The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-12-03
!
= ODAY
and
TOMOR ROW
By DON ROBINSON
By DON ROBINSON
influence

\ of9 90 per cent of the people of
this country.
Our morals, our habits, our phi
lanthropy and even our honesty
are in many cases better than
they might be if we had no fear
of the criticism of others.
The power of this neighbor in
fluence which guides us almost
subconsciously in normal times,
is now being turned on full force
to build our nations war morale.
After a period of doubt and de-
bate about the necessity of such
things as gasoline conservation,
local defense organization and
rationing, we have gradually &C
copied all of these things as es-
sential to the war program. Now
! we have begun looking over the
fence to see that our neighbors
are doing their part-and Incl
dentally, are adjusting our own
lives so everything will look in
order if the neighbors peek over
the fence at us. .....
Obviously this what the neigh
bors will think" force isn't the
only source from which our new
found morale has sprung. Patrio-
tism and leadership started it off.
But once the ball started rolling
once these war activities were
more or less approved by the peo-
pie, the neighbor influence quick
ly went to work to prevent any of
us from backsliding.
CODE war
It is true that we are still 60
ing through a formative period
about arriving at a code of war
time behavior. The changes in
our life are now coming so thick
and fast that we haven't had time
to all agree on a full set of &C
copied standards for wartime liv-
ing.
But we are reaching more and
more of an agreement on many
things. For instance, it is now
generally accepted that:
If a young man, physically fit,
tries to avoid the draft, he is
Stacker.
If a motorist drives over 35
miles an hour, he isn't patriotic.
If housewife boards any
scarce products, she is to be con-
demned.
If man encourages black mar
ket activities-by such practices
as buying or selling tires illegal
Lyle is little short of being a
traitor.
If a man or woman makes no
effort to take part in local de-
Tense work, he or she is passing
the buck
And if a person doesn't sacri-
flee somewhat to buy war bonds,
he doesn't deserve to share in the
coming victory.
GRUMBLERS GOODNESS
There continues to be small
group in the country which pre-
fers grumbling to accepting the
inevitable.
There are still those who blame
the rubber shortage on Washing
ton and won't give in on the i
dea that no matter who is at
fault, rubber must be conserved
now.
There are those who think it
is silly to spend time and money
training civilian defense groups
who make fun of the men and
women who are "playing SOL
diers"-but who would probably
be loudest in demanding help if
anything did happen.
There are those who criticize
how each local war Job is handl-
ed, but make no effort to help
with any of those jobs.
But, in general, the critics of
all war measures affecting civil
ians are finding their audiences
increasingly cool-and, whether
they realize it or not, are inviting
disrespect for themselves by con-
tinuing to complain instead of
pitching in and doing their part.
The thing upon which almost
all of us are in agreement is that
we should all do something. If
a person takes an active part in
one war activity he may feel to
criticize some other activity-but
the person who watches the
whole war program from the
sidelines and avoids any form the
sidelines an davoids any form of
participation, is no longer in a
position to find a sympathetic
audience for his opinions.
CRITICISM caution
It is important, however, that
we refrain from being too criti-
cal of our neighbors and acquain-
tances unless we are sure we
have all the facts.
The man who takes a 3O-mile