A DAILY MESSAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1929, Page 1

A DAILY MESSAGE

COURAGE!

Coi'itAOK. How glibly we speak of it. How much do wo know of iff Mow few of ns have it. Yet courage is the one quality which great men share, just as fear is “ the quality ” shared by small men. To smile, to sing, while waiting for death in the pitiless Antarctic ns Scott and his companions did. To walk out into the snow, to lose himselif, in order to make the death of his already doomed companions easier by one less to draw upon the fastdiminishing store of food, as Captain Oates did. To allow themselves calmly to lit l bitten bv infected mosquitoes to prove the theory of the transmission of yellow fever, and to take tin' keenest interest. in the progress of tin* infection themselves, as eight heroic men did. To write words of good cheer to his fellowmen, encouraging them to make the best of life, when his own sands* v.ere fast running out, as Twells Brex did! Cheerfully to take up residence wi<"t Ibe lepers, at .Molokai, in order to minister to them, as Father Damien did. To laugh when facing one of the greatest risks in the world’s history of great adventure, as Shackleton did. T 0 risk life and face death in one of its most terrifying forms, to save a mate, as the young Australian. Stanley Gibbs, did. This is courage! How would you and I measure up to these superb standards!-* __M. PRESTON STANLEY.