Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Friday, December 9, 1960

I saw an interesting experiment not long ago. A jeweler friend of mine was showing two objects to a lady customer. One was rather dull, jagged and ugly, the other appeared to be a gem of great value for it shone and glittered and it was beautiful. He asked her which she liked to have. Naturally she said she'd like the beautiful gem. He then told her it was a $40 zircon, a cheaper stone that looked like a diamond but had few of the diamonds’ exceptional qualities. The other stone was a diamond, but it was uncut and unpolished.  In spite of the fact it was worth 100 times more than the brilliant zircon. I thought to myself how typical of humans. Isn't it true that few of us fail to recognize a diamond in the rough. We don't want it. We will not except it even if it's forced upon us. We want the glitter, the polish, the show.  We don't really care much about values just as long as we make an impression. And so we surround ourselves with ostentation. The planned obsolescence of our rocket-festooned, chrome plated cars, our gee-whiz designed washing and drying machines, our "right today - old tomorrow" refrigerators and hundreds of other gadgets with which we clutter up our lives eats away endlessly at our pocketbooks and form their cancers on our souls. We have learned only price and forgotten value. It's ever onward and upward with Benzedrine to bounce and Seconol to sleep and pass the bottle when you get dry.

I talked to a brilliant young minister of the gospel the other day and he told me the only subject he couldn't speak on was "peace of mind". There must be a lesson in there somewhere but who among us will slow up long enough to discover what it might be?

What do I want most in life? Some of the subject matter my friend couldn't speak about. A little tranquility, some simplicity and recognition of value without reference to price. Call me a dreamer. You would think in 37 years I'd have learned we are all either valued too highly or not highly enough. We are never taken at our real worth.

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - July 21, 1964

I know two farmers. One of them owns 1500 acres of land. His land is good land and every year his harvest is rich. He raises cattle on his farm and pigs too and sells them at a good profit. When his own harvest has been brought in, he hires out his machinery to neighbors and works their fields for a good profit.  He toils from sun up until sunset every day of the year and his farm is a model of all that a farm should be. However, he lives in a small, ancient, shabby home that lacks most of the comforts we have all come to expect. My other former friend owns a small piece of 300 acres. He has a few cattle, but they are for his own milk needs and not to sell for beef. In every respect, his farm is modest.  The outbuildings are old and in need of repair. The corrals could use a coat of paint and the barn floor has broken through in a few places. But he and his wife live in a comfortable large home that boasts all the amenities.  They have worked long and hard for the comfort of this home and it is the focal point of their whole modest farm. The first farmer is often written up in the papers as the personification of all that a farmer should be. The second farmer labors on in obscurity.  The first farmer has thousands in the bank. The second farmer has to scrape now and then to make the mortgage payments.  Considering these two situations how would you rate these two farmers? I would say the first farmer is very successful, but the second farmer is by far the wiser. But then, maybe it's all a matter of values.

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown

I picked up a copy of Life recently and read where the Ku Klux Klan was on the march again in Saint Augustine, Florida, and throughout the south.  To most Canadians, the Klan is something we read about in books. Or perhaps our memories go back to an ancient motion picture called "The Birth of a Nation" which focused a great deal of attention on the Klan. But the Klan is not that remote. I remember watching a meeting of the Klan back in the thirties in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  It was held in front of the Exhibition Grandstand and was complete with hooded members and the burning of three crosses. Over the years I have asked myself, what kind of man does it take to don a silly white sheet with a pointed hood. What kind of a mentality does it take to burn a home, or club Negro to death, or deface a synagogue? It is hard to believe, isn't it, that man is still mostly animal away down deep and that certain of us like the idea of joining a society that allows us to release our hostilities on someone of a different faith or colour and still remain anonymous by way of a dirty bedsheet. The segregation in the south is a problem that is many many years from being solved but here in Canada we have our own conflicts and our own interracial problems. It is well to remember that organizations like the Klan do nothing but make a bad situation worse and we must all be vigilant that these organizations are not permitted growing room in our own community. Problems continue to confront us all in our dealings with our fellow men. They can be solved if we face them and teach our children to face them openly and honestly in the light of good Christian teaching. A fiery cross, a lynching or a bomb in the mailbox is the answer to nothing.

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown

Miss. E. R. Godfrey is a social worker in Hamilton, Ontario. Speaking in a discussion group at the Canadian Conference on Social Welfare recently, she reported that there has been an increase in the number of married couples placing their babies out for adoption so that they can purchase a second car.  She said the parents involved usually claimed they can't afford the baby or that it doesn't fit in with their plans. Almost unbelievable isn't it, yet it is happening right here in our own country. Miss Godfrey went on to state that most of these parents are immature and very susceptible to social pressures. Well, immature they must certainly be, but isn't it time we looked at a system that can create such pressures?  Isn't it about time we all started to take a real good look at those things in life that are really important? We are all so obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses, with our new cars every year, our new homes, and the gadgets with which we filled them, that we have lost sight of the things that really matter.  Who among us has not in the last year bought something we didn't need and couldn't afford just to impress someone we really don't like. And now we are trading in our babies for second cars. I don't hold too much to the churches idea of immortality. I feel that any immortality I am to have will be through my children, and their children on down the line. What a pity it would be to give away your immortality because of the social pressures of this materialistic society in which we live.

Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown

Former heavyweight champion, Floyd Patterson was back in the news recently. He had a couple of wins in Europe and stated he was back on the comeback trail. I feel sorry for Patterson. I remember seeing him fight some years ago when he was just 19. Because of his age he was only permitted to go three rounds, but Floyd, back then, was really something. I remember saying to my father one night as we watched him box, "there is the next worlds heavyweight champ." This he became. However, if you follow boxing you know that throughout his career Patterson never really came up against a fight. His managers made sure that his opponents were pushovers. Floyd never had a tough one until he fought Liston and tin one round it was over. I relate this little story to point out that all of us in our lives need battles. We need to rub shoulders with the great buzz saw of adversity.  If we are sheltered from the wars of life by well-meaning parents, they do us no favors, for, like Patterson, we never really know what we're made of until it's too late. There is a natural instinct in parents to shelter their children from harm. When they are very young this is wise, but as soon as they can, let them stand on their own two feet and fight their own battles.  You cannot learn too early in life that the heart and soul of a man goes down very hard and leaps from ruin quickly. Like it or not, life is a jungle so teach your children how to take one on the chin and come back swinging. Teach them to fight fair certainly, but DO teach them to fight.