The Call to Citizenship

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3183, 28 May 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Call to Citizenship

The poet Burns once came upon a crowd by the side of a canal, and discovered a hot dispute in progress between two men. On inquiring the cause, he had the reply given: “ I saved this man from drowning, and he offers me sixpence.” The reply of Burns was characteristic: “Well, the man’s the best judge of the value of his life.” The saying is worth pondering by all of us. We owe a debt to what is called civilisation. How is the amount to be determined ? If we were junior members of a debating society or paltry-minded citizens we might be tempted to embark upon interminable discussions as to what we mean by civilisation, and whether, after all, we are better off than savages clothed in sunshine and living on cocoanuts. Being sensible people we Avave aside all questions of “ nicely calculated less or more,” and frankly own that we are in debt to that social system under which Ave enjoy a reasonable security for life and prosperity. Up to this point most of us have escaped having our throat cut. and the great majority have not even been burglarised. Somewhat hastily, and it may be even jauntily, Ave say that Ave pay our amenities Avhenever in obedience to authority Ave hand over increasing sums of money in the shape of rates and taxes. Some of us feel as if Ave should like to be alloAved to keep the taxes and pass over the remainder to the authorities. A learned Avriter on Greek culture says: “ Civilisation, a much-abused Avord, stands for a high matter apart from telephones and electric lights. It is a matter of Imponderables, of delight in the things of the mind, of love of beauty, of honour, grace, courtesy, delicate feeling.” Hoav can we discharge our obligation for the service of science to health and longeAnty, for the groAvth and triumph of the spirit of freedom and justice, for the universal diffusion of pity and sympathy for the poor, the unfortunate, and the diseased ? The bills AA'h.ich could be submitted by civilsation could not be decoded into pounds, shillings, and pence. If Ave oAve nothing to posterity our debt to the past and the present is incalculable, and avc should be dastards if Ave did not hand on to succeeding generations something of the legacy bequeathed to ourselves.

In some departments of life the sense of social responsibility is already awakened and showing a considerable degree of vigour. In the family we are admirable fathers and mothers, in business we are trustworthy whether as employers or employees, or rectitude is impeccable, our social charm undeniable, yet many of us have no sense of responsibility to society. We are lacking in civic consciousness, in national consciousness, in Empire consciousness, and in world consciousness. We have not yet learned to think in continents. Family, commerce, club, and church claim and receive our homage, but each of these is a group, and all of them together a totality of groups within an almost unlimited universe to which we belong. We are members of a family, but we forget we are also members of a community, of a nation, of an Empire, of a race, and of the Kingdom of God. A famous painter visited the studio of a pupil in his absence,, and wrote in chalk beneath the picture on the easel a word which meant “ Larger.” The work was to be done on a more worthy scale. Most of us need a similar challenge. There are little New Zealanders as well as little Englanders. We devote ourselves to the inner circles of group life, but forget Emerson’s summons to look over the hedge. The great world lies mostly there. When men began to study the stars they were able to voyage across vast oceans instead of timidly hugging the shore. The wider horizon meant knowledge, enrichment, progress, and better skill in mastery over the elemental forces of Nature. Sound national spirit does not make a man less useful in more restricted spheres. Quite the reverse. There is a tendency to parochialism which has unfortunate results. Before the outbreak of the Great War there was a feeling that international conflicts were affairs to be settled by the army and navy, the officials appointed and maintained for the purpose. In 1914 the world learned differently, and every citizen was made to feel that he had an individual responsibility for the issue of the struggle. The Greeks had a name for persons who never troubled themselves about public affairs. They were called “ idiotes,” a word which has a striking modern connotation. The Greek word is derived from another which means “ private,” a something peculiarly one’s own, and quite separate from what belongs to the community. It came in time to denote a superlatively stupid fellow. The Greek meaning is forgotten in many quarters, and in more of them was never known, but its significance is worth recalling and is not wholly impertinent to the present contention.

The reasons assigned for the lack of. interest in sodal affairs are varied

SENSE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. j WHAT DO WE OWE TO SOCIETY ? j | CIVILISATION GIVES TO EACH AND EVERY f ONE FREEDOM AND SECURITY. j

and entertaining. Many citizens Avell equipped intellectually and morally Avill not enter public life because, they say, there is no such thing as public gratitude. It is an old story, and has enough truth in it to secure the assent of many and provide them with a reason for refusing to serA’e the community in municipal or parliamentary spheres. The measure of force in the assertion that nations are ungrateful is the same as lies in the declaration that mankind is a rascal. Granting that both statements are partly true is as far as anyone is •justified in going, but it is equally true to say that the best members of any nation are grateful, and that a considerable proportion of mankind are not incorrigible rascals. Further, a citizen is under obligation to serve his country quite irrespective of anticipated ingratitude. The ideal man can be imagined saying: “ I know all you can say about public ingratitude, but it does not weigh Avith me. lam not seeking office in order to win thanks, but rather to further the interests even of the ungrateful.” He would probably also quote a saying about the rain falling impartially on the just and the unjust. Others shrink from close contact in public life with undesirable company, Avith those whom they call carpet-baggers, self-seekers, and other still more opprobious epithets. The retort cannot be aA r oided that if umvorthy men are in power all the more reason why Avorthy citizens should displace them. If there are bad shillings in circulation it proves that there are good ones someAvhere, and the bad can be eliminated. Others beg to be excused from public responsibilities on the score that their business requires all their attention. This country needs business men of AA r ide vision—the narrow-visioned business man is Avorse than the professional politician and never more than nOAv. It is not impossible to combine public duties Avith those that ai-e private and essential. Instances of the success of the combination are quite numerous. No citizen should run the risk of being called an Achilles sulking in his tent. It is not patriotic. No citizen should expose himself to the risk of being thought of as taking up an attitude of being too superior. No citizen can afford to be called a selfish fellow, keener on money-mak-ing than on serving his country. .An accusing conscience is a more serious affair than accusing fellow-citizens. Doctrinaire leaders are. sometimes in eAddence, but the greater requirement is a profound conviction of social responsibility, and the spirit of Blake when he Avrote: I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till Ave have Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant land.