A SERENE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1933, Page 7

A SERENE PEOPLE

GIVING AND NOT TAKING

NEW ASSESSMENT OF VALUES.

EAST COAST RE-VISITED.

At the New Plymouth Rotary Club’s luncheon on Monday, the District Governor (Rotarian T. C. List) referred to his recent visit to the East Coast clubs, and remarked that as a result of their experiences over the past three or four years he had found amongst the Rotarians and the people generally a psychology and a reaction to their terrible experiences that was exceedingly interesting and impressive. In his monthly letter to the Rotaryclubs of the Dominion just issued the District Governor refers in more detail to this condition and the consequent reassessment of values.

“For the past fortnight I have been engaged in visiting the North Island East Coast Clubs,” he says. “It has been an interesting, enlightening and inspiring experience. All in this country know what these clubs and communities have gone through during the past three or four years. A district almost whollydevoted to sheep farming, the East Coast was peculiarly affected by the collapse of the wool market and the low prices of lamb and mutton. Then came the drought, which continued for almost three years. Consequently things were as difficult as they could well be when the earthquake catastrophe occurred that with the resulting fire practically wiped out the town of Napier and much of the business section of Hastings, whilst, Gisborne and contiguous districts also suffered severely. The physical damage was considerable, but it was as nothing compared with the loss of life and the injuries sustained by hundreds of men, women and children. A CHEERFUL PEOPLE. “It might be thought that , these three terrible visitations and experiences would have taken all the light and hope out of the people. But this is not so. .On the contrary, the reactions and attitude of the'people of these districts to life and its realities form a study in human psychology that is particularly interesting and significant. “First of all, the people as a whole seem very grateful that their own lives were saved in the terrible cataclysm that took off and injured and crippled so many who were near and dear to them. They do not count their material losses—and many of them lost almost everything they possessed in the world. What they do prize more than anything else is the spirit of abnegation exhibited by their stricken fellows and the sympathy, kindness and practical assistance shown them by the people of the rest of the Dominion in the hour of their travail. NEW ASSESSMENT OF VALUES. “To-day they gee things and assess values from a different perspective. They realise as they have never realised before that material things have only a transient value or importance—that what possessions they have to-day may be taken from them to-morrow; and they freely acknowledge that they, like so many other people in the Dominion, had previously placed altogether too much Importance upon material success, possessions and advantages to the exclusion, or at least to the subordination, of the better or higher and unseen things of life such as human contacts and friendships, the simple virtues and the eternal ven“That conviction is uppermost in their minds to-day. Accordingly the people have reoriented their minds to the affairs of the world and to their own positions. They are not wildly enthusiastic over the recent doubling of wool • prices, the improvement in meat prices, and the wonderful growing season they are experiencing. Before the earthquake they might have exceedingly rejoiced. Today, after all they have passed through, they apply a different, a more searching and a more accurate measure of things material. They are not unmindful of these gifts and benefits; but they are more grateful for being alive and for the capacity to retain and strengthen the bonds of friendship and to appreciate all that life holds dear. In short, life to them has to-day a different meaning from what it had before February, 1931, and they are designating things in their right order, first things being placed first, AN INSPIRING OUTLOOK.' /. “Their serenity of spirit and detachment of outlook are wonderfully inspiring, as are their manifestations of unselfish co-operation for the common good. One can almost claim that the Rotary spirit contained in the slogans of service before self’ and ‘he profits most who serves best’ are, dominating the personal and community life of the afflicted areas. Consequently, you do not find any of the disputation and the contention that characterised the life of the districts in the past, and which even now affect communities in other parts of the country. All are striving to give and not to take, and it is therefore not surprising to find to-day that the towns of Napier, Hastings and Gisborne are, after the short space of three years, re-built or renewed or repaired, and are carrying on their normal activities. “Napier, of course, was the hardest nit of the three towns. What the earthquake calamity failed to do tire succeeding fire completed, the whole of the business section and not a little of the residential area being left a mass of blackened ana pulverised ruins. Devastation was everywhere, yet in less than three years the people of Napier, with unconquerable faith and confidence in themselves no less than in the future, have rebuilt their town on improved and modern lines, and have, re-established their businesses and practises. In short, they are now carrying on as usual. Their achievement is an epic in the history and development of the Dominion, and an inspiration for other and more favoured communities. THE SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP. “Great, however, as these accomplishments have been they are of lesser importance than the spirit that Pervades the community—the spirit of friendship, kindliness, understanding and fo-opera-tion. AH . seem to be animated by this spirit, and the rush and tear, the desire for gain and aggrandisement that seem to be distinguishing characteristics ot modern commercial life are absent—-one hopes permanently. “To-day Napier, Hastings and Gisborne are by far the happiest towns in the Dominion. No longer are they concerned with the mundane things and the mater--ial problems of life. Their recent calamitous- experiences have forcibly., brought home to them a recognition ot truer values, and their minds are accordingly attuned to the higher and better things of life. And they are obtaining, a new interest and experiencing a new joy—that which is derivable from a sense of doing their best for their fellows and their communities. They are practising and expressing themselves in all that Rotary stands for, in many cases doing so unconsciously-” <