Evening star., 1962-07-15
By SAUL PETIT
AP NewSfeatures Writer

the neat square lawns of their
street and the still dark houses
of their neighbors.
There was little movement. The
Pearsons had again forgotten to
turn off their sprinkler. The
LaughlinS' cat moved cautiously
along the flagStone walk between
the dogwoodS, darting backward
glanceS like a spy being followed.
He turned from the window and
noted with pleasure his wife asleep,
her brown hair rumpled girlishly
on the pillow, the small smile on
her face. He thought of the kids
across the hall and in the still
ness of an American home at
night, far from the noisy demands
of the day. he felt a deep peace.
The siren walled again. And
then he heard a second siren, but
both sounded distant. And Won
dering why his palms were sud-
denly moist. Was it a house on
fire
Or world? -.
No PorulIel for Ii
No one knows when it started.
No one can say when it will end.
1t arrived, it is there, it remains,
this age of shapeleSS, ubiquitous
crisis called the cold war, like a
cloud which seems to come from
everywhere and ends nowhere. It
casts its shadow behind every
jungle bush, every snowdrift, every
home, every plan or movement or
pretension of man.
1t is crisis without parallel in
history because the stakes have
never been so high. 1t involves
mans survival, and the fact that
that statement has the ring of
cliche reflects the extent of its
presence.
What does living on the edge
of crisis, on the edge of nuclear
oblivion, do to us? What has it
done to America and Americans,
emotionally, socially, politically.
economically? How are we
changed? What are the scars?
How deep are the trauma?
Anxiety in the mass is impoS-
sible to measure. There are no
cardiographs to record the heart
leaps when men hear fire sirens
and think of bombs. There are no
surveys that tell us how often or
how deep the cold war has become
part of our daily emotional life.
One can only speculate, and what
follows is the speculation of ex-
perts, of psychiatrists, pSycholo-
gistS, sociologistS, philosophers.
teachers, politicians, historians,
theologianS, economists, writers,
public opinion researchers, social
observers.
More Survival, Less Security
America in the age of crisis is
wrapped in irony. It lives, in
Dickens words. in the best of
times and the worst of times.
We live in better houses, we eat
better food, we survive more ill
ness, we live longer, we are kinder
to each other in the slow fight
against intolerance, we show more
conscience to the world. We have
extended democracy but in the
cold war we also have had to
strain it.
In the name of security, we have
tried to insure ourselves against
the lack of it, but no union con-
tract. no unemployment compen-
sation board, no pension, no med
ical team, no discovery of the
laboratory can guarantee that
any of us will breathe tomorrow.
We have spent more money -
more than any other nation in
history-to win friends and in
fluence people in the world, but
we hear more criticism of our
selves abroad than any time since
we became a world power.
We are richer and more power
full than ever before, but "the old
American confidence" as a ma
tional symptom, is gone. We have
huge stockpiles of nuclear bombs
and rockets and we have learned
to send a man around the world
in 80 minutes, but now we must
also learn to fight with knives in
the dark, in jungles and swamps
yet unnamed, in wars that may
never be declared.
The Contrast Is Stork
In sunshine, we hear thunder;
in stiffness, we hear the last tenn
pest. Never before" says ]. Glenn
Gray, philosophy teacher at Col
orado College, has the contrast
between mans power and his i'm
potence seemed so stark. :. Spir-
itual dizziness has become a per-
manent state. At last the universe
appears to be open and at mans
disposal, but at the same time
bottomless." =,
Here and there uncertainty ac-
tually changes lives. A mother
says, why should I have more
children to bring into the crazy
world?" A student says, why
should I spend IL years becoming
a doctor when the world may
blow up?" A professor leaves a
distinguished teaching job in
America and moves with his fam
lily to Australia because he thinks
his country may soon explode. A
young thinker discards creative
effort for a beard, guitar and
the life of a beatnik or nihilist,
believing only in nothing, dis
trusting everything.
But these are the exceptions,
even if their total runs into the