OCR Text |
Show KATHL'CN NORMS Communist Paradox Bell Syndicate-- WNU featurw By KATHLEEN NORRIS AMONG THE YOUNG persons per-sons I love and perhaps among those you love, too there are a few who have given their hearts, minds and bodily services serv-ices to the promotion of communism. commu-nism. They live along pleasantly and comfortably enough, blessings and advantages of being Americans, Ameri-cans, but they feel small admiration admira-tion for their own country and quiet but passionate confidences in the Russian ideology. When I suggested to two of these young crusaders that they go, at my expense, to spend a year or two in Russia and study communism com-munism in its workings, they regarded re-garded me with that kindly superior super-ior amusement that is so characteristic charac-teristic of their attitude toward those who differ with them. "Take the children to Russia," they exclaimed incredulously. Of course, they couldn't and wouldn't. Take small babies over to the restrictions, re-strictions, shortages and discomforts discom-forts of a great country in the throes of getting itself born I Deep snow, unheated houses, transportation transporta-tion difficulties, complicated and ramified laws in every direction and both Mother and Dad working. They knew too well how bitter a contrast this would be to the freedom free-dom they know today. What Is the Answer? But despite the shock that this suggestion gave them, they went right on addressing envelopes, addressing ad-dressing meetings, quoting the Red propagandists with pride, citing our American ways with scorn. Why? Does any bewildered parent par-ent of deluded children know the answer? Any educated person-and almost all our American children Citing America with scorn . have had high school, if not college, training knows that we Americans Ameri-cans started as Russia did, less than 200 years ago, and that in that short time we actually have demonstrated a way of living nearer near-er the ideal than that of any other country. The young people in America, shouting in the defense of the Communist Com-munist party, know that there are few laboring men or women in the world who wouldn't jumn onto a ship and come to America if they could and turn themselves into Americans with all due speed once they got here. My own brief visit to Russia included in-cluded the journey from the far east coast right through to the western west-ern border. 1 saw happening there something like what must have happened in France in 1793. I saw the mighty struggle of a wealth-oppressed, wealth-oppressed, nobility-oppressed, church-oppressed people trying to throw off injustice and want and gain what to us in America is primarily pri-marily right: liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Same Goal, Wrong Approach They are seeking what we all need and desire, but they are some 150 years behind us. New abuses, as was inevitable, have sprung up in place of the old. Their leaders have grasped power, but they don't know how to use it. They went in hastily, some 20 years ago, (or free marriage, free divorce, almost universal uni-versal and quite legally recognized abortion. A relative of mine met one Moscow professional man who had been married 22 times in less than four years. Well, yes, and in Paris some 150 years ago they tried to abolish God. too, and put a naked woman up on the altar of Notre Dame. Yet Paris came to her senses eventually. The bells rang again and the broad steps of the Madeleine are never empty now. Russia needs time. We don't help her cause over here with fear, criticism, cri-ticism, rumor, abuse. And especially espe-cially those youngsters for young or old. they are immature don't help her cause when they grasp half-baked Marxian theories and go about babbling them, all the time quite safe and happy under a different sort of national life. Russia's rulers will be changed; Russia's development will ripen'. This is inevitable. Russia will discoverhas dis-coverhas discovered, indeed that a splendid constitution is one thing and getting poor humans to live by that constitution is quite another. an-other. We've had an Infallible guide for 2.000 years. We've not lived up to it we've done less than half of what we might have done in the way of forgiveness, service and sharing. Yes, we could have lived up more fully to the ideals of Chris-tianity. |