NEW ZEALAND LISTENER
Incorporating N.Z, RADIO RECORD Every Friday Price Threepence DECEMBER 31, 1942 1943 E make an attempt to-day to show in what spirit ordinary men and women face the New Year. A dozen men and women encountered by chance are of course not New Zealand, but it is not probable that a hundred dozen answers, if we had been able to print them, would have differed greatly in effect and drift from those for which we have found space. People of importance and people of no importancewe of course, use the terms conventionally — react in much the same way privately to the same set of facts; but although people of importance have the freest access to the facts, they are not as free to say what they think and feel. In any case when a country has been three years at war, and most of that time suffering reverses, it is not always safe to assume that its people are still stoutly confident. We wanted to know what people are thinking and feeling off-guard, and it is heartening to discover that whatever else is passing through their minds they are not surrendering to weakness or despondency. If we were determined to worry about New Zealand we could not find an excuse in the outlook of ordinary people. On the other hand, however determined we were not to worry, we could not shut our eyes to the fact that war never makes it easier for liberal minds to remain liberal. Our New Year messages are stout-hearted and wholesome: if they all seem to be emphasising the same point-that it is one thing to win a battle and another thing to win a warit can hardly be said that the warning is unnecessary. But the real significance of these messages is their suggestion that ordinary men and women in a free community can be trusted to remain sane and calm if they are given anything like a reasonable chance. They can be corrupted, as every good and clean thing can be if the agents of corruption are given a free hand. Give them the facts, and the alarmist does not get very far.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 184, 31 December 1942, Page 3
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363NEW ZEALAND LISTENER New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 184, 31 December 1942, Page 3
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