The Dominion WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1939. PERSONAL REARMAMENT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 127, 22 February 1939, Page 8

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1939. PERSONAL REARMAMENT

Though it may be possible by such public campaigns as “Physical Fitness Week” or “Learn to Swim Week to q interest of citizens in the mass in community mov^ ents t £ general good, it is not unreasonable to wonder whether the J esult obtained have an inherent quality of permanence. The causes to be served may be wholly admirable, but unless some solid oasis is provided to enable the interest created to be capitalized and exploit , and the objectives systematically pursued public ardotii roused > the novelty of the event is apt to subside when the occasion has passed There is a tendency nowadays to consider a problem so when it has simply been discussed. The Physical Fitness Week, for example, amounts to no more than public assertion appropnately illustrated, of a worthy ideal for the New P eo J d ° e ward its attainment there remains a great deal to be and doi systematically. Involved in the effort is the problem of p soal re armament. This has various aspects which are no more than nnp in the oath of physical fitness publicly recited at the Basin Reserve in Wellington last Saturday: I nromise to do my best to lead a healthy life, to participate in health? outdoor activities, and to do all in my power to help to niisTthe standard of health and character in the Dominion of New Zealand. The broad aim is a high standard of general health for the New Zealand people. This will not be attained simply by devotion to field sports or other outdoor activities, but by maintaining, a stable equilibrium of bodily, mental and spiritual health. Physical fitness depends as much upon the character and habits of the individual as upon proper exercise. We were reminded by Canon Davies in an address at St Paul’s Pro-Cathedral on Sunday that the care of the bodyis “a moral and spiritual responsibility.’ Bodily health cannot be dis sociated from mental and moral well-being. These things aie complementary. People who live naturally and healthily have little need to thin about their health. Good health is, or should be, a natural and. normal condition. Aches and other symptoms of discomfort or disability are Nature’s warning signals that something is wrong, and needs attention. It is the function of the medical man to interpret these signs and indicate the course to health. But it is also becoming increasingly his function, by applying the axiom that prevention is better than cure, to keep people from getting ill at all. Prevention of disease said Dr. Marfin Tweed-in an interview yesterday, is both easier and more economic than cure, but it is only possible to do this by periodic examination. Unless, however, this duty is regarded in a sensible spirit there is always a danger that people may develop a tendency to think too much about their bodies. Neither in body nor in mind is the hypochondriac a healthy subject. After all, it is in the right kind of education during the receptive and plastic period of youth that healthy ways of living—physically, mentally and morally—can best be implanted. Part of the task that lies ahead, therefore, must be laid upon the schools. hat comes after should be simply the continuation of a mode of life planned out and inculcated in youth by the co-ordinated influences of the school and the home. The result should be a nation of clean-living and clean-thinking citizens. All these points are implied in the oath ot physical fitness, but unless they receive full and proper emphasis and systematic treatment the campaign may lose much of its effect, and fail largely of its purpose.