The Clear Road to Follow—In These Days of Uncertainty

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21362, 5 March 1941, Page 3

The Clear Road to Follow—ln These Days of Uncertainty

F there is one sort of woman who will come through this war happier in life and richer in spirit, it is she who thinks clearly now. But how achieve such clarity of vision in the midst of so much confusion of war ? Where the clear road among the debris ? War is a test not only of nations but of individuals. We have all been thrown out of our routine. So topsy-turvey is our world that many of us feel topsy-turvy with it. In this time some of us may lose sight of true values; in this harsher existence we tend to find excuses for things we leave undone, or things we do. We now taste liberties, some of us, we never thought to taste, and know restrictions we never wanted. Life is trying to run away with us. But if we remember that war is a phenomenon, that the normality of our ordinary lives will return, and that we must be normal people when those peace days come, it will help us now to keep the reins of our lives in our own hands. The Desire For Security Let’s get back to essentials for a moment. What was it we women wanted before the war ? Didn’t we wish first for love of a lasting sort ? Didn’t we wish for security, not only the financial kind but the sort that made us “ accepted ” members of our society ? Didn’t we want occupation—for most of us that of husband and children—to fill up our hours ? We will want these things when the war ends: we want them now. That is why those of us who want to taste the joys of peace when it comes will throw no caps over windmills now. But how keep love when you are parted from the man you love ? Why, by making it! By sending him not letters of complaint and distress but letters winged with the joy of the love you bear him. If time with him is short, pack laughter into every living moment so that when you are apart your mutual memories will not be of shadow but of light. Know social security in showing courage and good humour to your fellows, in being, if not a leader among them, at least a cheerful follower. Have occupation, even if your home is broken up and your family scattered, by employing your hands and brains for others. Since the final war aim of any struggle must be peace, make the preservation of the things you wanted in peace, will want from peace, your war aims. Fight for those essentials with good humour not less than with determination. You will find that while you thus hold to the future you cannot despair, you can only know a growing sense of assurance, a growing inner peace of mind and spirit and a growing gaiety of heart. And so 1941 will find you with new courage, looking to the future.