracey hits Darwin in 1974; the Ash Wednesday fires of 1984 (I think); the Black Saturday fires of a couple of years ago; the Bali Bombings; the Indonesian Tsunami and, of course, 11/09/2001 - the day the World lost its innocence.

It might just be me but, isn't losing your innocence something you can only do once? And I would've thought that the day Australia lost its innocence would have been 26th January 1788; the day the First Fleet landed and started a massacre unrivalled in our time (Australia's time, not world time). Isn't losing your innocence like losing your virginity? Surely it can only be done once.

However, I've been proved wrong before and so it shall be again. Innocence can obviously be regained once a couple of years have passed and so innocence, like so many words before it, has lost all force and meaning.

In fact, just this morning I stubbed my toe after getting out of bed and it hurt so much that I declare today the day Tennyson lost his innocence.