Things That Matter
"°T"HEY are getting down to essentials in England," I heard someone say recently, " and I guarantee they are feeling all the better for it." I have been thinking about that remark ever since I heard it, and have been trying to make up my own mind about what I consider to be essentials. It’s not a bit easy. Modern civilisation seems to have buried the essential things of life under such a clutter of the unessential that it’s difficult to dig down through the clutter and find the real essentials. We have all become so accustomed to luxuries, or to what would have been considered luxuries not so long ago, that we feel, rightly or wrongly, that we couldn’t possibly do without them. ... What are the essentials? Certainty not huge sums of money. Enough to keep us and our families in reasonable comfort is all that is really necessary. Motor cars that we probably can’t afford but feel we must have because nearly everyone else has one are not essential. I like my car, and I’d hate to give it up, but it is very definitely a luxury. . .. All sorts of luxuries in the way of food are not essential, and we’d probably be healthier and therefore happier if we returned to the simple fare of our ancestors. For instance, in New Zealand we have the highest consumption of sugar per head of
= 7 , fo | the population in the world. Is it just a coincidence that we also enjoy the distinction of having about the worst teeth in the world?-(Talk to women by " Margaret.")
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19401108.2.11.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 72, 8 November 1940, Page 5
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267Things That Matter New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 72, 8 November 1940, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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