My grandfather, Carl S. Hawkins, died this past week. In the joyful reunion he is having with his wife and sweetheart, my grandmother Nelma, his family, and I, his granddaughter, have discovered a new and joyful reunion with a side of him we barely knew.
Among his historical photos, clippings, and family biographies, there is a scrapbook composited in a simple notebook. Written in August of 1943 by his mother, Wilma Stolworthy Hawkins, it includes her thoughts on his birth and childhood, numerous stories of his accomplishments, tidbits of insight into his personality, mention of his father and brothers and sister, photos, programs, and much more. At the very end of this scrapbook, there is a speech which my grandfather wrote and delivered at the Provo High School Girls Assembly, March 19, 1943. He was seventeen and about to face his final year of high school without his two best friends, who were leaving to serve in WWII. Accompanied by music performed by those friends and my grandmother, this young man who would go on to accomplish such remarkable achievements for his country, his profession, his church, and his family, spoke words so touching and thought-provoking that they could easily be spoken today with the same meaning for a different time. Recognized with a War Bond and much praise then, I can only hope that by sharing it with you, you may find your own great reward in his words, his thoughts, and his insights.
Forward New Horizon
By Carl S. Hawkins, March, 1943
As I look toward New Horizons, I see before me the kind of world I want to live in following the war. But I see more than visions of a glorious future, dreams of a rosy utopia, and aspirations for clear sailing ahead. More immediately I see a world of chaos, of perplexing problems, and complex situations. It is to the cause of these more immediate problems that I dedicate my subject matter.
You may wonder what kind of a world I want. Without philosophizing I can express my opinion in one sentence: The world I desire is one in which the forces making for peace and the enrichment of human life prevail over those that lead to conflict and destruction – an ideal, I admit, extremely difficult of achievement. But an ideal which I am sure every thinking American will conform to. Differ as we may on details we find common ground in this one basic desire.
Then the fundamental problem is not what kind of world do we want to live in, but upon what basis are we to achieve this ideal. We look to the war with Christian-like aspirations, hoping that out of the havoc and anguish of destruction, there shall emerge a new order which somehow will solve the problems of nationalistic rivalries and insure peace and well being to succeeding generations. This cannot be.
The elements of peace are not found in war. War is not a magical prelude to spontaneous peace; rather is it the embryo of future strife. Therefore, we cannot be satisfied that this war shall end in consequent peace. The only insurance of such peace is material preparation now.
How then would I have us prepare for peace? First, expressing only my humble opinion as an American youth, I would have us rededicate our purpose. Instead of looking at that which is bad and trying to found a just system by covering up these evils, I would have us look for that which is good in man, that which is basic and normal; and with these principles we must rebuild society upon a natural foundation. In my estimation there are four of these basic principles upon which any system that is to foster a just and lasting peace must depend.
The first of these basic principles I have called “the equality of man.” This fundamental incorporates all the essentials of democracy which we so passionately defend. When men live in a world which guarantees equality we need no longer fear the forces of intolerance and prejudices, for with equal rights and equal life, equal understanding is the inevitable. With equality of men there can be no “have” and “have-not” nations; there will be equal opportunity and equal access to the world’s resources. Thus by basing post-war reconstruction on this first principle, the recognition of the equality of man, we shall overcome countless conditions which breed war.
The second principle is closely allied with the first. This basic principle upon which any ideal world must rest is the recognition of “the dignity of man.” To give man equality is not sufficient for then we have only a standard of quality and not a standard of culture; neither is it enough to recognize his dignity, for dignity may be recognized under tyranny. But make a society of individuals who enjoy both equality and dignity and their standards of living and culture shall reach such noble aspirations that war shall become an outdated barbarism.
The third basis of a just and free society I shall call “the virtue of human emotion.” This philosophy sustains the belief that the fundamental human emotions are natural and good. We have not always recognized this fact. Even now we hear orators proclaiming to the high heavens that the emotions of jealously, enthusiastic patriotism, and nationalism have caused the war and consequently must be ruthlessly eradicated from the souls of man if there is to be peace. How negative, how narrow is the thinking of these men. It is natural that man should love, that man should love his country and consequently become nationalistic and patriotic. As it is also natural that he should be jealous of that which is his own and fight for that which he is deprived of. But these human emotions need not be causes of war; they may just as well be bearers of peace. Divert the course of man’s natural love to devotion for a world federation and his fellow world citizens, and we shall have overcome the energetic force of nationalism by utilizing its potential power to insure a constructive peace. As man is naturally jealous, his jealousy need not guard only his own rights. But he can be made to realize that the existence of his own rights is dependant upon mutual defense of the rights of all his fellow man, and he will then defend with equal and fervent jealousy the rights of his neighbor. As such the emotion of jealousy ceases to be a cause of war but rather a guarantee of human rights. The inborn emotions of man, as endowed in him by his creator, are natural and good and are the primary foundation of a just and peaceful life.
While the preceding three principles are idealistic, the fourth is an attempt to make a foundation for our more common problems of economics and life together. This principle which I have called “the reciprocal self-sufficiency of man,” is the fundamental basis of economic society. It is based upon the ideal that each man possesses sufficient productive energy to meet his own needs. Why should man go unemployed and starving when he possesses the ability to produce those necessities of life. Further develop this principle and put the productive energy of each man to work in specialized channels for the good of society as a whole and in return each man shall receive that which he needs and more. Build a society upon the recognition of this principle and unemployment shall disappear. Under such a system there can be neither extremely rich nor extremely poor but all men shall enjoy a higher standard of living than hitherto achieved in the annals of human history.
There you have the New Horizon toward which I aspire: a world which offers me equality – equality of rights and of opportunity; a world which recognizes the dignity of man, which believes in me because it is founded upon the principles that I aspire toward. Culture, dignity, and whole ideals; a society which is founded upon belief in the common man, which recognizes my emotions as natural and virtuous and accepts them as guarantees of a better life. And finally a world in which I am guaranteed the right to work in happiness and live in wholesome comfort without fear of war.
But how would I attain this ideal? How in the midst of turmoil and destruction can we build a society based upon these natural principles? I say to you let us begin at home. Let us prove that such an ideal is practical by making it work now, on our own shores. Then shall we be prepared to carry it abroad. This is where we as Americans have failed so pitifully. I should like to prove this point by quoting a letter from a typical draftee to his father.
“Dear Dad,
I’ve read your letters with interest and followed the newspapers with hope, yet nowhere do I see a sign of the spirit I hope to see this war bearing out.
Dad, even you seem to overlook one factor. You ask me for ideas on what you might do.
I wish I spoke for every soldier now- I pray I speak for a few. Here’s what you, and every American, can do. You can give me a living thing to fight for. You can mend Democracy behind the lines while we defend it from the fore. You can give me and every thinking man with a gun, whose only excuse for killing is the defense of his country, of his home, and his government, a real government to defend. And you can give us something to come back to besides a mélange of poverty and plenty, with the accent on the former.
I don’t want free cigarettes on a carte blanche to a heroic suicide. I want a real democracy to return to, not an ideal behind which hide forty-million under-privileged citizens, a host of crooked politicians and a mass of factions each striving to cut the other’s throat. I have often wondered what the sharecropper or the Negro in the South had to fight for. His plight might be worse, but how much worse could it be?
Don’t show me the spinning machinery of a hundred thousand factories, for behind each wheel I see a sweatshop. Don’t remind me of Valley Forge, Gettysburg, the Maine, the Alamo. Democracy lives on tomorrow, not yesterday. Don’t tell the sharecropper to forget his rickets, his debts, the blank future, and be happy because one hundred years ago Old Ironsides won a battle in the Mediterranean.
Too many men have died for an ideal that never was. I don’t want to join their ranks!”
And that ends the letter.
Americans, it is our solemn duty to see that such young soldiers have more to fight for than the shallow glories of a futile victory. Yes, let us mend democracy from behind the lines while they defend it from the fore. Let us build a society which guarantees “the equality of man” and “the dignity of man”; which recognizes “the virtue of human emotions” and “the right to reciprocal self sufficiency.” When this is done, then shall America stand as the bulwark of eternal peace and the hope of free men every where. The challenge is ours!
I wish I could ask my grandfather now, after serving in the war and being among the generation that built a new America and a new world, what he sees in his words now. I can hear him chuckle at some of the more naive, and humble graciously at the skilled prose of such a young man. I would ask him what he would write now if he were of my generation, facing wars and conflicts without end and the terrorizing of democracy from within my own country by its own citizens. But part of the legacy that he left me with is the ability and opportunity to answer these questions in my own words. And so I will search to find my own new horizon, sure in the knowledge that Grandpa is in the sunset behind me and the dawn before me.
