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Show THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS Many centuries ago, Pericles, the great Athenian, said, "The secret of happiness is freedom; and the secret sec-ret of freedom is a brave heart." We realize this truth anew today as we face the changes wrought by total war. We know that every threat to freedom is a threat to our personal per-sonal and national happiness, and because of this we gladly lay aside for the moment our liberties and place restrictions on our freedom for the sake of a strong defense and preservation of those liberties and of that freedom. Happiness is the result of free choice: of the ability abil-ity to give freely and not upon the demand and according ac-cording to the will or whim of some self-imposed overlord. over-lord. Happiness is found in the freedom to live according ac-cording to the laws of right and justice: to work in a spirit of friendly intercourse with our fellow men, unhampered and unhindered by prejudice against anyone because of race or creed or color or class. Happiness rests in freedom to worship as our conscience con-science dictates: to pray to God as a free man, at peace with one's own soul, and to see to it that our neighbor has the same privilege. There could be no happiness for a free born and free spirited American under totalitarian rule. Freedom is the absence of fear of that corroding cor-roding dread of impending evil, that cancerous mistrust of one's closest comrades which is the deadliest weapon of the dictators. Freedom is the security given by peace of mind in a world in which men are motivated by respect for the rights of others and by a sense of their own obligations obli-gations to society. Freedom is the knowledge that success or failure depends upon one's own self and the way in which one's talents and abilities are utilized. Freedom is the way of life for men who are not afraid of living. A brave heart is one that has courage and faith. It has courage to go ahead ; to believe in the integrity of others ; to combat evil wherever it exists ; to fight loyally and wholeheartedly to the bitter end; to face the unknown because of the guiding light of purpose, the hope of a finer goal. It has faith faith in one's self, in one's fellow men, in the God of one's belief and in the future, whether it be a future in this world or beyond our earthly ken. "The secret of happiness is freedom ; and the secret of freedom is a brave heart." |