The Northwest Enterprise

TOGETHER
By RUTH TAYLOR

Today we speak often of national unity, of the United States, of the United Nations. But how often do we bring this much-to-be-desired unity down out of the blue sky of generalities into our every day life?

National unity means just one thing. You and I and the man next door, the grocer down the street, the newsboy on the corner, the man who drives the bus we take to work or market - all of us must work and fight together for our common ideal of good for all the people, regardless of class, race, creed or color.

This is a War of Survival. The old barriers have broken down. Men are fighting side by side regardless of their backgrounds. Americans all, they are fighting for the preservation of the right to work and live as free men.

The courage of a man is what counts, not his class, race, creed or color.

The boys who fell at Bataan, who met death on the sea or in the high air over our myriad battle fronts, were fighting for us, and together with us. Can we let down their heroism by divisiveness at home?

"Now the frontiers are all closed. There is no other country we can run away to: At last we must turn and live with one another."

So speaks one of the poets of this new war. There is no dodging the issue. We must learn how to cooperate, how to get along with our neighbors, how to live together.

Wherever our duty - our opportunity for service - lies, we must work together, in shop and on the farm, at the battle front and in the home.

We must sacrifice together. We must prove our faith by putting into actual practice our belief in the democratic way of working together without asking other than that our fellow workers abide by the principles set down in our Bill of Rights.

Therein lies the great difference between the democracies and the totalitarian states. They fight under orders for the State -we fight together for the good of all people. This is the cohesive quality of democracy. This is why we work together now. This is why we will work together for the future and for a permanent peace in a world in which all men will be free.