Article March 3, 1962 Issue

Signs of the Times

Charles H. Malik

The Rotarian

Dr. Charles H. Malik, Former President of the UN General Assembly in The Rotarian Evanston, Illinois

Those who have known in their lives and in their traditions the dignity of man and his freedom have tended to be too much on the defensive. Often they have talked and acted as though they were in the wrong. A certain fright and timidity—nay, a certain false modesty—have assailed them. They appear to forget that in every sphere of life the offensive, if genuinely and rightly mounted, is the best means of self-defense. Nothing, I believe, is more needed today than for those who know and believe in God, truth, man, and freedom to pass to the offensive. ...

There are people and forces, inside and outside the Western world, whose effect is to undermine whatever unity there is in that world. ... I am thinking of the softheaded, the duped, the tired, the frightened, the sentimental, the superficial, the unauthentic, and the perfectly innocent who mean well. If these people have their way, freedom will finally fall by sheer division and default. An offensive must therefore be mounted on this front. ...

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