The Mania For Speed

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 299, 30 September 1939, Page 7

The Mania For Speed

; TTUMAN beings are much like caught flies to-day, becoming more and more tangled in a great web from which they cannot free themselves. To change the metaphor a bit, their bodies have been catapulted ahead into a speed age, while their nervous systems ■and emotions drag along in the “leaden shoes” of the Stone Age. Will their bodies last long enough for their nervous systems to adjust to this age of speed? Can man live in the modern “civilised mad-house,” can he survive in the world he has built? With men I,ooo,OOOp'ears ahead of their nerves, what is . happening to the poor confused creatures to-day? Man has moved ahead so fast ■as regards material civilisation that he is far behind in his power of adaptation. Prophets are crying in the, wilderness, You must relax.” And people are responding, “How?” They are in a great web. “Let down; rest your nerves,” they are admonished on every hand. “Be calm, pay your oxygen debts; beware of acidosis; get more sleep.” And man replies: “They won’t let me alone; too much noise, rush, strain, worry—it’s getting me.” But the bombardment continues. One can imagine the average person saying: “My job is insecuure;. I’m behind in my rent; Susie has infected adenoids; Johnny needs glasses; I’m not saving anything for old age or sickness; the boss is constantly after me with Speed up! More sales, see more people, deliver the goods.’ But I must not worry, I must be calm. Relax, recreate!” So intricate is the web in which we are caught, so hopeless is our search for a way out, that many men give up the fight; they just “go to pieces.” Almost in one generation man has emerged from simplicity into complexity. For aeons he was accustomed to a simple diet. . Food usually was not abundant, and man worked hard for what he got. As a result, he seldom over-ate, and he got: plenty of exercise. He got long hours of sleep and the nights were quiet. Days had rhythm. Eyes focused on distant hills. But man to-day finds himself in a different setting. He is surrounded by “killers,” and they are; Worry, fear, hate, jealousy, rush and confusion. _ • Man is breaking under the strain of anxiety. A careful analysis of the causes - of many of the functional diseases of the heart, blood vessels and glands, of headaches, insomnia and of. stomach and intestinal ulcers,' removes t’..e screen, and we view nakedly worry, fear, strain, and all of the various types of over anxiety. These are the results of uncontrolled competition in living, complexities of city life, national and international insecurity, and of all of the other “blessings of the machine age.” The cause of many of our breakdowns is anxiety, not overwork. _ Overwork is the way in which man rationalises while he continues to overworry, overdrink, overeat, overrush and, quite incidentally, under-sleep. , , Worry kills; fear kills. They kill because man cannot worry, hate or feai with his brain alone. Worry, hate and fear involve the whole body. The reactions of nervous and emotional strain affect digestion, elimination, glandular action. Tiredness is Nature’s warning, and is not dangerous, but we do not heed it. The “speed age” turns fatigue into exhaustion. The oncoming of tiredness is

Threat To Mankind

Nature’s automatic cut-out on further activities. Our tendency is to “let down.” The relief comes primarily through sleep. In an eight to nine hour night of undisturbed sleep the body pays its debts arid the individual awakens refreshed for another day. Three dangerous phases of fatigue _ are readily recognised at the present time. They are associated with the speed age. One has been called “mental” fatigue, but it probably should be called small-muscle fatigue or lack-of-rhythm fatigue, It is the feeling we have after a very troublesome, bothersome day, with many adjustments to make, many problems to solve, and, probably, a day in which we have been sitting in chairs with no opportunity for a rhythmic programme. That type of fatigue is temporarily relieved by a change of activity, such as a game of tennis, a walk, an hour in the garden, a period in the workshop. Another phase of fatigue results from idleness and boredom. We see it in the engineless, rudderless individual who has no place to go and nothing interesting to do. It comes from a lack of something for which to wake up in the morning. Unmotivated people are tired in the morning before they have done anything. There is a lack of adrenaiisation which comes from interest, sparkle, joy and happiness. This kind of fatigue can be relieved by any kind of action which involves strenuous movement or by any other phase of application in which the individual can lose himself. This fatigue is a growing one in the modern world, and it results in many supposed mental and physical phobias. People think they are ill, when the only thing they need is a job. Emotional fatigue is the third on the list. It is the result of certain emotional shocks. These three phases of fatigue are the dangerous ones. As the individual approaches exhaustion, there is a tendency to keep going. Nothing seems-to satisfy except more speed. The body “burns itself out” in what is sometmes called “high nervous tension” or, in certain cases, “shell shock.” Tension cuts body efficiency, and quite incidentally seems to be closely associated with various forms of dissipation. Life is on a rhythmic basis. Muscles contract, power is released, then muscles relax, recovery takes place. It is an endless chain. We must pay our debts after every muscle stroke or we acquire a fatigue debt. If long continued, exhaustion is brought on, followed by cell destruction in some parts, and, finally, the result is body break-down. Even schools have been caught in the “hurry-up web.” Schools have surrendered to too great an extent to this speed age. Many school leaders have assumed that they can educate the mind apart from the body. Thus, children become the victims of this speed era. Faster and faster they are rushed through the grades. Accuracy is required and speed of acting that would test the nerves of a top sergeant. In typing and stenography classes, and even in music and physical education, the teacher or the mechanical device counts faster and faster. To what end? To appease the speed age, but with what detriment to the nervous system! The physicians, psychiatrists and administrators of mental hospitals and prisons are the ones who have to worry about the results.

rpHE materials: 6oz. of a golden yellow bathing dress wool, a small skein of green and a small skein of rust, 2 knitting needles no. 14, 1 crochet hook no. 11, and 5 stocking needles. The d^agranls: I. The front of the bathing suit. 11. The left front of the jacket. HI. The back of the jacket. IV. The sleeve of the jacket. V. The embroidery. VI. The knitting pattern. The knitting patterns: The dotted pattern: Cast on a number of stitches divisible by 8 plus 5 extra. Knit a sample of about 12 stitches to practice the pattern. Ist Tow: 5 plain + 2 purl, 6 plain, repeat from -f- to the end of the row. 2nd row: 1 plain, 4 purl, 1 plain, 2 purl, repeat to the last 6 stitches which should be knitted 1 plain, 4 purl. 3rd and 4th rows: Stocking stitch. sth row: 1 plain, 2 purl + 6 plain, 2 purl, repeat from -f- to the last 2 stitches which should be knitted plain. 6th row: 1 purl, -}- 1 plain, 2 purl, 1 plain, 4 purl, repeat from + to the last 4 stitches which should be knitted 1 plain, 2 purl, 1 plain. 7th and Bth rows: Stocking stitch. Plain knitting: Every row should be knitted plain. Stocking stitch: . 1 row plain, 1 row purl alternately. Instructions: The front of the bathing suit: Begin at the bottom, and cast on 17 stitches, knitting in the dotted pattern. When 4 rows have been knitted increase at each side of the work as follows: 1 stitch every 4th row twice. 1 stitch every 2nd row 5 times. 2 stitches every 2nd row once. 3 stitches every 2nd row 3 times. 4 stitches every 2nd row twice. After these increasings there should be 69 stitches. When the work measures in. knit 10 rows in single ribbing (1 plain, 1 purl). After the ribbing knit 3 stitches at each side in plain, and the other How, then, can man—and his children—extricate themselves from the vicious web? He must free himself through his group. The answer is basic to society. It does not rest in uncontrolled competition, survival of the fittest. Neither does the answer rest on a Communistic con-cept-equal guarantees to all. But it lies somewhere between these two extremes. Man needs to be rescued from the “goblins in the darkness”—sickness, unemployment, and dependent old age. Second, the day-night rhythm. The body must have its waking and sleeping rhythm. If you have a hard day tomorrow, get another hour of sleep tonight. It is the old adage of “rest before you get tired, not after.” Third emotion experience is necessary. Man needs emotional rhythm. After great emotional experiences—seeing a great play, hearing a great opera, viewing a beautiful sunset, experiencing anything whiq£i taps the main-springs of our being, we need time to think through the meaning. Men have done great creative work in prison or in exile because they had time to transplant emotional experiences into something tangible. Unless we can restore these rhythms, science does not hold a very optimistic picture for the future of man. It is worry, not work, which has created this modern “civilised madhouse.” Having something significant to do is an antidote to worry. Joy is an essential to life, particularly in childhood. It is not a plea for doing less, but for doing more and for doing it easier. It is a plea for harmonious conflict—a plea for individuals, on the one hand, to take control of their environment and give it direction, and, on the other hand, to relax amid confusion. It is a plea for man to enjoy the world he has created.