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Show We in America Must Set an Example Of Peaceableness to Rest of the World We celebrate another Armistice day today. It la a day which changed in " aignificanc abruptly oa September 1, 1039, when Hitler's troops inarched into Poland. - That act, which launched another an-other great war in the world, emphasised empha-sised that the peace we thought w had won on November 11, 191S, was a mirage. That instead of a peace It waa in cold (act aa armistice which waa declared on that day and which continued, not , Just (or a matter of months, but for 21 years to be ahattered once again by a Dew German aggression. Of course Armistice day has come since this second war to be celebrated not only aa the anniversary of the winning; win-ning; of the first world war, but as a time of observance of the victory in the second war. But even in this observance It ia well (or us to remember that the Victory was only a partial one. We defeated Germany, Japan and Italy. But we did not defeat the idea of war and aggression. Since the end oflhelat war we have hadTa "good deal of conflict In various parts of the world In Palestine, India, Indonesia, Burma, Greece, China and probably few other spots ws have lost track of. And of course we have the cold conflict with Soviet Russia which hangs like a sword over our heads. Armistice day really isn't much of a time for celebration. We cheered victory vic-tory in the first world war, only to find that we really had nothing to cheer. We are leas Inclined to cheer victory in the . second one. We know how ephemeral such a victory can be. Our attention on Armistice day could better be devoted to the neverend-ing neverend-ing battle for enduring peace. There may be final victory over an enemy, but there can be no final victory over war. And it is war which is the real foe. Wa must defeat the lust for conquest, the creed of hate, the cancer of mistrust in order to really celebrate victory. - America cannot of course win the victory over war alone. It is a joint task for many nations and many peoples. But America can set an example to the world of renouncing conquest, eradicating eradicat-ing hate and building junderstandlnglt we keep the lamp of peace burning brightly enough, and long enough, its light may finally penetrate even behind the dark Communist curtain which now divides the world. |