Comradeship and Fellowship

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3392, 24 December 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

Comradeship and Fellowship

KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH FRIENDS MAKES S SOCIETY. I

! No matter where we turn the vital lesson is taughtof j what inter-communication means to mankind. Keeping j in touch with each other —and this applies to individuals j as well as to states and nationalities, is the surest f ounda- j tion of better understandings. For touch means sym- j pathy, and that, after all, is the mainspring of comrade- j ship and fellowship. !

The planets never lose touch. The law of .gravity sees to that. An unbreakable chain unites moon and tides. In the organic realm there is constant communication between root, trunk, branch, and twig. Man is the only animal who has the faculty of consciously getting out of touch with his kind. The organisation of his body provides him with an analogy which should warn him of social danger. Everything in his make-up is part of a system, and if any organ slips out of health the others feel the effects, g&'is it with social life. How easy it is for.a man to get out of touch with friends. He merely stops visiting or writing or telephoning. Touch means and sympathy, or what is called comradeship and fellowship. It is easy to drift. One simply does notiling. In an age like ours it should be easier than at any previous period in history to keep in touch. Communication is cheap, regular, frequent, and reliable. The marvel is that anybody ever gets out of touch with anybody in his circle. There is no excuse. The only explanation is that our intentions are good, and we stop there. We do mean sincerely to visit or to write, have a round of golf, or a holiday together; but something inter venes. The lines of communication are cut and the results are melancholy. Frequently during the war a section of the front line has burst upon the enemy with such enthusiasm and force as to go beyond the objective aimed at, and leave the other sections more or. less behind. Part of the attacking force was thus left hanging in the air and exposed to grave danger. They were out of touch. An army is a great machine, in which every wheel must be responsive to the will of the man in charge. Con-

section "and co-operation must be abJsolute. The smallest wheel cannot ■ "leven be imagined as acting on its own initiative. It is compelled by outside directive force to keep its place and

remain where it can never lose touch. In social life no man is a mere bit of machinery. His perilous dowry of freedom makes it possible for him to maintain his friendships or by neglect send them adrift to meet shipwreck on a rocky coast.

In a wider field it is found necessary for men of different groups to keep touch internationally. The recognition of this truth is general. Political missions are sent abroad with a view to creating or strengthening friendship. The ambassadorial idea is supplemented and its best features emphasised. It used to be said cynically that an ambassador was a person sent abroad to lie for his country. That failing accusation could not be directed to an official mission, for if means conference, frankness, and some approach to laying the cards on the table. The purpose has been announced beforehand, and the end aimed at is a better understanding and more amicable arrangement with a view to mutual benefit. It is said tJu# King Edward VII. earned the name of Peacemaker by his judicious visits to various European capitals. a*d that the Prince of Wales by his

exceptional charm and tact is the most successful business man both in the Empire and among its neighbours. The art of keeping in touch is worth universal cultivation. If men would get together more frequently the peace of the world would be more rarely broken. If certain nations had accepted Sir Edward Grey's invitation to send representatives to London in July, 1914, to talk over their differences millions of lives might have been saved. Keeping touch is a guarantee of peace. Among individuals the same law reigns. Even a Christmas card warms the heart. " Auld Lang Syne " owes its mystical power to its being sung in company and rousing the sentiment of friendship as no other lyric in English (or Scots) could ever do. While mentioning the days that are past the poet raises before the memory visions of happy childhood and "youth, and that is never done without bringing men into vital touch and strengthening immeasurably the feeling of good will.

There is no department of life that does not necessitate the maintenance Of frequent communication. Business men know that no customer must be neglected. Private friendships must be kept in good repair; public duties must be attended to. Even if a Suburban Soul in the great City of Humanity travels only a few main roads, some of these must be to the houses of his friends. Larger causes claim his help, and he feels he cannot let the world swing along its own course. He must keep in touch with charities and public affairs. The Greek " idiot' 'who lived His own life and took no part in measures aimed at the common good is not without his modern representatives. A hermit is not a man who enjoys the esteem of his fellows. He sins against the social, if unwritten, law of duties to one's neighbours. Not without immeasurable loss can he smother the gregarian instinct. He owes far more to society than he can ever repay. He should keep in touch for everybody's sake, but particularly for his own. He should escape not from the community but from himself. One of the novelties happily introduced into the young life of our Dominion is the idea of getting lads of all grades of education to camp together periodically. Kipling has a fine saying about " Interdependence, absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed." Poor, sensitive Amiel felt himself depersonalised, detached, cut adrift, and that he could defend himself only by returning to the common life of men. Games, clubs, churches, and all means of bringing men together are absolutely essential to a complete life. Oliver Wendell Holmes, though not a religious partisan, declared himself a regular churchgoer. His main reason was that "in the corner of his heart was a plant called reverence, which wanted to be watered about once a week." Even ministers of religion have been known to get out of touch with their people by becoming " invisible all the week and incomprehensible on Sunday." Religion itself is just keeping in touch with the Eternities.