PURGE OF WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24421, 5 October 1940, Page 19

PURGE OF WAR

GAINS BY DISCIPLINE BRITISH FIND THEMSELVES HONOUR AND HARD WORK War is a great tragedy; and the pity arid horror of it have this quality of tragedy—that they purge the soul, writes Robert Hield in the Daily Telegraph. London. Who can doubt that the crdeal of the past months has cleansed the heart and mind of the British people of much perilous stuff and that we have gained in dignity, in sincerity and in stature under our afflictions? The British people have found themselves again. Much they have to blame themselves for; much even to be ashamed of; but the manner in which they are confronting the consequences of their faults redeems them from the world's reproaches and commands the world's respect. Fundamental Unity We have also found that, when the testing time comes, we are all one in faith and purpose,-and that the divisions of class and party are only on the surface, like the boundaries between parish and parish. That we -are members one of another has become no longer a phrase but a reality. "Gentle and simple" find they can pull together without constraint and listen to each other's point of view with good-humoured tolerance. The other day. in a railway carriage. I heard a man in dungarees spouting red-hot socialism, yet ending with the assurance. "Never mind; we're all pals as long as we are out together to down Hitler." That state of mind and heart also is a great gain. This fundamental unity has revealed itself far beyond these islands. It spreads to the utmost limits of the British Empire. Distance cannot weaken it. neither can many waters quench it. The skies may change, but not the British blood. Better Than Marshalled Hosts That instant and instinctive rally of all the Dominions, protectorates and colonies to a common flag is a portent more significant than marshalled hosts and mighty fleets. It means that this British Commonwealth of Nations is not a mere form which has survived its function, but a living, growing, organic entity, whose roots are struck deep in its nuttier earth, and nourished with the heart's blood of its people. That revelation is something which may sustain faith and courage even in the darkest hcur. Not less wholesome and fortifying is another lesson which we have had to learn in facing the ordeal, of this life-and-death struggle. It is the bitter lesson cf our own mistakes and shortcomings and of their potent part in bringing us to our present desperate pass. Past Complacency Our most dangerous enemies, like those of ancient Rome, have been in our own bosom. We have taken things too easilv: We have been tco complacent and self-indulgent, granting ourselves exemption from Ihe effort and sacrifice bv which alone our standards and ways of living could be justified. We have bemused ourselves with comfortable illusions. . . . Mr Willkie. the newly-adopted candidate o r Ihe Republican Party for the United States Presidency, has put the case verv forcibly. "The cir'se rf democracy to-day. he has said, " in the United States as well as in Eurooe. is that everyone has been trying to please the public. I will never seek 1o le?d neople down the soft way. I will tell the oeople. not about the national-grab-bag. but of the satisfaction that comes with work, service and achievement." Laborious Days We shall have learned in this war a discipline which we have always shrunk from. Plain living certainly, and clear thinking we may hope, will be our lot in the new world order. We shall have to scorn delights and live laborious days, like the man who has lived too well and has been ordered to go on a penitential diet - But we shall have kept our honour bright and we shall have been hardened physically as well as mcrally by the danger and daring and sacrifice of the ordeal.