NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22878, 5 November 1937, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

DOMINATION OF AGE All too often the older generation is guilty of the sin of domination, asserts ATiss Charlotte Bronneman in Advance. How many young people hold positions of service in your church? You say tliev could if they wished to? 1 wonder. Those older people who have been accustomed to running the Church for years, and who have so often formed ruts out of which the.v will not step, will not graciously step back to allow youth to take their cherished places. The oldsters atv capable and are doing excellent work, it is true, but what of to-morrow? The.v wish the younger generation to do as well or better than they did, and yet they refuse youth the chance to learn under supervision. Ihey never provide a place of service where tho youth may show their ability and gain a senso of ownership in tho Church. Yet they resent youth's inattention to Church attendance. POETRY'S SOVEREIGNTY Tho human soul is always swayed in the, end by music, whether it ismado out of tho gut of a cat by a man called Kreisler, or whether it is jotted down on a piece of paper by a man called Shakespeare, or whether it is pumped out of an accordion in a slum by a mau called Smith, writes Mi. A. G, Maedonald in his book "My Scotland." For some obscure reason, or it I might be called some divine reason i —there is, perhaps, small difference between obscurity and divinity the common people, and especially the men, are profoundly moved by music. And so the politician must either shoot the poet or be defeated in the end by the mass of the common people who have listened to the poet. .1 lie moment that politics are arrayed against poetry, tho decision lies between tho bullet and the sonnet. And the moment that the bullet misses the sonnet must win. GREATNESS IS SPIRITUAL No one actuated merely by selfish motives has built a lasting monument in the hearts of men. Why? asks Mr. Albert F. Gilmore, writing in tho Chris•tian Science Monitor. Because however great one's accomplishments in the material realm, only those whose lives have been the expression of a lofty aspiration have reached the highest goal. No Croesus, accumulating things termed wealth for its own sake, has over won lasting gratitude, has ever become truly great. No one who ever fought his way to the front ranks as ruler of a people merely to satisfy his selfish ambition has reached the goal of nobility. None who has merely fed the fire of his own desires, regardless of the well-being of his fellows, ever has or ever can reach that mountain peak illumined by the light of true greatness. Why ? Because greatness is spiritual. It comes only to the individual whose aspirations have been purified by light, the light that shines only for the true servant to humanity, who sees as his liigli duty, his priceless privilege, service to God through service to mankind. BALANCED LIFE RHYTHM In the foreword to the British official publication for youths and men, "Recreation and Physical Fitness," Sir Arthur MacNalty, tho chief medical officer of the Board of Education, says: Tho timo is opportuno for an appeal to youth to make the best of itself by the development of body, mind, and character. Training of this kind demands keen and conscious effort, and it is one of the most valuable features of such a sport, for example, as boxing that it requires fitness, selfcontrol and courage. It is for tho leaders of youth to appeal to tho young men around them to tako a pride in becoming physically fit. At tho same time ono part of tho body should never be developed at tho expense of another; and tho body should never be developed at the expense of mind and spirit. The Greek ideal was a balanced rhythm of life, a golden mean, and excess, whether of study or gymnastics, is disharmony and to bo avoided. The spirit of a boy is often finer than his physique, and unless care is taken that his exercises aro graduated according to his strength he may, even though his training is entirely voluntary, over-exert his physical powers. NEW DEAL FOR GERMANY In order to distract attention from their economic hardships, Hcrr Hitler provides tho Gorman people with entertainments at homo and sensations abroad, writes tho secretary of tho League of Nations Union in the union's journal, Headway. Until their poverty is replaced by plenty, his foreign policy must remain adventurous. Such a policy is a danger to peace. But it might bo altered and war averted if Hcrr Hitler saw tho chance of a new deal which would end Germany's economic distress, restoro her political "equality" and provide a process of peaceful change, whereby German unity and German greatness might bo fostered with duo regard to tho independence and tho legitimate aspirations of other peoples. Thero is nothing inherently impossible about such a new deal. But it must bo a general settleincut between Germany and the rest of Eurftpe, a settlement in which tho United States should bo invited to join, so that German unity may become part of a larger unity T tending to become world-wide. It must provide for Germany's return to tho League of Nations, for her co-operation in making a reality of collective security no less than in removing national grievances by .peaceful change, and for tho reduction of her amaments equally with tlioso of other nations to however low a level will suffice for tho uses sanctioned by the League's Covenant. And, sinco Hcrr Hitler is convinced that England alone can give him what lie regards as essential, tho new deal must be reached through a preliminary understanding between Britain and Germany. When once Herr Hitler is assured that Britain is prepared for some such developments as renewed financial assistance to Germany, freer markets for German (among other) goods, and greater equality of opportunity for Germans (among others) in non-self-governing colonies, as well as* Ihe separation of the Covenant from the Treaty of Versailles \ already advocated by the Imperial Conference, ho will cease to assume that international discussions on these topics will lead nowhere.