FALSE VALUES

Hawera Star, Volume L, 1 December 1930, Page 9

FALSE VALUES

FALLACY OF MODERN WORLD CRITICISMS AND COMPARISONS OUR APPEPECIATION OF WORKERS. “An age of false values” was the title of the sermon delivered by Rev. E. S. Emmitt at the Hawera .Methodist Church last evening, when lie criticised the appreciation and comparative values of various services, and the values which the modern world places on its workers. “It will be noted that the text and the form of the questions are as timely co-dav as they were when first asked,’ said "the speaker. “Do wo honour most the men who freely yield then best in the service of their fellows?Yes, but as a rule they are dead, or when someone discovers them m their retreat, and then sometimes they are in poverty. A glance at the civil list discovers this at times. Hus is not said either cynically or sarcastically, but it does provoke the question, "where are the true values in life and how should we regard them! After all. life is a big question mark; L don’t know whether this age is worse than others, and i do not know whether we do it a service by merely denouncing the evils or questioning the values of our young folks. It would appear that we forget our own attitude towards life in our late teens or earlv .twenties, but somehow it does seem that this is an of false values in the main. A business man in this town, who can be referred to not disrespectfully- as a man or the world, declared not long ago that men could pay £1 for a boxing match and put 3d in the cliurcli plate. Some people do . believe in sport and are prepared to pay for it, yet there aie manv people in the churches who appear to believe in the church, and all that it stands or. yet the extent or their weekly giving, in many cases is a. good deal less than they pay for ordinary pleasures, for which they get a certain amount of value ior then money.

“In conversation with another businessman I found that- the usual canaid that crops uo periodically concerning missionaries living in luxury and ease had appeared in some papers a little while ago. We are familiar with this, and every four or five yeans it seems to cron im. My reply to that sort of thino- is that it is totally wrong and is borne out by personal knowledge. How manv of "us know, for instance, that Dr. Ted Sayers and Dr. James, ■of the Solomon Islands, men of undoubted and recognised ability in their profession, especially in relation to tropical diseases, are working away under very limited conditions and doing very valuable work on what would be” considered a pittance for a skilled artisan in this country. How is that for a sense of values; and it is known that Dr. Sayers was offered a Government uost at a salary of at least four fi mires'. Other instances could be given. What of the X-ray martyrs and other research workers who have laid us under a debt of gratitude and whose remunerations have heen meagre —not that they have complained? ~ ‘‘Here are some startling statistics given by a writer in the ‘Sunday News,’ ” proceeded the speaker. “ ‘The £12,009 paid to the victor of the victor of the Scott-Sharkey fight for a comparatively brief appearance in the prize ring illustrates the utterly false values which' the modern world places on its workers. The man who as Prime Minister shoulders the cares of an Empire and lias to find a solution of the most difficult problems confronting the human mind is paid £5,000 per year, out of which lie musi pay large sums to maintain the dignity of his oil ice. Sharkey received about £I3OO a minute; a leading statesman’s salary works out at gtl. Of course, we cannot value the brains of those who strive to bring to being peace, order and good government tithe £ sterling; it would be futile to try; but it does point to the glaring inequality of false values in tins age. You do not need to be a Bolshevik, or even a Socialist, to realise that there is something wrong with our social economy that pays £30,01)0 a year to a comedian and the same sum to the entire staff of a coal mine who daily flirt with death to keep the home fires burning. Is the film star of Hollywood as valuable to the community as those employed on scores of big farms who keep a town fed by their united efforts? Yet the reward is the same. There is a fatuous lack of that most priceless of gifts—perspective.’

“We appear to have lost all sense ot proportion in values in the type of suggestive literature that commands such a ready sale,’’ added Mr. Emmitt, “YVliy does’ the Press give us such a proportion of the purely sensational, say happenings in Australia? Surely there is something of greater •value in public nows. Livingstone could have commanded success in different fields from those in which lie laboured, yet he deliberately limited himself for Christ and the negroes of Africa. Dr. Grenfell, of Labrador, renders a service out of all proportion to that of monetary values. The fact is, there is real danger of thinking too much in terms of escaping work, labour, especially if it does not pa\ well. The character of the work would appear to be a secondary considera11ion. In the midst of our craze for the good things of life occasionally there are some few who, from slieei boredom, escape their pleasures to prove themselves in work. After all, there are a few things higher than cash values. It may he that " 6 shall realise ere long that the word ‘gentleman’ is more in harmony with the word ‘gentle’-man in all senses of the word rather than the current meaning of a man of leisure, means, and opp-oi-tunities for abundant pleasure. I invite you to think of the world’s greatest gentleman, who thought in terms of service, and people accepted the service, but would not follow his lead. I suggest that we think of the Apostle Paul, whose fiery .spirit and genius as a Jewish Rabbi finally issued m a service that death alone crowned, and who wr-ote that incomparable 13—First Corinthians, which closes with the unforgettable words; ‘Now abideth faith, hope and love.’ “A pleasure loving and time serving age. such as the one in which Jesus lived, could find no greater value for His services than by hanging Him on a cross between two thieves. In the language of the Book ol Job ve ask astaTn : ‘Does a man fear God for naught’ ? —an old. but ever recurring question which Jesus himself asked when lie said: AY hat shall a man give in exchange for his soul.-'’ AY here, after all, is our sense of values in those days?” concluded the speaker.