| Show A World of Distractions THERE IS ONE WORD which describes the condition under which we and all civilized peoples live it la the THIS IS A COMMON ENOUGH but it has Wide and significant For one the dictionary tells it means a drawing off or diversion of the It means confusion and at the far end of the it means even WE HAVE A OF distractions these The cold war goes on and with no end in The world's eyes were recently riveted on an meeting of chiefs of state at the United Nations in New York one well-aimed rifle shot could have marked the of World War We have witnessed a reign of terror in Africa which reads like a chapter from the Dark Ages We have seen the establishment of what amounts to a Communist-dominated state a few miles from the Southeastern tip of this And in a single year some 40 new countries with their own and latent and unknown have come into ON TOP OF ALL WE have our deep and passionate controversies at home as to what should be done in such diverse fields as medical care for the old and the production of electric power in the nuclear age above the proper role of the government in ordering and directing the lives of the SO IS THE symbolic Our minds are torn in a hundred fragments The problem has been compounded to an enormous degree by magical progress in the arts of visual and In a matter of some event taking place half a world away is made known to in words and In a matter of we ourselves can physically travel half a world away from our IT IS NO WONDER LIVING as we must in this it as the old French proverb has more and more difficult to see the forest because of the Fundamentals become dim and may even be lost beneath the cruel and blinding Light of changing and threatening events BUT SOME THINGS DO NOT That is what because of our heritage and because of our inescapable position as leader of a free world confronted by a slave world which wants to destroy cannot afford to THE QUESTION WHAT IS IT all this spending of almost unimaginable resources of energy and treasure on a scale never before so much as approximated m Why may we be as a for material sacrifices greater than any we have yet THERE IS A SIMPLE ANSWER that we must defend ourselves and our friends among the nations against the forces of darkness which are our But that is not the whole answer by any THE REAL ANSWER IS THAT we are doing it is to have any real and permanent meaning at all in order to preserve the best and oldest ideal that history which is Freedom means many things It means a high degree of personal responsibility and in which one cares for himself and his family without looking to government for aid unless no other avenue is It in the fine old sense of the a government which is the servant and never the master of the people It means that leadership and national purpose come from the people and not imposed upon them from It means a deep spiritual belief that every man is a person and an entity and that men in the mass can be allowed to submerge the and make him a number among faceless millions of WHATEVER WE HAVE are or must will be worth every necessary cost if this ideal is kept bright and shining before But if we lose it if we allow the individual to become a driven pawn in a game played by rulers everything worthwhile will be lost |
