The Northern Advocate “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1943. What Are We Fighting For?

Northern Advocate, 9 April 1943, Page 2

The Northern Advocate “NORTHLAND FIRST” Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 1943. What Are We Fighting For?

MANY war books and pictures have been produced since the outbreak of the world conflagration. They have had considerable vogue, mainly by reason of the fact that they dealt with the sensational aspect of war as it affects all sorts and conditions of people in all sorts and conditions of places and circumstances.

Flag-waving and effusive declarations of jloyalty have figured in the majority of the books and pictures that have achieved popularity. That is not to be wondered at, for it is unfortunately true that veneer is frequently preferred to the less attractive but more essential foundation upon which is superimposed the spectacular but often spurious surface of things. It is to be taken as a sign of awakening appreciation of fundamentals, as applied to the war, that a film which makes no attempt to provide the sensation or the ultra-sentimentalism which often passes for depth of human feeling, should have made an extraordinary appeal to people throughout the United Nations? We hope this may be the true interpretation of an arresting fact. Far as the poles from the methods of the recruiting sergeant or the preacher who draws obvious morals, the story unfolded in the picture invariably produces that silence and intensity of thought which bespeak the teaching of a great lesson. What are we fighting for? This question has been heard often in a quiet village in England. The answer is provided by the vicar on the morning after German bombers have unloaded death and destruction upon the small community. He draws his congregation’s attention to those who, a few hours previously, were loved and respected in the village and who, in their own way, were helping the nation’s war effort.

“Wc in this quiet corner of England have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us. The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There is scarcely a household that has not been struck to the heart. And why? I twill tell you. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform; it is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the houses, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man. woman and child who loves freedom. This is the people’s war. It is our war. Fight it then, and may God defend the right!”

The vicar’s words might have been addressed to communities in almost every quarter of the globe. We* in this favoured part of New Zealand, in common with the Dominion as a whole, have been spared the barbarity of bombing raids, and have not seen loved ones mutilated or killed, as has been the experience of other peoples in other lands, but the war has nevertheless brought sorrow and bereavement to a great many New Zealand homes. It is not necessary to go further than Whangarei to realise the truth of this. Gallant lads who wore the King’s uniform—as airmen, as soldiers or as sailors—have made the supreme sacrifice, bringing sorrow mixed with pride to homes and loved ones. It is the duty of everybody, to the utmost of ability, to see that this sacrifice has not been made in vain. In the language of the vicar, “we must not forget those who have given their lives. Instead, they should inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after u.s from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. It is our war.”

Apart from the overthrowing of the aggressors who would put free peoples in chains, the sacrifice made by those who have lost their lives in the war calls for the dedication of individuals and communities alike to work with all their strength for the removal of things which are a blot on civilisation, and which, if allowed to continue, will provide seed for a dread harvest to be reaped by another generation. Apparently this thought is moving the minds of men and women who, even if they are unable to bear arms on battlefields, have incalculable capacity to influence thought, which inevitably leads to action. And action must be based on desire to build a new Jerusalem,. not in' England’s pleasant land alone, but throughout the whole world.