The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1946-09-05

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brought about at n
least one import
ant development in the entire edu-
cational system. namely the
teaching of our nations history and
the medication of a sense of Ameri-
cas- destiny from the first grade on.
And not only American history,
but our history in relation to the
history of the rest of the world,
since to get the whole picture, a
portion of the tapestry has always
been inadequate 1t is necessary to
see the entire panorama of the past,
to comprehend the enormous COM
plexities of the present.
Nationalism - that blood brother
of isolationism - does not seem to
me the thing that any intelligent
nation should strive for. Nor is flag
waving patriotism, which manifests
itself not at the polls or in the every
day events of life, but only when the
drums begin to roll, a thing to be
desired. That sort of patriotism is,
at best, no more than an accident
of birth.
The thing, we lack as a nation are
that deep and silent love of country;
sense of tradition; and pride of ma
tional achievement; that are real,
abiding and unshakable. Our grand
fathers had them and they knew
why they felt as they did Since
their day we have gone far afield in
our ideals and in spite of the ire
mendous scientific developments of
our era, we seem to me less mature
and equal unto our own occasions
at this moment than our grandfath
ers were.
In the all-over picture our aver
age CT had a very confused notion
of what he was fighting for He went
to war for several reasons. Because
he had to; because his friends were
enlisting and pride demanded that
he follow suit; because to the adj
venturous of soul it was the Great
Adventure of the period. A few of
them thought the Germans were
getting a trifle out of hand-after
they had overrun most of Europe
but few, indeed, of the eleven mil
lion who eventually bore arms, were
cognizant Of the real implications of
Germany'S march across the world.
Few were they who were champing
at the bit to join up with those
who were alone fighting freedoms
battle.
The attack at Pearl Harbor
brought a wave of indignation far
out of proportion to its actual enorm-'
ity - and sadly enough those. who
had long been aware of the sadism
brutality and ruthlessness of the
Germans, without being particularly
shocked by any of it, were the first
to cry "Why the little yellow soand-
soS!" Yellow was the key word, in
death struggle for democracy and
tolerance.
Actually the Jap sneak attack
at Pearl Harbor was no more re-
prehensib1e than the strange antics
and appeasements in Washington
that brought it about. But few
of the young men called upon to
pick up their guns and spill their
blood over half the world, remem-
bered the PARKWAY days of the
Panay Incident They weren't SO
far away, in point of time, but
American minds were fixed on other
things and the wanton attack by a
Jap plane upon a helpless American
ship, quietly making its way down
a river in China, and the subsequent
machine cunning of its survivors,
was just another of those things of
little consequence.
That the Panay Incident was the
kickoff, and the subsequent blund-
ering in Washington the tumble that
almost lost the game, few young
Americans realized. That was our
golden opportunity to crack down
on the japanese and make it stick
as we undoubtedly could have done
but were too busy selling her scrap
metal and oil to fight our friends the
Chinese = and after all, we can't
let honor interfere with good deal
now can we?