For the Duration! – Sunday, June 13, 1943
One of the most common of the phrases in current vogue is that one so often used to describe virtually every change and circumstance occasioned by war—the phrase—”For the duration.” We read of goods that are unavailable for the duration; of services that are discontinued for the duration; of establishments that have closed for the duration; of luxuries and pleasures, of travels and trips, that are definitely out for the duration; of men and women in service for the duration.
This is as it must be under the circumstances. It is realized by every sane person that life in time of war cannot be lived as life in time of peace. War in itself is an evil, and in the face of a great evil some of the good things of life must be temporarily sacrificed, both tangible and intangible. But we are also aware that this philosophy is abused in some instances—that there are those who use war as an excuse for things which otherwise might not be excusable.
There is, for example, the Sunday School teacher who declines to teach for the duration, who, in reality is doing nothing more or nothing different from what she was previously doing. In other words, there are some things being blamed onto the war which, in reality, the war is not responsible for, but is merely being used as an umbrella to cover a multitude of sins and shortcomings. Goodness knows war has enough to account for, without unfairly adding to the appalling list of the things for which it is guilty. War, for example, should not be blamed for the destruction of freedom by those who would have sought to destroy it anyway.
War should not be blamed for resorting to expediency for which it is not responsible. War should not be blamed for the neglect and delinquency of children by parents who even in time of peace were disinclined to be responsible for their children. War should not be blamed for loose morality on the part of those who are merely looking for an excuse for their indulgence. In other words, war must not be permitted to glorify evils which have their roots elsewhere—not even for the duration. And deficiencies for which the war is not responsible must not falsely be given a patriotic flavor.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 13, 1943, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright-1943.
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June 13, 1943
Broadcast Number 0,721