Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1935-02-07

So says the great German pastor,
Oskar Pf1ster.
Look in the home. Is love the
normal, fine and supreme law there
in? Is there undermining affection
or is there lilly disguised hostility be-
tween the parents? Is there per-
petual nagging at the children, which
chokes and suffocates the evolution
of the affection. Is there brutality
in which the children cover in he'll
lish fear? Or is there the reverse of
the foregoing? That is, over-solicita-
ton. r-coddling fondness? If so.
just the same resut,-in adulthood,
hysteria, anger, hatred and the ruth
less desire for power, for domination.
There we are. at the genesis Of anger.
of self-centeredness, Of ant1-socialness.
of the desire to destroy all that does
not bow before our perversely inflated
egos. Discord in the home. Hate
breeds hate, prejudice breeds pre-
JUDGE, the desire to destroy breeds
the urge to destroy. And one day,
anger overrides affection and reason,
and in flash-kills. Hard, callous.
unforgiving, hating and statistical
wreaking revenge upon society and
their intimates for childhood lack of
love, for brutality practiced upon
them by parent or parents
out the cruelty practiced upon them
upon those closest to them-anger
poisoned humans. who too often end
in a fury of temper which robs an
other human of life.
Is it reasonable then to look for
a diminution in crime while a part
of our children are being emotionally
ments or reared in ignorance in tene-
ment holes, without a thought for
their emotional development? Is the
aborting of affection by rancour Of
parents, of hostility, of uncomfortable
temper to go on unchecked under the
cloak of punitive punishment for the
apprehended violent anti-social? rath-
err than an investigation of our own
contributions to the development Of
the anti-social?
Isn't it time we learned that chill
dren are not possessions, subject to
our every within and demand, but hui
man individuals. in whom it is our
great responsibility to unfold the hui
man virtues of affection, mercy. toll
erance. kindness and love, by example
as we'll as precept?
If we are to halt the gun-blasting
gun, the destruction of life and prop
erty, we better learn the importance
of human love and decency. It's time
we're getting out of the stone age and
jungle. Normal love is the greatest
power against crime that there is.
So all-powerful that the Son of Man
founded our religion upon the Law
to Love. Let's try it fer once. We've
employed punishment for so long, it's
about time we tried something else.
What about affection. then, in the
home? Normal affection, not over
cloying, syruppy and maudlin love for
the children, but natural, normal love,
sympathetic cumming with the kid
dies, laughing when they laugh, sor-
rowing when they grieve, and loving
dlWd HdI Dc
the never-failing atmosphere at every
hearthside. Anger can never spew
forth where the home environment is
normal love, friendliness and under
standing. Love between the parents
and toward the children will never
evolve an anti-social human being.
1t will on the other hand produce
normal social beings. 1t will abort
the prevalence of the anger obsessed
psychopath and thereby prove the true
offensive against all crime. Because
when we love, we cannot hate, and II
; we cannot hate, anger loses its power
and we cannot kill Therefore, as a
first step against crime and lawless-
: ness, let's examine our own hearth
sides and evaluate the environment
there. Is love there, or is the great
god discord, in the reigning seat. Il
so. let US not take refuge in the be-
lief that a little longer Of hangings
and electrocutions will stop crime anf
killing. One thing and one thinf
+, alone will stop murder And that is
affection in the home. Deny thai
and the gruesome spectacle Of anti
social depredafiO WILL continue