The Random Thoughts of Henry Holloway
(Written for the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Wilfred and Mable Pickles who had a popular radio programme - published September 23, 1955)
Wilfred and Mable have just celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary on both the Light Programme and television. I’m sure they had a wee quiet celebration of their own with nobody looking in and nobody listening.
Few people know the average man as well as Wilfred Pickles and he once said that his programme had taught him that the British people loved simple things. He summed them up under three headings - a home, a friend and a world at peace.
People who remember the march of tramping feet twice in a single generation and who are faced with the possibility of atomic wars, most certainly want a world at peace. But did you ever think that the things that make for peace have their roots in human nature - unselfishness, generosity, kindness. This week I met and talked with on several occasions, a German, who had a most delightful personality. The things that divide us or unite us are in the hearts of men.
Have you got that house yet that you so badly wanted? The problem is still very grave. There are still far too many people without a house in which to live. The governments are doing their best and local authorities - let us be charitable - are doing what they can. But when you get that house it is a much bigger thing to make it into a home. And because people want to get back to a simple, friendly and sincere way of life they want a home in which to build up family life - a home in which there is so much of friendliness and love that young people will not be tempted to treat it as a hotel for ‘Bed and Breakfast’.
An American doctor had to move around a great deal with his wife and family because he was in the army. They were living in hotels mostly. One day someone said to one of the little girls, ‘It’s a pity you haven’t got a home. “Oh,’ said she, ‘We have a home, but we have no house to put it in’.
There used to be a calendar in my study with the picture of a dog on it. Printed on the calendar were the words: ‘It’s good to have a friend to come in when all the world goes out.’
Folk do want somebody to put a hand on their shoulder, to be interested in them, to share their laughter and sorrow, to understand. Of all the things we need, we need the quality of understanding most.
Of course, Wilfred Pickles had got three of the necessary things for life, a world at peace, a home, a friend - but it all depends on the friend.
The Old Book quotes a prayer of a very wise man, ‘Give me an understanding heart’. It also says, ‘There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’
| Previous |