THE PETERITE Vol. LVII
FEBRUARY, 1965
No. 368
EDITORIAL A piece of paper confronts you, unavoidably, at some stage; by the side of blank spaces are headings—"Clubs and Societies, etc.", "Hobbies and Interests". You are going for an interview or a job, and this is part of the process of finding out and making an estimate of you. Grinning unconcernedly, throwing up your hands in horror at this "competitive spirit" and "the rat-race", or collecting more talismans of your acceptability, like those who festoon the fronts of their cars to exhibit their status, are some of the possible reactions to one inescapable fact—that what you do affects what you are: your flair for painting or music, your interest in farming or chess, your idea that you might perhaps like to take part in a play or learn something about sailing or photography, are mere emptiness until you do something about it. This is obvious; this is what education is about—drawing out your potential. But there is a tendency to think of education as what is forced on you at school. So it is possible to remain negative or at least neutral and non-commital, even with quite high academic qualifications : you are a dog who can perform interesting tricks, in a frilly collar, too, and you don't often turn round and bite your master. But quite possibly you are a dull dog, too, without much adventurousness; you just go through the hoops. This is why it is important to organise your leisure time; work or leisure, you are all the time doing, or not doing, something, and it matters what that something is. The lucky people are those who seem naturally inquisitive or creative: the rest of us 'have to bring habits and selfdiscipline to bear. We will look that reference up, force ourselves to make a contribution at a meeting or discussion, use our Sunday afternoon, read that book—even work that idea out on paper for "Oasis". "For men who really care" might have been the punchline of an advertisement for a hair tonic, but in fact it was the rather successful motto of a university United Nations Association—successful, because it was a challenge to people's self-respect. They ought to be interested in the United Nations because this was one of the most hopeful means of the world situation changing for the better. And curiously enough, being provoked this way into finding out, they did become genuinely interested. It might be salutary for people to ask themselves what they are interested in, care about and take part in. But perhaps those who don't do enough have not got this far anyway.
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