Hope for the Future.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18524, 2 January 1932, Page 12

Hope for the Future.

(Dr. Jacks, in Hibbert’s Journal.)

SO FAR AS I CAN SEE, the dangers besetting civilisation at. the present moment, though unquestionably great, are not greater than they have often been in the past or are likely often to be in the future. W'c have certainly become more acutely aware of them. But this, in itself, should be reckoned a point to the good, on the ground that “forewarned to forearmed,” though this good point is somewhat offset by the cowardly fears which the revelation of danger inspires in the timid hearts of a comfort-loving generation. ' ' By Its very nature civilisation is, always has been, and always will be, a dangerous enterprise In a universe such as this. The dangers besetting it change their form, but never disappear. Whatever may be the case with democracy, there is certainly no such thing as making this universe .“sale” for civilisation, which continues to exist, not by reason of any “safeguards” that may protect it, but by reason of the deeper fact that man is, naturally, a danger-facing animal, equipped by the constitution of his mind and body for facing dangers and asserting himself in spite of them. By the danger-facing qualities of man civilisation was created, with the odds vastly against its creation; by them it exists at 111 e present moment; and by them alone can it be carried on and developed to higher issues in the future. Were these qualities to fail civilisation would unquestionably collapse. But there is no reason to anticipate their failure. Not that the advance of civilisation is likely to be more of a “walk-over" in the future than it has been In the past. It has never been a •‘walk-over.” Battlo Between Best and Worst. Hard fighting against heavy odds has accompanied every step of advance, and I see no prospect whatever that these conditions, so congenial to man as a danger-fachi|g animal, will be relaxed in the future. Even if the unity of mankind were attained tomorrow and the world lapped in universal peaco it could be a dangerous unity, a precarious peace, and either condition would dissolve immediately If the heroic qualities which had brought it into being were no longer present to sustain it from day to day. Safe in the sense of being fool-proof, safe In the sense of being coward-proof, safe in the sense of being able to dispense with the faithfulness of trustees, the skill of master minds and the courage of heroes—this civilisation never has been, Is not and can never be; nor should wo desire it if wo understood ourselves better. The history of an advancing civilisation Is the history of a crisis perpetually faced and mastered, it 3 fortunes becoming more critical, and not less, with every step of the advance. A civilisation which has no crisis to face is a contradiction in terms. Comparing present times with past, I find no ground for thinking that the saving forces to-day arc less vigorous and active than in any previous age. They are fiercely opposed by their contraries, perhaps more fiercely than ever; but the very fierceness of this opposition has the effect of quickening them with new energy and resolution, of causing them to draw more closely together and enter into world-wide unions ior meeting the foe with a common front.

Never Less Cause for Despair.

I count this an Inspiring spectacle—one that should kill in all of us the desire to curse the age we have been born into, filling us rather with a proud and exultant joy that wc are alive to see this battle between Best and Worst fought out to the uttermost end to take part in it according to our powers—the cause for which every man camo into the world. No one, indeed, can predict the issue. A sudden inroad of weariness and despair, a spasm of cowardice and irresolution, an outbreak of distrust and mutiny In the ranks of the Best, any one of these might give the Worst the advantage it Is waiting for and civilisation would he lost. But having regard to the fact that in ages when the saving forces were less active, less determined and less united civilisation was, nevertheless, brought into being and carried forward In face of immense opposition, there Is no reason for losing heart in the presence of the great crisis that now confronts us. Inwardly 1 feci convinced that the Best will win through, fortified in that conviction by study of the past, though, unable to give proof of it. But it will be a near thing, and there will he many casualties. I am willing to concede all that the pessimists are proclaiming about the evils of mechanisation and standardisation, and if civilised societies were composed exclusively of weaklings and fools I should, agree wit,i the pessimists in predicting the worst. But mechanisation and standardisation are not final; nor have they caught up napping. Wo arc becoming awake to the dangers they threaten, and arc preparing to resist them. That makes all the difference. A race which has emerged from the ignorance and brutality of barbaric ages is quite capable of emerging from mechanisation and standardisation, and will emerge if brave men sland to it. Call to Play tho Man. If I had to divide the human race into two classes I should not divide them into sheep and goals or into saints and sinners. Men and fools would be a better classlllcatiom A fool is the proper antithesis to “a man.” And so behind all the moral laws I am acquainted with, thero is one great and fundamental command, which is not to be found In any of tho traditional codes, but seems to me very plainly written in the general constitution of this universe and weighted with all the authority of the Fact. It runs as follows “Thou slialt play the man; thou shalt not play the fool." Without that great rule as the foundation, all tho others, for many of which I have the' highest respect, would collapse. If there is anything peculiar in the present moral crisis it lies in the fact that this call to plax the man, instead of sounding in isolated places here and (hero as once it did, is now sounding universally all over the civilised world. It summons the best elements of all nations to come forth and sland together for battle against the worst. And men are not deaf to the call. The world just now is passing through dark times, hut the splendid courage of the best men everywhere in standing up to their reverses nils me with hope for the future. It makes a new bond of union between the nations. Never was there less cause for despair.