World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations
_What are the moral standards and actions of the men in war time_? At
the very beginning, we must recognize the difficulty and danger of
generalizations. No two men in the army are precisely alike. All
sweeping generalizations are likely to be misleading. Regiments differ
from one another and workers receive differing impressions of the front.
Most of all we must distinguish between the different classes in the army.
It has been repeatedly affirmed that not more than 20 per cent of the men
now under arms among the British troops were connected with the churches
in any vital way before the war, or were regular in attendance at their
services. Of this minority perhaps a half--those who were weak or
nominal Christians before the war or have lost the higher standards of
peace time or have hidden whatever religion they may have had--would not
now be classed as definitely Christian men. But the remaining half, or
one-tenth of the total number in the army, would probably be out-and-out
Christians, strengthened by the severe discipline of the war and living
under distinctly Christian standards.
At the other or lower extreme, there are perhaps one-tenth who are
so-called "rotters," the men who set the evil standards of the camp and
whose conduct is almost altogether selfish and materialistic. Between
these two extremes are the great majority, or four-fifths, whom it is so
difficult to classify. It is our conviction that these men "are not
saved, but are salvable."
What are the moral standards of this majority? They are not definitely
Christian. Rather, they have a military, material standard of the type
of a somewhat primitive social group. Their expressions unconsciously
reveal their judgments. Their constant demand of one another is "to play
the game," that is, to play fair and to do one's part in order to win the
game for the good of all. Anything which harms, hinders, or endangers
another, which brings suffering to one's fellows or defeat to one's side,
is not playing the game. They condemn unmanly actions which bring
defeat, and praise the practical and virile virtues. As one chaplain
writes: "I believe nearly all live partly by faith in a good God. I have
never found men afraid to die, even though they were afraid before
battle. As to the standards by which they live, I should say they are
the sanctions of group morality. They have very lax ideas about
drunkenness and sexual irregularity, but they have very strict ideas
about the sacredness of social obligations within the groups to which
they belong. I would mention sheer fear of public opinion as one of the
great weaknesses of the men. They would rather be in the fashion than be
right. And most of them have been hardened--though not necessarily in a
bad sense."
As we ask ourselves what are the virtues which the majority admire in
others and practice themselves to a greater or lesser degree, we would
say that they are chiefly five:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account