IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 150, 27 June 1934, Page 6

IN THE PUBLIC MIND.

LIFE OR SECURITY?

PEACE AND FEAR.

(To the Editor.)

In Tuesday's leading article you show that although the nations desire peace, yet they resolutely demand security first. That, to me, is the whole problem of peace and war in brief. The desire for security is ever the result of fear. Fear breeds suspicion and hatred, and inevitably leads to strife in selfdefence. Nations as nations, however, must always seek security, since they are the expression of the division of mankind against mankind for the purpose of security—security of life, of possessions, of institutions. Therefore their very foundation is of fear. So that conferences and leagues and pacts are foredoomed to failure no matter how sincere the participants therein. It is only as individuals that men can be free of such failure. They can do this when, having life, they seek not security; when, as individuals, they prefer to accept responsibility rather than wait for leadership. Think of men whose lives have been most rich in good works for all humanity —how they have despised securitv! FIONNLAI.