THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 44, 15 November 1941, Page 8

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections

“Our Father, in these hours of daylight we remember those who must wake that we may sleep; bless those who watch over us at night, the tiremen and police, the wardens, and all who carry on through the hours of darkness the restless commerce of men on land and sea. We thank Thee for their faithfulness and sense of duty; we pray Thee for pardon if our selfishness and luxury adds to their nightly toll. Grant that we may realize how dependent the safety of our loved ones and the comforts of life are on these our brothers, that so we may think of them with love and gratitude, and help to make their burdens lighter; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Never be afraid of doing little because you can’t do much. —E. M. Sewell.

“The spectacle of a brave nation rising against an overwhelming despotism would always speak to the heart from generation to generation.”—Dr. Motley.

“There are two phrases which are well on the wuy to destroying the United States. They are 'National Defence’ and ‘Aid to Britain.’ Defence has already become an abnormality in the modern world. Every single act in this war shows that people digging in to defend themselves are actually digging in to bury themselves. Aid to Britain is an equally abnormal and senseless phrase. If this is a war for civilization for the western world then it is a war in which we have to collaborate with Britain in winning. Any middle-ground position Is really just as bad as au Amerlcas-first position. An awful lot of these middle-ground stories are being told in our country today. Our people must be persuaded that this is a revolution against civilization. With Hitler’s New Order we do not go on. We go back where every civilization has gone which has been killed—to suffering and grieving and tilling the soil.’’—Mr. Herbert Agar, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a member of the Fight for Freedom Committee and a champion of the “Fight with Britain” policy.

“It would appear that those who have hitherto in India supported the Congress leaders to a great extent disapprove of the course which has been taken. That is evidenced by a remark able decline in the membership of the Congress Party. It appears that before the outbreak of the present war the Congress adherents numbered more than 4,500,000; in 1939-40 the number was fewer than 3,000,000, and in the present year it has fallen to 1,500,000', a loss of two-thirds of the membership. In the United Provinces, the part of India where Congress was strongest the membership has fallen from 1,472,000 to 259,000 at the present time. It may be that as the military danger comes nearer, as Japan, already in Indo-China, may extend the shadow of her hand over Thailand and Malay and Burma, and as Germany may carry further and further possibly, though I hope it may not be so, her intrigues and activities in Iran, then at last India may come to realize that the danger may affect herself, and that she should throw her energies whole-heartedly into the prosecution of the war.”— Viscount Samuel, speaking in the House of Lords.

“The approach to India through Burma would be an operation of tremendous difficulty, as anybody who cares to consult a big map can see for himself. No part of the world is more broken by great and treacherous waterways and mountain ranges. Burma was added to the Indian Empire from which it has since been divorced, by (approach from the sea. The possibility that Japan might seek that apparently easier route should not be overlooked. From Rangoon, once in possession of a hostile Power, the whole east coast of India might be assailed. The substantial fact in the East today, without considering the position in detail, is that Japan, by her present action, has brought her spearhead three thousand miles further West and has thrust it into an area that is dominated by American, Dutch and British possessions. These could all live harmoniously together in the past. They are now compelled to stand unitedly on guard. The strain of that situation would quickly be made unbearable if Japan moved further along her present lines of policy. In plain words the occupation of Thailand must provoke war.”—‘‘Great Britain and the East.”

“Germany could have won Europe in 1939 and united it into a continental empire with the consent of the overwhelming mass of its peoples of all nationalities had Germany been capable of two things: conquering England in that year and conciliating from the immediate exploitation of the conquered jteoples. And it might even have been possible without the first ingredient, for the ordinary common people of Europe were ripe for unification into one political system in the summer of 1939 as they have not been ripe for unity since the days of Charlemagne. It could have been done if Germany had not proved essentially German in its moment of triumph and the German army had not been only the weapon of Nazi economic and national imperialism. But in its moment of historic opportunity Germany did prove German and the German army did prove to be only an agency by which Nazism , was trying to bend the other nations of Europe into a scheme of domination which had for its objective the subordination of ‘lesser breeds’ to the material comfort of the German Volk. The opportunity was lost.”- —Mr. Joseph C. Harsch, Berlin correspondent of the ‘■Christian Science Monitor.”

To This Day. Look to this day, For it is life, the very life of life. In its brief course lie all the Varieties and realities of your exis-

tence : The bliss o£ growth, The glory of action. The splendour of beauty; For yesterday is but a dream, And tomorrow is only a vision, But today well lived makes Every yesterday a dream of happiness, And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day. Such is the salutation of the dawn. ■ —Sanskrit.