Bethlen Naptár, 1949 (Ligonier)
Respect for ideals
74 BETHLEN NAPTÁR banditry, the disaster of World War III cannot be avoided.” He warns pointedly that “a purely materialistic philosophy is the height of unintelligence.” One need not be a profound thinker to see very clearly that our modern civilization, of which we are wont to speak in such boastful terms, is wholly devoted to the worshiping of material things. The philosophy which it has developed teaches that life knows but one problem, that by conquering the material things of this life, we are able to lay the road to happiness open to all mankind. It has made man a semi-God, who has but to get control over the forces of nature and the resources of the earth, and all the problems of life will find an easy solution. All the great ideals which have served as guiding stars of human efforts through the course of centuries, have been relegated to secondary importance in human affairs. Religion, though politely tolerated and outwardly observed, came to be regarded as a superstitious outgrowth of the Dark Ages. As a consequence, today there is a great struggle going on in the world. A struggle, the like of which mankind has never seen yet. Speaking of this struggle, people sometimes call it a cold war. Sometimes it is called a war between the East and the West. At other times it is called a global war. All these definitions tell only part of the story and are, for this very reason, more or less confusing. As far as methods are concerned, it is a cold war. As regards its geographical aspects, it is a war between the East and the West. And finally, as regards its extent, it is a global war. In reality, however, it is a war for the preservation of embattled human ideals, the outcome of which can easily be foretold. Victory in this gigantic struggle belongs to the side which upholds those ideals which are as old as age, and as indispensable to life as the very air which we breathe. Our American democracy and the. whole structure of the American form of life has been built on those great ideals. The founders of this country — you know it as well as I do — have been veritable worshippers of great human ideals. And if there is one thing in this universe of which we can be absolutely sure, it is the truth which declares that our American democracy will stand or fall with those ideals. In these days, in hundreds of American cities, towns and country places, tens and tens of thousands of young American people bid farewell to the schools, which have given them a preparation for their life work and for the battle which they will have to wage in quest of a happy life. Let me urge you, my young friends, to enter life with a clear vision, and with
