Milford chronicle., 1961-01-13
A WORLD OF DISTRACTIONS

A WORLD OF DISTRACTIONS
If there is one word which describes the
condition under which we and all civilized
peoples live today, it is the word "Distrac-
TONS.
This is a common enough word, but it
has wide and significant meanings For one
thing the dictionary tells us, it means a
drawing off or diversion of the mind. 1t
means confusion and perplexity Then, at
the far end of the spectrum, it means aber-
ration, frenzy, even madness.
We have plentitude of distractions these
days. The cold war goes on and on, ever
broadening, with no end in sight The
worlds eyes were recently riveted on an
unprecedented meeting of chiefs of state at
the United Nations in New York where, lit
orally, one well-aimed rife shot could have
marked the beginning of World War III.
We have just gone through a political cam
paign of unique intensity, in which the de-
ciSion was agonizingly close We have wit
messed reign of terror in Africa which
reads like a chapter from the Dark Ages.
We have seen the establishment of what
amounts to a Communist-dOminated state
few miles from the Southeastern tip of this
nation. And-in single year-some 40 new
countries, with their own flags, parliaments,
aspirations, and latent and unknown pow
ers, have come into being.
On top of all this, we have our deep and
passionate controversies at home I. as to
what should be done in such diverse fields as
education, medical care for the old and in
digent, the production of electric power in
the nuclear age and, above all, the proper
role of government in ordering and direct
ing the lives of the people.
$50 distraction" is the symbolic word
Our minds are torn in hundred fragments
The problem has been compounded to an
enormous degree by magical progress in the
arts of communication, visual and verbal
In matter of seconds, some event taking
place half world away is made known to
us, in words and pictures. In matter of
hours, we ourselves can physically travel
half world away from our homes.
1t is no wonder that, living as we must
in this tourmoil, it becomes, as the old
French proverb has it, more and more diff
cult to see the forest because of the trees
Fundamentals become dim and may even be
lost beneath the cruel and binding light of
changing and threatening events.
But some things do not change. That is
what we, because of our heritage and be-
cause of our inescapable position as leader
OF free world confronted by slave world
which wants to destroy us, cannot afford to
forget
The question is: What is it all for, this
spending of almost unimaginable resources
OF energy and treasure on scale never be-
fore so much as approximated in history?
Why may we be asked, as people, for per-
sonal material sacrifices greater than any
we have yet known?
There is a simple answer-that we must
defend ourselves and our friends among the
nations against the forces of darkness which
are our enemies. But that is not the whole
answer by any means.
The real answer is that we are doing this
if it is to have any real and permanent
meaning at all-in order to preserve the best
and oldest ideal that history knows, which
| is freedom. Freedom means many things
1t means high degree of personal respon-
sibility and pride, in which one cares for
himself and his family without looking to
government for aid unless no other avenue
! is open. 1t means, in the fine old sense of
the phrase, a government which is the SER
want and never the master of the people 1t
means that leadership and national purpose
come from the people and are not imposed
upon them from above. 1t means a deep
spiritual belief that every man is important,
as person and an entity-and that men in
the mass can never be allowed to submerge
the individual, and make him number
among faceless millions of numbers.
Whatever we have done, are doing, or
must do, will be worth every necessary cost
if this ideal is kept bright and shining be-
fore us. But if we lose tiff we allow the
individual to become a powerless, driven
pawn in a game played by rulers-every-
thing worthwhile will be lost too.