THE UNSETTLED QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE UNSETTLED QUESTION.

AND THE THREE-CORNERED KISS. > ' BY EDS'A GRAHAM MACKY. Many animated discussions take placo Sn our liousehold over such subjects as ?' Conscription," Labour and Capital; F ro c Trade," " Government Ownership," " War" and kindred subjects, which always arouse a certain amount of e.\citeinent and debate. The partisans consider themselves fairly able, and so equally have they been matched that nothing is e\er defmitelv settled. There remains ever a perennial fund of controversial matter to lie dealt with later. / . Intellectual sparks have been flying recently over the question Is the \\olicl crowing better?" My good man takes his stand on the grounds of prophecy, maintaining that we are in the last days ' and the the world is growing decidedly worse all the time. lie contends that human nature in general is much the same as it always was away back m Bible history, selfish and weak, and that no improvement has been made in our morals. .lust to keep up the argument, I take the opposite side_ and point out the' numerous humanitarian institutions ..and organisations we have developed.. 1 draw his attention to the belter living conditions we have achieved. I remind him of the davs when little-children went to the mine" and --factor*," and were sweated and ill-treated without a qualm on the part of so-called respectable, citizens.- I quote the marked improvement in our ideas governing the treatment of -.prisoners, the sick and _ the insane. I name The League of Nations, The Kellogg -Peace Pact., and sundry other projects, which indicate an ad-, yancement in altruistic- principles.Mv opponent comes forward witn J-ne crushing evidence of man s destructi\e inventions —air bombs, torpedoes, poison Was. Hi> points out that with all our boasted industrial benefits, the_-people are becoming less and less happy and contented. To support tins, strides and • bitter political quarrels are cited. Un lop of .this, my attention is directed to the floods, earthquakes' and other _ terrestrial disasters, to have been experiencing I can onlv think of Noah s flood and the last days of Pompeii, to offset the indictmerit! When we have reached this stage,' our little'daughter 'thinks if her duty to step Sn and end the controversy. We assure her that we are not quarrelling, that we are dealing with impersonal-and abstract, subjects, which do not concern ns individually. But she is a born peacemaker and cannot bear even the sound of an argument. " Now, Daddv, jou go and kiss Mummy and say you 11 give in: Mummv, you go and kiss Daddy, and say you give in, too!" When this suggestion is not met with alacrity, oar wee one brings out her triumph of diplomacy, her sure solution of all arguments and contentions, a, means of reconciliation she has invented for obviating any, loss of pride or independence of thought on either side—the three-cornered kiss. This is how it is done: We all three put our heads together and kiss at tho same time We haven't settled the question yet, •whether the world is getting better or worse, or whether it is possible to change human nature, but being a woman, 1 must have the last word. If we really did not believe in the progress of mankind and the betterment of human nature, wo would dispose of schools and churches altogether. \Ve would lose all initiative and hope for we would not consider lile ■worth living. Indeed, if wo thought tho world was steadily getting worse we would have no right, to bring . children into it. lam inclined to believe with., a learned friend, who has made a long study of psychology, that human nature has an average of 45 percent, scl.ishness nnd 55 pet cent altruism, and that it is on this small margin of 10 per cent, hiat tho hope fif humanity rests. It is on this nairovv margin that we are able to go foi-T-ard very slowly, it is true, but yet enrely, to thai, perfect state of existence ■which the saints have dreamed about and seers li«iv6 vjsioiigJ, known as Jhe Brotherhood of Man. Compromise and co-operation will be tho kev notes of tiucce'ss iri this new order of life, so our little one's idea of a three-cornered kiss may be of extreme significance aftei »J1