Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-07-01
THE LOVE OF PEACE.

Tho vaudeville singers used TO have
a favorite song that You VIII Never
Miss the Water Till the Well Runs
Dry" This is very much the case with
most all the blessings we enjoy. We
are inclined to grumhle at the suns
heat IN July Spd August, but when
, January's cold mas ovcrtaken us we
seh for the torrid days Of summer.
We are blinded by intense light yet
when shrouded In darkness We pray
/ Tor a return Of the light. We are wor-
/ ried over an abundance OF rain but the
3routh IS not on us long before We are
IN frame OF mind 70 welcome the
floods So il is all around. We want
whatever We have n9t and fail to ap-
preciate what We have. We learn to
take our blessings as matter OF
course and esteem them lightly until
something happens TO deprive us. II
takes sorrow and trouble and disaster
to make US know/how much the ordi-
nary good things OF life are worth. We
10 not understand the value OF the
water until the well we have always
depended upon fails us. We take good
ness and pure air very much for
granted and only recognize their worth
when goodness is tarnished or the
pure air polluted.
Not only is this true Of the ordinary
things OF life. but also OF the bigger
things that affect a nation or COM
muniw We say we love peace, hut
most OF us do not know what value to
place upon the blessings of peace. |
They are all taken for granted until |
war comes and gives us rude |
that no peace is worth anything that /.
is not worth fighting for. We never !
know the value OF peace until we have |
10 fight for il. II is such n matter of |
course that we are offended when !
called upon 10 defend the source from
which our blessings flow. We are not
lacking In patriotism. but we have |
lost our conception Of its value and
must be rudely shocked before we re-
turn to a proper valuation. James
stephens the Irish novelist. says very
truly: Humanity Is timid and lazy.
believer in golden means and subter-
fuges and compromises. loath to ad-
dress itself TO any great combat until
its frontiers are virtually overrun and
Its cities and granaries and places o.
refuge are In jeopardy from the
gloomy marauders. In that wide
struggle which we call progress, evil is
always the aggressor and the van
! Quished, and II is right that It should
be So, for without its onslaughts and
depredations humanity might fall to
/ fat slumher upon its corn sacks and
die snoring; or. alternatively. lacking
these valorous alarms and excursions
] II might become self-satisfied and
formulated. and be crushed TO death
! by the mere density OF virtue"
II is hard TO imagine how any man
In advance OF the occurrence could
have more accurately diagnosed the
great peril that had fallen to both
|
leading up to the opening OF the pres
ent world war. Slobber as we may
sentimentally over the beauties OF un-
Interrupted peace, we are compelled to
acknowledge that until humanity
changes It's nature prolonged peace
is apt to prove drawback TO ma
tional progress and virility. We have
long been snoring on our corn sacks
and looking upon peace and security
as matters OF course when they were
disturbed We Were aggrieved. more so
with those who would save us from
ourselves than those who threatened
our welfare. Some day a man may
lay down under his vine and fig tree
and fear no man, but that time Is far
away, AS long as human nature is like
1t now is there must be periods OF vio-
lent political housekeeping SO that
the dust and dirt Of careless self-com-
placency may he hanished from the
corners and the house Of humanity
scrubbed by the destructive besom Of
war. There is no use preaching how
nice II Is for all to be at peace unless
We have known the horror OF war and
learn 20 give peace its proper valua-
tion. and we can all be the better for
the unpleasant experience and SO for
ward with clearer minds and purer
hearts 90 the work OF reaching out
after the highest human destny--a
! work which we had forgotten during
1 our period OF ease and security.