The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1937. ON MODERATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 264, 6 November 1937, Page 8

The Wanganui Chronicle SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1937. ON MODERATION

jyjODERATION may be a virtue or an excuse lor the indulgence in a comfortable amount of vice. But even at its worst it is to be commended as compared with extreme conduct.

To appreciate the value of moderation it is only necessary fo take a glance at the chaos which results from extreme action in anything. The doting parent spoils the child by bestowing upon it too much attention. The die-hard politician is in the same category as the doting parent—each hugs an idea so closely that the larger purpose is lost to view. Sir Oswald Mosley has been promoting street brawls in the name of order, he has been assiduous in his effort for the creation of an enemy that he is nearly succeeding. The menace which he desires to destroy he is himself creating. If Sir Oswald Mosley were a little more moderate in his views and conduct he would probably find that there would be really no need for him to fuss about dressing young thugs up in black shirts and parading them in districts where there is likely to be some response to provocation. The undesirable character of immoderation is only too well demonstrated by the well-known method of argument that is to extend it to absurdity. A church steeple may be desirably high because it is an architectural method of advertising the edifice, but 1o carry the steeple beyond certain limits is to create a purposeless danger.

A strong, cool drink provides a great deal of satisfaction to a thirsty man, but to a man drowning in a river of the purest water a long, cool drink is certainly not called for. Moderation then, has something to do with time and place and purpose. Wherein lies the virtue of the moderate man? It is not in the fact that he eats, drinks and sweat's moderately. Nor does it lie in the widespread catalogue of his indulgeneies. For instance. a man may indulge himself moderately in quite a number of activities which, taken together, are really a harmful bundle of habits. No I moderation as a mode of conduct is obviously relative.

Moderation bespeaks an inward condition in a man or woman; it bespeaks a poise and therein lies the virtue of moderation. The moderate man is obviously one who, even in his misdemeanours, still has control of himself. If he is making a fool of himself he knows it. and knowing it, is not likely to make a too thorough job of it. Poise is necessary in the individual because there is on each individual a number of claims which must be balanced up. There is the claim of a wife upon a husband, and vice-versa, the claim of parent upon child, and more particularly the child on the parent. Then there is that change in conditions which must be the subject of gradual accommodation, the concern of the agile for the aged and infirm on the one hand, and for the young and helpless on the other. There is the claim of the family, of the employer and employee, of the respect due to the superior and the consideration required for the inferior, the claims of citizenship and of other associations, and there is also the claim of self-expression and of one’s own individuality. Man has a right to look after himself and to pursue his own self-interest, but only within limits. He also is right to give of his time and talents to the promotion of public wellbeing, but not at the expense of his other responsibilities. The problem which confronts each individual is how to harmonise the many claims upon himself, beginning with selfinterest and reaching out to the heights of self-sacrifice. It is only the man who refrains from being committed unduly in any one direction who has a chance of maintaining the balance of his life, and it is because the man who takes moderation as his guiding star has the best chance of preserving his balance that moderation is to be commended and esteemed. Moderation, however, is too frequently advanced as an excuse for a lack of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is essential if movement is to be achieved; in enthusiasm there is the possibility of loss of equilibrinr., but he must be accounted a successful man who can combine an enthusiastic urge with a continuity of poise in his thought and deed.