THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 104, 27 January 1943, Page 4

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY

Comments—Reflections

A nlitiou’s institutions and beliefs are determined by its character — Herbert Spencer.

In the year .1939 I was faintly antiEnglish. Not anti-British, for that implies disloyalty. But anti-English Then came the war, and in its train the opportunity, for Australians who went abroad, to study the English at close (piarters—with particular reference to the British Army. And the result lias been, not only a revision of views, but the birth of a reverence and respect for the British Army, even when it appnrentl.v falls down.—From an Australian soldier.

"A new play is now storming the Soviet theatre. It promises to rival Simonov’s famous piece ‘The Russians’ in popularity and dramatic .power. The author is the Ukrainian writer Alexander Korneichuk. He has set out to portray tiie life and fighting activity of tiie Red Army commanders. The essence of the play is contained in a remark by one of the characters, engineer Miron, an old Bolshevik, who says: ‘The people resipeet mid- demand only intelligent leaders and who understand things.’ Tiie war is a test for every Soviet citizen. Those who cannot endure its severity are discarded. That is the lesson of reality. .Nothing cun compensate for ignorance or lack of intelligence in a lender—neither personal bravery nor past services.” —“Soviet Wnr News Weekly.”

“Poland has entered with determination upon the path of .political realism! We were the first to stretch out the hand of friendship to Soviet Russia. For tiie same reason we have undertaken tiie Initiative in signing the agreement with Czechoslovakia. The honest understanding with tiie Soviets should ensure for Poland durable security. Otherwise, as the course of historj’ has proved, we would be doomed to a simultaneous struggle upon two fronts, whose prospects would he ill-foreboding. This understanding will be no less beneficial to tiie other side. A strong Poland will lie capalde of withholding the everlasting Germanic eastward wave. It will afford to our neighbours tiie opportunity of accomplishing great tasks and furthering tiie development of tiie enormous areas and riches of the U.S.S.R. Unquestionably, tiie possibilities of Russia are boundless. I am, therefore, confident that the differences which still divide us will disappear.”—General Sikorski.

“There are three ways in which the Christian Church must attempt to influence tiie political society. First, as a corporate society the Church should declare the principles which should govern and control the action of the State and the life of the community. It will Insist on the Christian ideals for society and will denounce all that is contrary to them. But the official Church will not attempt to lay down in detail how these principles are to 'be carried out nor tiie siK-cinl steps to be taken to remove all that is opposed to them in society and .politics. Secondly, within the Church there are individuals and groups who must study these problems and advance the remedies which they are convinced are demanded 'by the Christian conscience. IVith a knowledge and freedom which is not possible for the official Church they will advocate the detailed changes which they believe are necessary. As a Christian citizen I have the right to advocate detailed reforms of which I have special knowledge, and the accident that I am an Archbishop does not deprive me of this right.”—Dr. GiU’bett, Archbishop of York.

"From the very first day of the invasion the Germans aimed at the complete destruction of the Polish nation. The Germans are carrying out this destruction with a ruthlessness never before known in history. They carry out their work methodically and systematically. During the first month of war they were bombing and Irombtirding cities of no military imiK.rtauee, they were destroying monuments of a cen-turies-old civilization, they were maehiiiegunning defenceless women and children. During the subsequent (leriotl of t.wo years rule over Poland they have executed 82,(MM) ]>eople, not including thousands who have been tortured lo deatli in the concent ration camps. They hhve expropriated amt evicted from their ancestral homes nearly 2.(MK>,000 Poles, and they are starving out the whole Polish and Jewish population of my country. ‘Tiie village of death,’ Palmiry, near Warsaw, wltieli has been chosen 'by the Gestapo as the place where Polish patriots are executed, and where in the local t'cmetery some 10,000 nameless victims of the Gestapo tiring squad are buried, is lhe most vivid syrnlml of what is going on in Poland under German rule.” •—General Sikorski. * « ♦ "When the Mad Hatter explained to Alice that, if the hands of tiie clock moved fust enough, her morning lessons would lie over in a twinkling and time come for dinner, Alice replied: ’That would be grand ; but then, you know. I should not Is- hungry for dinner.’ A significant reply, which muy serve to remind us of something we tire prone to forget — that the good tilings the future has in store, such as a dinner ’after’ morning lessons or a new and better world ‘after’ the war, will lie (brown away on us unless we in the meantime have grown ready for them and capalde of putting them to a good use. Like the premature dinner contemplated by Alice, the vast developments of modern science tool; place before humanity was morally prepared to digest them: the I>eague of Nations, in like manner, was created before the nations, intent, on their Rights, were ready for their Duties. From these consilient lions I lie conclusion seems to emerge that, our plans for improving the framework of the world will come to nothing if tiie human material which forms the living substance of the framework, as of every! hing within il. and is the source of all other improvements, be left r.nimproved. All binges upon that." Dr. L. I'. Jacks, editor of Hie “Hibbert Journal."

In Wartime. Against the night we lift this small ( ndeviating flame. For not all darkness in the world Could quench its name. This single star of certitude Is ours to travel by. Yet mon found continents who learned Like us to trust Hie sky. Should the world wake in ruins To gaze on sliipless seas--Those like you and me would build From chaos and catastrophes. — Dorothy Ulrich Troubefzkoy in the “New York Times.’’