SHIPS THAT PASS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 180, 14 November 1941, Page 4

SHIPS THAT PASS

WHAKATANE of late seems to. have had more than its share of public bereavements. Half-masted flags during the past week have paid silent tribute to the widespread sorrow felt at the passing- of men who by their lives and their services have earned the regard and the respect of their fellowmen. Warm-hearted neighbors, kindly, diligent and industrious they have passed on spelling afresh the eternal mystery of the miracle of life —mankind, whence, where, whither ? But we have known and respected them and appreciated their work and their efforts on our behalf, and their passing brings their labours the more forcibly to our minds. They are honoured, for their unselfish endeavours in the interests of the community, their high sense of duty and their talents which they so unhesitatingly laid at the disposal of their fellowmen and women. It is good that it is so. It is good too, that these men had the capacity and the inclination, to serve. But it is by far the greatest thing in their lives that they did apply themselves in the manner best known and suited to them. Too many of us with the fullest capacity for service allow our gifts to lie dormant and unused. Self interest and money making appears to envelop the whole of our outlook making it seemingly impossible for us to lift a finger in the public weal, or to spend a pound in the interests of the town in which we have our living, our homes and our future. Ships that pass! Every one of us have our opportunities daily and we are all en route whether we like it or not, for the same great, final, port of call. It is thoughts such as these which have occupied our minds lately and bring this inescapable fact to our notice. Influences for good or bad are daily being left in our wake for it is by our own choice that we make them so. In the great game of life nothing exceeds our duty to our fellowmen and to that end the keynote can only be — service. The half masted flags our district tell their own tale —recognition of lives well spent! But to how many hundreds of thousands of others are these, public gestures denied. We make this observation that the very men we mourn to-day would be the first to pay tribute to the lives of other men, insignificant toilers ! Little men who did their duty! Not perhaps in a public capacity, but in simply rendering service. To the countless mothers whose unselfishness and unrewarded toil made it possible to rear strong, clean-minded families, to the countless humble, honest toilers who struggled year in year out to maintain a home and turn out the men and women of Empire. Unheralded, and, in the grave, unsung, they remain by virtue of their lives of service the very salt of the earth and- the leaven of mankind. Ships that pass!