Evening star., 1939-12-27
Suffering in
The World
OF Today
Poorest of Us Have
Many Things to Be
Thankful for
By ANGELO PATRI.

There is great sorrow and SUI
fering in the world today. Many
people are bewildered by a world so
cruel, so without reason or pity. We
can all understand how feeling of
utter helplessness overcomes such
victims of wars unreaSon and we
hope that time will ease their grief
and allow them to win that peace Of
mind that enables us to help our
selves to build anew.
But this condition does not JUS
tify the feeling of helplessness that
so many people are expressing today.
We have our difficulties, but COM
pared to those that these others
have suffered they are as mists of the
morning. We have unemployment;
we have youth searching for its
place in the national life; We suffer
Hcariously when the world suffers
as it does today. But this feeling
of helplessness?
"It's useless to bother planning
education for our children when
there is no hope for their ever hav-
ing a chance" What difference
does it make what the boy does?
He'll only be killed in the wars. ?"
"Why should I care about my busi-
ness? It's finished. Finished! No
body buys any more. "Oh, what's
the good? You can't get anywhere.
Taxes, bad business, low wages.
Prices going up and wages going
down. Just a mess. Might as we'll
give up and go on relief like the
rest"
That is about as dangerous an at
titude of mind as a man can take.
It is as poisonous to mind and body
as any chemical poison bought over
the counter. It is as contagious as
any disease we know about and it
is quite as deadly. The most aston
ishing thing about it Is that the
suffering it causes is quite unneces-
sary. We are not helpless. We are
not going to perish from the face
Of the earth. We are going to 60
forward, build, invent, work and en-
Joy more and more as the years go
by. Violent changes are a disturb
ance, not a catastrophe, in the life
Of a nation.
The worst Of such an attitude IS
the effect 1t has on the children. TO
them father and mother are the
bulwarks of life. Their security de-
pends upon them, and the chief
quality Of that security is mental.
Let q child hear his father saying:
II don't know what we are coming
to. If this goes on we will all
starve to DEATH" and he Is fear
stricken. lost, anxious. Those feel
ings will rob him of sleep, food, play,
Joy. His behavior will be unaccount-
able; his health will suffer; his work
will lose all quality. He will not be
able to explain. He does not under
stand his feeling nor does he know
what caused it. Many school chill
dren are suffering from that kind
of anxiety today. Many OF our
youths are in the same plight.
Think about this. Consider what
we are and what we have, even the
poorest among vs.. Take hold Of
life as we meet it bend 1t to our wills
and we will overcome this. A refugee
boy, able to say a few English words
went through our apartment house
Offering door plates on which he
had printed our names, at nominal
price. He was out to pay his own
way. The sight of his face alight
with hope and faith was enough to
make any American citizen shake
himself and give thanks for the op-
portunities for happiness and sue
cess. Nobody . helpless here IN
America