Evening star., 1944-01-30

Dv 1/Vs DOUNtU ~ A0tyUs
MIDDLE HADDAM, Conn-The war
is not increasing civilian mental break.
down, either here or in England. OF
course, the mental collapse that takes
place today actually started a dozen or
more year ago. And the war expert
ences themselves are not likely to start
breaks that will become apparent dec
ade hence, any mere than the hard and
cruel and bloody pioneer life did when
this land was opened.
Mental breaks are not due to any
narrowing or frightful experimenting
are due to the way one is treated by
others and ones own personality make
up. Suddenly, in some catastrophe, It
is enormously presumed that war in
creases insanity. It doesn't, either IN
theory or fact
The returning soldiers will adjust to
the monotony Of peace better than the
war workers thrown out Of job. The
servicemen will have the psychological
advantage of being heroes, there will be
no gnawing feeling that they were, after
all, chiselers. A fuss will be made over
servicemen, while war workers will be
the forgotten men and women.
Conscience to Be Clear.
Due, also, to the fortunate psychologist
cal tendency to forget unpleasant things,
servicemen will not be haunted by mem
ories of carnage. They will not come
back killers. They will feel that they
did the right thing and will have "a
clear conscience-clearer than many at
home who cheated on rationing, lcafed
in war plant or belly-ached about
taxes.
The rugged training servicemen have
had in self-survival and adapting them
selves to hardships also will give them
an advantage over most of us.
The monotony Of peace will look
mighty good to them. AS flyer, who
had been in daily combat over Italy.
told me few weeks ago: when I
come back, if do, I'm just going to lie
in the grass for weeks and watch the
autos go past"
Perhaps half the pilots are wild about
flying. Perhaps one-fourth want to con-
tinue in aviation-and that may not be
enough for postwar needs. Most of the
pilots are going to be delighted with an
occupation that keeps them on the
ground
1t is the people standing on the side
lines, doing nothing, who are real
mental casualties" of the war. They
will be devoting the rest of their lives
to trying to justify themselves.
The mental casualties among service
men will probably be the lowest in his
| tory from this war. Mental experts
know more about such cases, for cne
thing. For another, front-lne treat
ment is being used which accomplistes
wonders in quick rehabilitation
1t is important to realize that whether
one is mental casualty or not, however
slight, depends less upon war experiences
than on ones own personality trends
| before the war. Crudely stated, the war
doesn't drive people nutty-it merely
| brings out the queerness already in
| them
The home front attitude toward ra.
tioning, for example, is not making some
people selfish complainers. Instead it
/ is showing up those people who are
self-centered and imagine the world
owes them living In the intense
| cooperation needed for the war effort,
| it becomes easy to notice those whose
makeup has but little co-operativeness
| in it.
AS has been said by some one, war
brings out the very best or very worst
in people, depending on the person and
| not on the war
My only concerns about the adjust
ment of servicemen after the war
are Cd that we have workpile which
will absorb the men after about three
months of blessed monotony" on their
return and Cd that we bolster the
egos Of the returned servicemen and
women by making fuss over them,
individually and collectively, so they
continue to have feeling of worth.