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Show Kathleen Norris Says: Donts for the New Year Bell Syndicate. WNU Feature!. - It is going to be one of the most amazing years ever poured out of Time's big mysterious bag. By KATHLEEN NORRIS DON'T make things harder hard-er for us all by going into the new year with a whole set of prejudices and determinations, for it is going to be one of the most amazing years ever poured out of Time's big mysterious bag. It may well be the most important impor-tant in our life as a nation. For 1944 may bring us peace. And we have to face tomorrow's peace with just as much courage, sanity and faith as we're facing today's war. You have faith in the war, even though you don't understand under-stand all about it. Have faith in the peace, too. You won't understand all about that, either. Don't forget that the ideals of our great Allies are not our national Ideals; they never have been. When Russia, England and Scandinavia speak up at the Peace Table don't be surprised if they surprise us, and perhaps shock us. In Europe every nation is close to a danger zone. We don't know anything about danger zones, for our nearest enemies are thousands of miles away. New Conditions In Europe. Don't forget that their enemies are right next door. Don't expect France and Germany and Poland and the Balkans to go back to any ante-war status. They can't and they won't. There will have to be new borders, new regulations. And probably, increased in-creased powers for some of the nations na-tions that have been fighting for decency, de-cency, security and peace. Don't begin to worry, and to write letters to the papers, if some of the very things for which we have been fighting appear to be temporarily forgotten, when the first treaties are drafted. Perhaps they must be. Perhaps those troublesome little European states that are always drawing greater powers into these agonizing world catastrophes, must be ruled and held in check for awhile. That isn't really the serious question. ques-tion. The question is just what terms will be offered to all the smaller countries, and just how responsible re-sponsible are the offering powers. If these terms promise all the cruelly wrecked nations security from starvation, star-vation, homelessness, war, then they will be good terms. And those good terms will be Infinitely In-finitely more Important than any question of borders, races, territorial territo-rial rights, mandatory powers and all the other meaningless words that -made such an ethnic mess of Europe after the last war. Russia is conspicuously a peace-loving peace-loving country. Scandinavia contains a group of the wisest-governed nations na-tions of all. America boasts an unprecedented unafraid friendship with her neighbors; not in one hundred hun-dred years have Canada, Mexico, the Argentine, the Central American Ameri-can powers or Brazil heard our guns. China is too wise to believe in rapine murder, aggression, war. Any peace upon which these powers decide will be a good peace, even though it leaves much to be settled as years ripen and perfect a better relationship relation-ship between the nations and a wiser guardianship of the warlike elements by the peaceful peoples. Allies Need Outposts Against Aggression. Don't attempt to right all the wrongs of the long years just at Erst. Remember that there are certain cer-tain island nations, like the Philippines, Philip-pines, for instance, that are infinitely bettered, and admit it, by the controlling con-trolling interest of a stronger power. There are islands that must be BE BROAD-MINDED IN 1944 The new year is going to be confusing for narrow-minded, shortsighted people, in the opinion of Kathleen Norris. Peace, if it comes during 1944, is going to present new challenges chal-lenges to us all. It is going to be the broad-minded individuals individ-uals with the ability to see the logical results of various programs pro-grams who are going to get the most from 1944. She mentions many of the problems which will accompany peace, such as the conflicting territorial aims which have made Europe a battleground for approximately approximate-ly 3,000 years. Difficulties like this will not be solved merely with the signing of an armistice. armi-stice. They require patience, tolerance and faith. helped justly and wisely, or they will be made continually the prey of predatory nations. We and our Allies will certainly have to demand inspection bases after the war, so that no steel mills anywhere may begin to work night and day to prepare pre-pare for the world-slaughter of 1960. So perhaps the most important "don't" of the New Year is, don't be too quick to decide, condemn, worry, over the peace terms if they are broached this year, which some wise men and all praying women hope they may be. There will be good men and wise men at the Peace Table, and thank God they will all WANT to do right; down to the last and least important one of them they will all intend to be fair. And in that is a great hope. Don't overlook another possibility for 1944. I mean the talk and discussion dis-cussion about the maintenance of tremendous armed forces for our protection here and the safety of our interests elsewhere. There Is no other way; there will not be any other way for many generations to come. So if, like myself, you are a wom-pn wom-pn who has winced away from militarism, mili-tarism, don't be too stubborn about it. Keep an open mind. We are not a belligerent nation, but just as we keep a tremendous police force in our great cities, so we must keep a national police force now. Twenty-five years ago I had no vote. But if I had had one I think I would have used it against our participation in the World Court. America Must Share World Problems But I see now that we must be involved anyway. So it comes back to my original contention, that 11 we can trust Russia, England, China, the Scandinavia and our own people to draft an honest peace, we must face our share of responsibility responsi-bility for that peace, .all over the world. You and I would be very anxious if we heard that New York or Chicago had determined to abandon aban-don all police protection, and depend de-pend upon the other great cities to prevent vice and abuse. Nationally we are somewhat in the same position; posi-tion; peace has to be guarded everywhere, every-where, and it's everyone's job from now on. When that first Peace Committee meets I hope our churches will be thronged with men and women from morning until night, hundreds of them, thousands of them, spending all-day vigils, slipping in during the noon hour, stopping on the way home at night, filling the surrounding surround-ing streets with streams of pilgrims, in the old medieval way, to prove that we believe in the old promise, "knock, and it shall be opened unto you, seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive." I i |