1941-01-14 — Page 7

CHINA MAIL How Brave Are You?

-WINDSOR HOUSE

FAMINE OF FACTS

On

this

GREAT deal of nonsense is talked about bravery by peo- ple who know little or nothing about psychology and the work ings of the human mind. The

question of feeding people in Nazi- civilian usually judges bravery by controlled countries there medals and decorations, and these accurate seems to be at least as are not necessarily an great a shortage of facts as of food.

guide.

which may cause needless casual-[the adrenal glands to abnormal pounded by shells and swept by ties amongst his comrades.

activity is fear.

Under its influence they greatly would mean that panic had cloud-

The country doesn't pay a sol- dier to get killed, but to

stay alive and kill encantes. Yet the

increase the secretion of their marvellous fluid, which acts on

machine-guns. It is not brave to make a blind dash for it. This

ed his judgment, and he would

man who is the essence of caution the body as a supercharger acts almost certainly be knocked out and always keeps his head below on a car. It speeds up mind,

The brave man would volunteer the parapet will certainly not be nerves and muscles, and enables for the job, knowing he had a thought much of.

us to perform feats of strength, good chance of doing it success- agility and quick thinking that fully. are normally far beyond our cap- acity.

I know a genial scallywag who, You see, the soldier is first and one night during the last war, foremost a practical man. His No one can be untouch-absorbed most of the company's comment on any given action is: rum ration and then wandered nff | “What's the use of it?" Reck-

subsequent exploits

cans

sure

earned him the V.C., but his pals had to ex-

plain to him what all the fuss was about before was a hero!

he

discovered he

ed by the possibility of alone into no-man's-land, His famine. But some Ameri- are charging that agitation which puts pres- on Britain to raise the blockade is the Nazis' Every soldier in the last war knew that after a successful show, best weapon for dividing which was probably a walk over, America and weakening bagsful of decorations were allot the effort to save demo-ted to each

cracy.

Others

who

battalion and were often shared out indiscriminately,

declare whereas prodigies of heroism

By Humphrery Hume

lessness can sometimes be essen- tial, It may save a man's life, or gain invaluable information, or

save precious time.

as

Whether you are a hero or a coward depends on how you use the powers conferred

upon you by this rush of adrenalin Into the blood stream. If you use them to remove yourself as rapidly possible to a place of safety you may be showing either reasonable caution or abject cowardice, de- pending on circumstances. The really brave man will always try to use the stimulus of fear in or- der to do the best he can for the cause he serves.

It is clear, then, that

true

The difference usually is that the reckless fool performs his food is the best propagan-might be performed in a show that antics with a self-conscious swag-bravery demands something more da for freedom and that was a milure without any one re-

ger, while the

brave man does than indifference to personal dan- i cerving So much as A measly

them as though those

they were the the

ger. It needs expert knowledge. Military Medal. No, medals are

Formal and obvious thing to do.

The more one knows, the better can one decide what is best to do in any given situation. The man who has mastered a job is unlike ly to feel punte If called upon to do it in dangerous circumstances.

Suppose, for instance, a man

oppose Hoover project are un- not the standard by which the Christian monsters. There soldier judges bravery, is a surplus of emotion, a famine of facts.

an

Bravery isn't a matter of what you feel Pke inside. The man who I a queer thing, this question says he never feels afraid is either

insane Fear is of courage. The man who exposes a liar or hell recklessly in the front | enormously powerful emoton im- Nature for the Here, for instance, are the not brave, but a plain fool, planted in us by some things that are not who not only throwing his own purpose of preserving our lives. has to carry a message across a lie away, but is drawing the fire | The only thing that will stimulate | stretch of land that is being known:

1.

Whether German-

and British statements: that there is food enough are accurate. This appears to depend on whether the

Goals For New Order

Nazis will distribute the With the British Government !

total supply, which is be- statement on war aims and peace lieved to be sufficient for aims expected shortly, individual Cabinet Ministers appear to have the winter. They arel

been preparing the way for an known to have shipped official pronouncement with more large quantities of meats precise and fats out of occupied after the war in which the ideal There is food of social security for all the peo- countries. in the Balkans-if distri-plc has been the keynote. buted.

definition of their own versions of the new order to come

Undoubtedly Reichsfuehrer Hit- ler's latest appeal to the working 2. Whether the Ger- people that his new order will end the privileged position of the plu- mian Army, which is will-}

focrats in the democracies has ing to have people in the helped to prompt replies from re- democratic quarters. occupied countries fed, sponsible

But actually the British Cabinet can overrule the Nazi had already started to modify its party policy which is said stand against a statement on war to count on weakening re-aims before Herr Hitler spoke. sistance and teaching the

The Cabinet is understood al-

hungry that Britain is to ready to have given some time to blame. In other words, is a discussion of the aims issue and the prime requisite ait is significant that the three La- German guarantee ob-bour members of the Inner War tainable?

Cabinet, Mr. Herbert Morrison, Mr. Ernest Bevin, and Mr. Arthur

By Peter Lyne

Greenwood have

felt themselves free to give more than a hint of the kind of new world they seek.

Approach To Specifications

ly by the rich must be continued

in peace.

One lunch guest was heard to groan, "That means no return to the normal income tax.'

+2

But another guest, Lord Nuffield, was heard to say afterward to the lunch, Lord chairman of the Nathan, "I agree with every word of Morrison's speech-and 1 am a millionaire,"

"social disense

Mr. Bevin, speaking the

day before, had said that poverty and Their speeches have contrasted unemployment must in the future

like illiteracy." with the more cautious generali-be regarded as a

Poverty And Idleness Banned

Lies of previous government spokesmen whose remarks were regulated by the view that the Government has hitherto adhered to that the first and almost the only aim worthy of full attention in the present state of the strug- gle is to achieve victory and re- just and happy order for Europe

Mr. Greenwood looked forward.

and new

to building after war: "a broader for advance."

move Nazlism, the obstacle to any freedom

and the world.

opportunities

By noting the intervals between shell salvos, by observing exposed pieces of ground and avoiding them, by knowing the approxi- mate position of enemy machine- guns and keeping as clear as pos- sible of their field of fire, by us- ing the speed and energy given to him by the increase of adrenalin in his blood to make swift dashes at favourable moments from one bit of shelter to another, he would probably get through.

A large proportion of what we call bravery is just plain deter- mination. If every man in a bat- talion is determined to capture a given objective, that position will usually be carried. It was found again and again in the last war that supposedly impregnablé posi- tions could be captured by deter- mined troops, whereas far more vulnerable places were success- fully held against men who lacked this spirit.

men

Determination need not involve. the element of risk. That is why generals are dubious about bat- talions which have a large number of

on falling out route. marches. They know that if men have insufficient perseverance to carry them through a twenty-mile tramp in spite of fatigue, they will, not be likely to force their way forward until they get within bayonet thrust of the enemy.

Then again, there is the question of ruthlessness. I doubt whether a really brave man could be con- sistently soit-hearted and unsel fish. It is not merely a matter of being able to ignore the danger of personal mutilation or death. In war one becomes curiously in- different to such things. It re- quires far more bravery to nr- der men one likes to do a job that will mean almost certain death, while one stops behind in com- parative safety.

A pilot who would go joyously into an aerial scrap against impos- sible odds would go almost crazy when, promoted to a senior posi- tion, he could only wait helpless- ly at the aerodrome and issue or- ders to others to do the dirty work.

Perhaps the most important at- tribute of bravery, is self-control.

Staying in a spot because you have been ordered to stop there.

Looking cheerful and confident when you wish you were a thou- sand miles away.

Kceping your limbs steady when your knees want to do a tap dance.

forthcoming Government declara- and peace aims, but clearly the simple physical reactions which

There is undoubtedly a still

Not that the outward signs of It is emphasised in well-in strong controversy over the ques- fear would matter much if you formed circles that while the tion of a statement of war aims were alorie. They are mostly

tion on aims can be expected to Government is now more inclined would be almost exactly dupli- go some way beyond previous of- to recognise that, even if a precise cated if a doctor gave you an in- ficial statements, it is even so un-plan for the future cannot pos-Jection of adrenalin, and have likely to extend further than an sibly be evolved yet, there are little to do with the way you per- outline of the broad principles many good reasons for making a sonally would behave. tain's policy for upon which will be based Bri- more definite pronouncement than.

the rest of the hitherto that Britain is fighting But because fear can so easily 3. Whether the peoples

war and afterward.

not just for democracy, which it develop into panic, and panic is themselves are asking for

is admitted was full of shortcom- communicated" mainly by "instinc- Individual Ministers are under-ings, but rather for democratictive mimicry, it is vitally import- food, Many of their re-

stood to have submitted memorán progress-progress in which short-ant to avoid giving way to open latives oppose food ship- opinion on this point, even dums on the subject and account comings, notably in economic and symptoms of fear. ments and their refugee in Berlin. What is need- is being taken of the views of re-social inequalities, will be re- governments appear to be ed is more information on presentatives of the Dominions medied or at all events the sincer-

and the foreign_governments now est efforts will be made to remedy desperate emergency, shoot a man

them. the actual effect. Exper-functioning in Britain, actively backing the blockade. In the last few ience with some of the Economic Tasks Faced days spokesmen for Free present or proposed small-

All three Labour Ministers

Great Contrasts To Go

Further, evidence of how res-

That is why an officer will, in a

who tries to bolt. Not that the fel- Iow would not be a good rid-

till he dropped. It is the example of fear that is dangerous, and un- less it were instantly checked it.

dance if he were allowed to run

• France and for the Czechs scale efforts to feed outly-l on the heavy social and ponsible quarters in Britain re- have opposed the sending ing areas such as Spain or economic tasks which will have eognise that there will be no re- would be copied first by one man Finland, or with the work to be faced after the war and in-turn to the spacious easy days of and then by another unill all were of food.

sisted therefore on the absolute old, with their contrast of great on the run, of the Friends' Service necessity of holding out the goal wealth and dire poverty, is seen 4. Whether feeding Committee and the pro-ple now straining under the im-radio address to the United States of bravery knowledge,

of social security to all those peo- in the concluding sentences of the peoples under German do-ject for Red Cross distri- mense burden of war. mination will help them bution of evaporated milk Bluntly, Mr. Morrison at Dor- to stand up for freedom or to children in unoccupied chester Hotel told the gathering "We seek no conquest, we seek will only save the Nazis France might alter the of mostly well-to-do people, in- no gain," he said. "Our war is a the necessity of feeding present position of the cluding a large number of busf war of sacrifice; we shall end it nessmen, that Britain will have poorer in wealth, mourning our workers they have draft- British and American to plan its postwar economic life dead, looking back on misery and

their war machine, | Governments. Or more on a more coopérative and less suffering, but these are the right cut any one asks How brave

archaic basis than at present. sacrifica for our goal is to estab

lish for ourselves and others, the you are, you can confidently reply appear to be wide knowledge may confirm

He urged that the sacrifices of natural human right live us | that you can train you differences of that position.

wartime now Being made willing-, free men..

as brave as may be

Th

Those, then, are the thgredients

deter by Mr. Ronald Cross, Minister of mination, ruthlessness and self- Shipping: N

Control. Ruthlessness is the only one that may be distasteful, and it can often be dispensed with, as it is only essential to those who aspire to leadership. All the others are perfectly capable of being cul- tivated by any intelligent person,