There are Duties too!

Cue (NZERS), Issue 32, 30 September 1945, Page 39

There are Duties too!

nr> HE problem of rehabilitation is 1 one that is not only exercising the minds of governments throughout the world, but is one that provides every serviceman with food for deep thought. Rehabilitation is by no means only a Government problem. In fact, it is one that must find its solution largely in the individual himself. Whatever the State can do for a man, whatever the public organisations, firms and individuals might contribute counts for nothing unless the exserviceman realises that he must do everything in his power to help himself, that he has duties as well as rights, and that these duties extend also to his giving both time and thought to helping to reshape the life of the community. For he must remember that he and his fellow ex-servicemen can have a big say in shaping the future of their country and that it is their duty to let their voices be heard.

A wide scheme of rehabilitation has been laid down by the New Zealand Government and practically every aspect of the vast problem has been covered. The returning serviceman is entitled to expect every possible assistance in helping him establish himself once more in civilian life. He has sacrificed much through his service in the army; and some of the things he has lost can never be regained; If he needs financial help or assistance in the form of special training, he will,

where practicable, be given it. He will be helped to buy or build a house, acquire a farm or a business, or establish himself in a career, and in many other ways assisted in slipping back into civilian life.

But he cannot expect that everything is going to be easy—that all kinds of benefits will be handed to him on a silver salver. If he wishes to make full use of what is given him, he must get down to hand work and deep thinking. It would be fatal to his future if he adopted any other attitude. The man who can acquire the right viewpoint from the beginning will find rehabilitation easier than the man who expects everything to be done for him and who feels that no duty devolves on him to help in his own re-establishment. Moreover, the serviceman must remember that every penny he receives from the State has to be paid for by the taxpayers at some time or another and that he himself will be one of those taxpayers. If he wastes his opportunities, if he becomes a liability on the country, he will be retarding the general recovery of New Zealand from the ills of six years of war. He will, too, be placing added burdens on the other servicemen endeavouring conscientiously to reestablish themselves. . “

Rehabilitation comes from within as well as from without. In war a soldier learns the habit of passing

time —to fritter away the periods between operations or the time of waiting to go home by fast, easy living. It is a method of seeking relief from the harder moments which one knows will soon arise again. The soldier no doubt often feels that such a life is unsatisfactory mentally and morally, but that realisation is of little help. He usually prefers to remain mentally lazy, to allow someone else to do all the thinking. That may be all right in time of battle when bigger things than one’s own personal issues are at stake, but it is not all right when the .stage is set for living instead of dying. In rehabilitation a man must cast off the mental slough and get down to- solid thought as well as solid work.

There are other aspects too of the change-over from army to civilian life. The man who has wasted years in the army, who has been separated from his people for a considerable period and has seriously interrupted his career, has a right to expect some consideration and assistance from his country. But the man who goes home expecting to be welcomed as a hero and intending to act as one of the martyrs in the cause of democracy and freedom is bound to be disappointed. He will find that the public generally

is grateful for what the fighting men have done. But .there have already been many thousands of ex-servicemen who have returned . to New Zealand.

Not unnaturally the people are warweary and the novelty of a shoulder flash and a service ribbon is wearing off. .

The soldier will find that apart from his own family circle and close, friends, the people of his home town or district will be glad to see him back, but after the first meeting they are not likely to remain vitally interested for long in him and his rehabilitation. His own people will assist him in adjusting himself to civilian life, and .he has a right to expect understanding and help from them. But he has to- remember at all times that he himself has in all probability changed considerably. He has to realise thht his way of living has been vastly different from New Zealand life and that it is he who will have to adjust himself to that life and not try to adjust civilian life to suit himself. The war has not been an easy one for wives, parents, and fiancees, and they too deserve consideration. The returning soldier must play his part in making the resumption of a peace-time life as smooth as possible for everyone in his immediate circle.

In the broad sphere of national and community life he has duties, too. A member of 2 -NZEF has travelled far and has seen the peoples, of other lands. He has gained much useful knowledge, both from his travels and from his association with, men from all walks of life. No doubt he has much ■of value to- contribute to the government of his country, to local body government, or to social organisations. A difficult period confronts New Zealand and there will be need for the best brains in all aspects of government. The returning soldier will have the chance to help in the direction of that government and in the general life of the country. It is an aspect of his re-establishment in civil life that he should not overlook. ;