PEACE COMES TO THE MAN IN THE STREET

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 307, 11 May 1945, Page 20

PEACE COMES TO THE

MAN IN THE STREET

ICTORY will bring a natural feeling of relief and thankfulness along with sobering thoughts of the magnitude of human suffering and physical destruction caused by the greatest of all wars. I hope that the great skill and prodigious effort that has gone to win the war will be sufficiently sustained to win the peace; that the managed indivisible peace will in due time become unnecessary and will merge into a natural peace in an ordered and better world. This I believe can only come by man subduing his tribal instincts of fear, hate and greed. Having gained dominion over his world, man’s next task is to secure dominion over himself.

HE war with Nazi Germany is officially ended. For that our’ hearts are unfeignedly thankful. But, as citizens of the world, we are still facing a task of even greater difficulty — the Winning of Peace. We have to achieve that which to most men must seem almost impossible; we have to find a working basis for international harmony based on Spiritual and economic freedom, on goodwill, and, above all, on fundamental justice for all peoples. Half the world is devastated and hungry; we must reconstruct and reclothe. The children of our enemies must become our friends and the broken spirits of the dispossessed must be healed by patient, understanding good fellowship. Christ has shown us the way.

O it’s come at last. I’ve often dreamed about it and prayed for it-who hasn’t? Foe and ally alike, I suppose. I don’t feel the wild excitement I thought I would. I feel like going into a corner and crying my eyes out. My thoughts fly to those no longer here-Jim, Allan, Tomdozens of the old gang, and I wonder how their mothers and widows feel. I pray that postwar planning, of which we have heard so much, will make those left find consolation in the knowledge that their sacrifice was worth it. Millions of pounds have been found for destruction — as easily as a magician produces rabbits from the hat. Let the same be found for construction,

E must not forget that the defeat of Germany means only that. I think the Japanese war, with its effects upon China and other Asiatic countries, will have more far-reaching consequences for the future of New Zealand and other Pacific countries than any war in Europe. And just where are we getting to with all these international conferences? San Francisco has -met in an atmosphere of competition and uneasy distrust. Unless this atmosphere can be reRQiaced by one of constructive give and take, the outlook for the common man is black. Talk of relaxing controls over imports, manpower and so on at this stage of the war makes me wonder whether certain groups have much besides self or sectional interests at heart.

HANK God ‘that’s over. Let’s get back to normality as soon as possible, not forgetting our obligations to assist in freeing the Pacific. We have been living in a false atmosphere. People with no relatives at the front thave never fully realised the seriousness of war, and they still don’t. There will inevitably be a depression. You can’t dig a hole and Jeave it open; but we must see that it is filled, if possible. We want more population, preferably British, and decentralisation. I now want to see a move away from the towns. Only thus can each be self-supporting. We need more trust, less greed for happiness.

VER since 1933 we have longed for the end of the Nazi regime. Then we didn’t realise that Hitler in his downfall would try to wreck Europe with him, The victory confronts us with new problems-not only. material reconstruction, but reeducation of Germany and real reconciliation. Some people seem surprised that I don’t want to go back. Not only do I want to stay in this country where I have learned again to live in freedom, unhaunted by perpetual fear, but everything in Germany would bring back remembrance _ of what happened to my parents and countless other peintyy associations.

WAS very pleased to be able to take part in the war-in a hospital ship and at the 4th New Zealand General Hospital, and I am sure that the boys still overseas will be joining with us who have returned in rejoicing at the great news. I do not think, though, that the time has yet arrived for a large amount of organised jollification. There are many men overseas, in the front line and also in hospitals, suffering severely. Many are still losing their lives. That thought should restrain us to some extent. Japan has still to be defeated, and that is something that should not be out of our thoughts.

LTHOUGH I feel a great sense of relief; I know that there is still much to be done. I have several relatives overseas. It is my wish that they are unharmed and in such good health that they can rejoice as we are rejoicing over the good news. I hope they feel as secure as we do. It may take some of the boys still away a long time to get home, but now that we know the worst is over we can wait with patience and look forward to meeting them again. Their presence will.make everything complete.. While they are .away there is still much lacking.

E are all emotional creatures, liable to be influenced by the mob mind but I think that, however excited the masses may be, older folk will take things quietly. For myself, there is a feeling of jubilation; but I think — too of dear ones who have made the supreme sacrifice, and of others still facing hardship and death in Europe and the Far East. Meanwhile the crowded streets are keeping me fully occupied as a tramway official providing transport,

|? is necessary that peace in Europe be quickly followed by speed in our efforts to bring peace in the Pacific, followed by the return of fighting men and refugees to their own landsthere to continue the battle with voice and action, and guns if necessary, against the same forces that try to bring fascism in any guise. I hope to see this same vigilance in post-war years devoted. to: progressive reforms in society so that our children will gain from these years of wart

WHEN the war is over and peace reigns once again, I would like to live in a world in which the nations are not all _tuled by selfish interests, but one in which the conservation of human life is valued far beyond the attaining of power. No more wmistices of the 1918-1939 for me, but an enduring peace in a world in which there is liberty, freedom from oppres‘sion, and freedom from want. I mt a world in which we try to work together for the good of -all mankind. re

As an artist, a lover of Nature and the beautiful, I am too conscious of the destructiveness of war to be over-joyful at the announcement of victory. Certainly a great tension has been "eased and I am thankful that the Allies have triumphed after such a bitter and bloody struggle. May God grant us wisdom and understanding that we all may assist to our utmost in the winning of the peace and the prevention of further clashes between nations.

HE war is over in Europe but it still rages in the Pacific. While there will be rejoicings throughout Maoridom, these rejoicings will be tinged with grief for kinsmen who will never return. There is also the knowledge that there is still another enemy to finish off right in the Moana-nui-a-Kiwa-the Great Ocean of Kiwa-the Maori name for the Pacific Ocean and the name given to her greatest warrior son, Lieutenant Moananui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu, V.C. When the Japanese are beaten, the Maori will expect to share, as a right, in the liberty and freedom for which the Allied Nations have sacrificed so much.

WITH peace comes the hope that the good arising out of war will be turned to good account; that the war-blasted slum areas of cities will be. rebuilt into decent homes for the poorest; that such organisations as UNRRA will be given every help, by those capable of helping, to prevent starvation and misery in the liberated countries; that the intermingling of refugees and visiting servicemen with the people of other countries, during the war years, will have brought greater understanding between nations; and that the men who have proved themselves great war leaders will prove themselves great peace leaders.

MANY people wonder what the young folk of to-day feel about the world, and what we will do to promote a_ better world. For myself I think that there is not much that could be done’ until things are really cleared up. But in the meantime what a wonderful thing to have peace! To us in New Zealand it means a good deal, but what must it mean to our relatives and friends in Great Britain and other war-torn countries. So now let us kneel and thank God for sending us peace and guarding our freedom. Let us also pray that He will give us younger ones the strength and courage to preserve the world from further bloodshed.

As an Imperialist of the deepest dye, peace to me means a strong British Commonwealth of Nations, armed to the teeth. Membership of this Commonwealth should be thrown open to all-comers. While we and our friends sow and reap and gather in our harvest we must keep our eyes skinned for the robber bands, and when we see them arming for the attack we must strike them before they strike us. There is no harm in trying to convert them to our Christian way of living, but we must be practical: where we send missionaries we must send policemen.

‘THE world will not be at peace and the war will not be won on its moral side unless the democratic world discharges its obligation for the Jewish tragedy of the past decade. The cowardly torture and mass-slaughter of an innocent and defenceless people is a disgrace to the persecutors, but the whole of the civilised world shares the responsibility for the crimes committed. Will peace mean that justice will be done to our wronged people? Will it mean that the right will be given to the Jewish people to establish a home in Palestine? If it does, then the end of the wanderings of the Jew has arrived and the day of the greatest victory of humanity.

Y return to New Zealand is the most important event in my life and I am delighted to be home for V Day. I think mostly of the people of Europe, for I know how they are suffering, and I put myself in their place. Peace is a vast relief and I am happiest of all to know that others are also coming home. But our greatest concern will now be Japan. Her defeat will be of enormous importance to New Zealand. Celebration of a great victory is a good thing, but we must never forget the people who have lost their sons and we must remember that there are still many prisoners of war in Germany.

Tower Hill, London, the monument dedicated to the Merchant Seamen who made the supreme sacrifice during the last war contains thousands of names. In this war these men are among the key men and they have confronted the newer and more deadly menaces with the same dogged. determination as their forbears. The sea and the men who sailed it saved the world from the Nazis and the Japanese. Let us not forget them when hostilities cease. Let employment be found for them so that we will not (as after 1918) have men with masters’ tickets knocking at our doors trying to sell boot polish or mousetraps.

WORD of ancient wisdom declares that man’s spirit is more sorely tried in prosperity -than in adversity. To-day two opposing legions ‘ hover about the door of our hearts, like the good and bad angels contending for the soul of Faustus: on one side the host of destroying demons whose names" are pride, self-righteousness, hatred, revenge; on the other the gracious creative forces of humility and charity. Which shall we welcome? The text for Victory DayNon nobis, Domine — casts out self-glorification: humility tells us that we too are sinners: and the world’s wounds will never be healed if we close the door to the angel of charity.

] VJICTORY, we know, is not |

-______________ . quite the same thing as peace,

1 a but it is the essential

preliminary. What does it mean to |]

}| Us What does it mean to

those who have taken part in the |]

j| struggle as members of the

fighting forces, and what to those ||

1| who stayed at home? Here are

some answers by 20 men and ii

1| women selected almost (but

not quite) at random from oup

|| readers. In the main they are

impromptu answers, but it is not i |

| likely that second thoughts

wotid have been much different.