The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1945. CHRISTMAS, 1945

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 303, 24 December 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1945. CHRISTMAS, 1945

QIR ISTMAS and Peace! The longed-for consummation is this year a reality. The world again is struggling onward and upward ; it has once more survived a major crisis. To speak of the world as surviving anything at all is not strictly correct: the world—meaning by that term man’s environment—has not survived as it existed before the epic clash commenced. It. lias continued its existence but it has been so altered by the results of the conflict that it is permissible to say in an unscientific way that the old world has been smashed. Mankind’s task is to take tip the bits and pieces and put them together again and make a machine that will work satisfactorily under to-day’s changed conditions.

Some there are who, viewihg the smoke of conflict still rising from sundry corners of the earth, are impressed by the industrial conflicts which are holding back ttie progress of reconstruction and who in consequence ask themselves and others an age-old question:. “Is it I’cace?”

Before one comes to a conclusion concerning any picture the first requisite is to be certain that the picture is being viewed from the true point of vision. It is only by occupying such a position that the whole work falls into a unity: eaeli part being seen in due relationship witli all the other parts. The world picture is no exception to this rufe and there is, in respect to such a wide canvas, a tendency for the spectator to be too near to some part and too distant from others. To ensure that this mistake is not made by the observer of current history it is desirable to ask somb fairly wide questions.

Taking last. Christmas as a comparison with this, it is elcai that much has happened for which humanity at large should be. profoundly thankful. The major conflict has ended and that is a simple yet significant fact. Most of the men who were standing looking into the jaws of death arc now at home with their loved ones. The volume of anxiety has consequently diminished even in defeated Germany. For that great boon the peoples of the world have thankfulness in their hearts this Christmas time.

The ending of this conflict during 1945 was not a result of the direction of a world over-lord, nor was it in consequence of some mechanical process: it was brought about because of spiritual forces operating upon the mass of mankind. There may be mon corruption in China than is alleged; there may be more mal administration in Australia than is admitted; in every country there have been and still are defects and insufficiencies on the part of 4he people: yet they have been of sufficient courage to stand up to the greatest and most devastating conflict that has yet been staged on this earth. That is the foundational significant fact in the picture presented by current history. The world has changed, has been smashed, but humanity has persisted. The innumerable common men who make their day-to-day decisions to persist in doing their assigned tasks produced this world-wide result. It is the inward sufficiency of these many men which enabled tluXn to bear sacrifice and to suffer pain: and it is this inward sufficiency which is available to sustain them in all the many smaller tasks that need to be done during the years that lie immediately ahead. There is good reason for believing that this sustaining faith, which has carried mankind so far, will be adequate for man’s needs in the future.

There are as many silly things said about optimism as there are about other things. Bdssibly the optimistic outlook has suffered more from its would-be friends than has pessimism. To speak of a man as an optimist is to run the risk of being thought that you regard the individual concerned as a cheerful idiot who is well intentioned but dangerous. But optimism as an altitude of mind still has much to commend it, despite the handicaps under which the term labours. There are logical reasons for entertaining a hopeful view of the course which humanity will be steering during the coming year. The condition known as peace is not devoid of conflict. All life consists of stresses and the more complicated society the more stresses must operate within it. Peace is a relative term; even death is not devoid of the movement of disintegration. Peace is not another word for inertia: it is a positive movement prompted by a desire for greater or wider harmonies that justifies a confident belief in the future of mankind. The San Francisco Conference, Bretton Woods, the work of the U.N.R.U.A., and the Anglo-American loan arc all steps towards this wider harmony. In the working-out of these plans there is room for the play of personal ambition, for selfish designs for honest differences of opinion: but the overriding urge is not selfish, it is the seeking after a greater harmony. While this spirit prevails the spirit of peace is dominant in the world. But is this picture, which is good in its general structure, marred beyond use by the many conflicts which are being waged in the smaller theatres? That these frictions do exist there is no gainsaying: but if they are put alongside those wider spaces where harmony prevails the conflcts assume much less significance. G. K. Chesterton once observed that, one thing could not be presented on the stage and that was an honest day’s work. Because it cannot be dramatised i 4 fails to enter the news. The millions of men who go to their daijy tasks and perform them honestly are never reported: those who fail to do so receive the notice. But even those who are engaged in industrial conflicts are not to be condemned out of hand. These men have for years been working under conditions that have sapped their vitality and frayed their nerves: it is consequently not surprising that something snaps occasionally, promoting a conflict. Long working- hours, inadequate rest, monotonous food, insufficient house room and diminishing privacy arc all contributing factors to the existing- unrest. These will be reduced as the world swings farther away from war. Taking a view from the detaching standpoint then it would appear that Christmas cheerfulness is a justifiable indulgence this year. The darker shadows have fallen back: these shadows which remain are less ominous. The world which has witnessed a conquest by self-sacrifice for six long years will witness greater achievements in the years to be. Let us then join m the greatest of festivals with optimism for Ihe future, remembering with reverence and thankfulness the Founder o£ that Faith which inspires us and the influence of which grows in strength with the passing of the years.