He Who Hesitates
HEN it taxed our tobacco and rationed our sugar the Government added the official equivalent of "And you ain't heard nothin’ yet." We hadn’t. Nor have we since. But we have heard whispers and seen shadows. We have seen incgme-tax comparisons-then and now. We have compiled sales-tax tables in the light of our present consumption. We have placed the cost of a war that has been largely a@ threat against the possible cost of actual home-front fighting. We have made many other attempts to give ourselves cold shivers; and in that way just can’t. Nothing can alarm us but the thought of possible defeat; and most people now realise that defeat is possible. It is not only possible but certain if we are selfish and foolish or weak-hearted, and we at last see that clearly. So giving is not a disturbing experience. It is like tearing up a new shirt to bandage a bleeding wound. We think only of the wound, and of the possible consequences of neglect. A certain consequence of refusing to part with our money would be parting with our liberty. We would be beaten, and being beaten in total war means being beaten. It means that thousands lose their lives, and that tens of thousands are driven from their homes; that parents lose their children as eertainly as children lose their parents; that hostages are taken and used as agents of oppression; that minds are twisted to new beliefs and new allegiances, and if they are feeble never recover; that only the toughest, the hardest, the most adaptable and the least sensitive live through the night of terror and again see the dawn. So an appeal for money for carrying on the war is not so much a request as an opportunity. It is another day offered to us for digging ourselves in. An appeal for money for the relief of the sick and the wounded is a reminder that we remain comfortable and safe because we are resting on the bodies of our own brothers and sons. An appeal for our treasures — books, pictures, and other things of the mind-means this first of all: that we have such things only because soldiers and sailors all our lives have made it possible for us to gather them together. The man who hesitates to give is hesitating to live.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 151, 15 May 1942, Page 4
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395He Who Hesitates New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 151, 15 May 1942, Page 4
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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.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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