TEN YEARS HENCE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 132, 23 July 1941, Page 4

TEN YEARS HENCE

UNCERTAINTY, vagueness of outlook, war prospects; all these weigh on us as we take up pen with the idea of writing to-day's leading article. There is a lull in local questions though the offing seems fair enough, what with election possibilities, Boys' Band controversies, Road Access and the new Post Office! Let us adopt the optimistic, and therefore the healthier outlook. I«it us visualise ourselves, and our town ten years hence. It's not a bad idea to try and penetrate the oblivion which shrouds: 1951. One thing is certain — in 1951 there will be twto classes of men in this town, in this district. The first will .be saying 'I've done what I set out to do and got what I wanted in spite of the war'! The others will be saying "I wish I had those ten years back as J've m|a.de no headway." Anyone who is not inert can decide to-day to become a member of class 1. He. can begin right now to shape his purpose and make a plan for the next ten years. He will draw pleasure and anticipation from watching his schemes grow, his business develop, his farm grow more and more productive. He may fail, but tha,t is all in the game, and the experience will be invaluable to him. Better to have tried and lost than never to have tried, at all-Twenty-two centuries ago Aristotle classified the thoughts .of mankind. They belonged to three classes, he said,; those of the young men who lock up and to the future; those of t!he middle-aged who looked straight ahead, with their thoughts on the present; and those of the aged who looked downward with dreams of the past. It is better far, to take the middle: course and grapple with the problems of the moment with a view to bringing them to successful fruition, than to dream of them in the future, or to gaze forlornly back on them in the past. Zest, is the keynote of the successful present; it makes toil a pleasure and the hours fly. Application to one's own personal plan in business, in trade, in labour, in the home,, on the farm, in the classroom is all that is needed to make life worth while. Any man or woman with self-control can compel himself or herself to look upon the bright side of things. He can resist the influence of depressing thoughts, and to-day we need, to keep the inner fires burning. We must keep up and' increase our zest for it is an invaluable asset at the present time. So in passing let us look ten years ahead, and in spite of everything that is likely to eventuate, carry.on with the personal plan of progress we have mentally constructed. In that way we will be doing our duty to ourselves, to our families and to our fellowmen.