A ROOM OF OUR OWN
Follette, Isabel B. La
A Room Of Our Own By Isabel B. Follette if OTHER, what can I do 'xciting?" asks seven-1VJL year-old Sherry on a rainy afternoon. The question recalled a novel of Louis Bromfield in which he...
...I suppose I am particularly aware of that these days because it seems to me that war produces on every hand the hectic demand for excitement...
...A friend whose husband is an aviator on the New Guinea front asks anxiously, "I haven't heard from Dave in over two weeks...
...How many older men and women tell us, "I'd rather wear out than rust out...
...It is not an easy task—but what is these days?— to continue to convey the truth that peacetime battles can be just as thrilling, venturesome, and worth while...
...Power Of Personal Example When the time comes for the transition from Wartime to peacetime adventure, there will be plenty of opportunity for all of us according to our individual abilities and tastes if only we know what we want...
...I think it is particularly difficult for those of us who have struggled in the fields of politics, health, relations between capital and labor, education, and so on, to see the war spirit capture the imagination, courage, and labor of so many who have given their lives to these great causes...
...The tension of the battle-front is reflected here at home among the millions of people with ties to the men involved, and one sees on every hand an increasing restlessness and even recklessness...
...Since the power of personal example is unlimited, I feel that another vital task for us here at home is to, insofar as possible, live joyfully the value we believe in...
...Another friend worries over her nephew who at the age of 19 has been awarded two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart for bombing over the European continent...
...Of course they should cooperate with the war effort as best they can, but is this any reason for abdicating in favor of emergency necessity...
...We accept the fact that we have to win the war (although just what that means has never been clearly defined for us) but I am convinced that if we are to "win" in any sense, that our cooperation with the war effort must not mean casting aside even from our inner consciousness the values that make life worth while...
...Our son Bob asked me the other evening, "You wouldn't have chosen this political battling on your own, would you...
...that that was why the Japanese and Germans had it over us...
...post-war problems will be vitally affected by the quality of the people who meet them...
...I think it is those of us constantly aware of the marvellous potentialities in life who resent so bitterly the tragic waste of war...
...The temper of the times reflects itself in these boys and girls craving excitement and more excitement, and who are not being channelled into the normal expressions of the venturesomeness of youth...
...They are going to be hard, but we can make them 'xciting...
...that I always believe in utilizing the opportunities that lie at our door...
...We all make our mistakes, but "while there's life there's hope" and most of us regret opportunities we failed to take rather than our choices that did not pan out...
...If We Are To Win' While these youths are becoming, from the standpoint of experience, old men, various agencies here at home are warning us of the alarming increase in juvenile delinquency among young people whose fathers are at war and mothers working in defense industries...
...and that one of Phil's outstanding characteristics as a leader is his personal enthusiasm and joy in living and his unquestioning faith that life can be made so for everyone else...
...and the wonderful thing about life and people is the infinite variety...
...The question recalled a novel of Louis Bromfield in which he comments several times on characters who want life to be more exciting than it can ever be...
...that with all the ups and downs it has been a great adventure...
...Wonderful Thing About Life A military executive told me recently that he would take the boys before 17 if he could get them, since the younger they are the better they can be taught unquestioning obedience...
...that is why, I continued, so many people enjoy working with Phil while others with different values cannot understand him...
...They do not realize what they are risking, the price to be exacted, nor the responsibility to themselves and to others involved in their search for excitement, while adults concentrate on winning the war...
...and surely one of the greatest boons we can give to the men returning from the disruption and horrors of war is a sense of buoyancy, self-confidence, and enthusiasm toward the problems that lie ahead...
...Phil hasn't mentioned seeing him lately, has he...
...I replied no, but that I had absolutely no regrets...
...But then, I continued, I couldn't possibly play football or hunt (although I hardly dare make such a statement or the fates will decide that that is just what I should do...
...I did not 'argue, since in the first place he may be right from his viewpoint, but more important I realized that his eye is set on one immediate task and it is useless for me to •raise the question as to the quality of people we are developing to solve the world's future problems...
...It will have its effect on the young people about us even though they are not conscious of it at the moment...
Vol. 7 • November 1943 • No. 44
