Thoughtful Moments

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 68, 27 April 1945, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments

(Supplied by the WhaUatn/u- Ministers' Association).

REHABILITATION

Bv the Rev. Lan B. Wilson

Not long ago, a master in a wellknown boys' school asked the boys.| in the sixth form to discuss the question of rehabilitation. He found, that without exception the boys expected the government to solve this problem, without any burden falling on the average citizen. They were reflecting the attitude of their parents who in turn reflected the viewpoint of the majority of New Zealanders.

This apathetic attitude adopted by so many people—this feeling that the rehabilitation of servicemen is a problem for the Government alone, must be strenuously opposed by all those who realise how serious and urgent this problem is. But we cannot hope to solve it satisfactorily unless we. realise that behind the economic and educational and psychological aspects of rehabilitation there must be a willingness to "bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ."

The aspect of the rehabilitation problem we hear most about is, the economic sidc } providing house and furniture training and jobs for men discharged from the services and back in ''Civvy Street." It is> not possible to over estimate the" importance of all this. A job means far more than wages. It means a sense of security and a new purpose in life. A house and furniture means

more than comfort and shelter. It means the possibility of marriage and happiness and the settled state to which most, men look forward while they are in the services'. Because this economic side of rehabilitation is so important all of us should be acquainted with the organisation that has> been set up by the Government and other outside bodies to deal with this part of the problem.

But the economic aspect is not the only aspect of the rehabilitation problem nor is it the most important. When a man has been overseas and experiencing all the strain and horror of modern war for _ a long period, it is, not easy for him to come back and settle down even though he is perfectly fit. On the positive the Army means an ordered life financial security, and the firm comradeship of other men. On the negative side there is absence from loved ones liard&hip i ' ' the nervous strain of all that he has seen and had to do. When he comes back he. has changed a great deal, and lie finds that in many different ways his loved ones have changed too. And so the human relationship side of rehabilitation becomes the greatest problem of all. The December issue of the R.S.A. "Review" has an excellent article on what it calls the "Problems Awaiting the Cardboard Daddy." "To thousands of New Zealanders " it says } "Daddj r is not someone who comes home at night to tea, who fixes broken scooters, goes for walks, plays ball } read stories aloud, and occasionally administers a spanking. Daddy is just a picture on the on the mantlepiece, or on mother's duchess. He is a nice looking man

OUR SUNDAY 'MESSAGE

in a fine uniform and some day lie will conic home again and it will be fun." "There will be the article goes on, "but after the fun and the three months' there will come a period of readjustment. There will be a man in the htiiuse again after so many years, and what is more it will be a strange man."

I got a glimpse of this problem some time ago when I was visiting a town a long way fromi here. I met a man in a shop whom I had known slightly before he went away ? and now he was back in civilian life, reasonably fit. We chatted for a few .minutes and then he said: "I've been wanting to meet a padre. My wife and I were married not long before I went away. When I came back I had my job, and my wife had a home ready for me j but somehow everything is different. I have, changed and she is changed and we just don't seem to know each other. Nothing wrong really, but this rotten feeling of strangenescs which won't wear off." I listened to his story and gave him what advice I could in a crowded shop, and arranged for him to see his army padre, who had returned also and was living in the same district. The ' last I heard of him things were going better.

That case is only one. in thousands where there has been no unfaithfulness or anything of that kind merely a- feeling of strangeness which is very difficult to overcome. One could do a good deal about other cases where the problems are more acute and more tragic, some of them seemingly insoluble; but there is not the time.

The article in the Rtf. A. Review maintains that these are problems which only the individuals, themselves can solve—but that is not wholly true. It is certainly true that husbands and wives must learn again to bear each other's burdens —the burdens of the household, of business and iinance—all the everyday burdens of life. Sometimes too, they must learn to share the burdens of hardship and disability—and sometimes the burdens of foolishness and sins of the past for which the only solution is forgiveness.. But there is something else besides. These men and women, breasting the tide of life together once again, need the friendship and understanding and encouragement of all sections of the community. It

is not for everyone of us to rush in with advice where sometimes even angels fear to tread. But there is something finer and more useful than advice that we can give. We can surround these men arid women with the love and fellowship and prayer of the Christian Church: We can welcome them back with, open arms showing them in practice wljat the message of Christ means: And we can share their burdens in great measure by creating an atmosphere of love and kindness in which they can feel closer to God, and therefore closer to each other. When all is said and done, the 9 problems involved in the whole question of Rehabilitation are the ordinary problems of life, intensified and made more difficult. (Abridged).