The Second World War (late 1930s) brings out Carver's disgust with war and advice for dealing with its ravaging effects on local economies.
Chapter 19 - Death-Dealing Devices
“There is one verse in the Bible,” Carver said, “that would settle all our differences, anxieties, problems, perplexities and national hatreds, and that is the Golden Rule… All the peace conferences, all the peace pacts in the world are only a waste of time until I can get thoroughly conscious of the fact that I am going to do by you as I would have you do by me. That attitude on the part of all the world would settle most of our troubles.” He shook his head sadly as he realized the gulf between human beings in his days and his ideal.”
The military psychologist who interviewed him, working in Tuskegee’s Federal Neuropsychiatric General Hospital for Veterans, asked him if he had a message of encouragement and cheer for blind veterans. “It may be,” Carver said,
that in a large sense it is not that they who are blind, but the group to which we belong… are truly blind. There are many kinds of blindness. All are bad. Some are worse than others.
You and I can see the light when we open our eyes in the morning; can see the trees, the birds jumping from limb to limb,… can see growing plants and flowers… and happy, beautiful children at play. We can see… sunsets,… twilight, and, at night,… the silvery moon and stars that give… majestic… form and substance to… hills and woods. It is a wonderful thing to be able to see such things.
But often times, the eyes of man are not looking at such things. Their minds are so crowded with lust for power and material goods,… so absorbed with the low and mean that they see nothing except what is in their mind’s eyes… You and I belong to that group of men with seeing eyes who start wars,… murder helpless women and children,… deprive other helpless poor people of things they have created by the sweat of their brows;… who have had advantages of birth and environment and who exploit those less fortunate than themselves;… who look with scorn upon others less fortunate than themselves; who lie and steal;… who get drunk and spend their savings in their own pleasures, thus depriving their wives, children or relatives of bread, clothes and shelter thay they need;… who are utterly selfish and ruthless and cruel. Over in Europe today, men who can see with their eyes but whose souls are utterly blind are murdering helpless thousands,… destroying or burning or stealing everything they can get their hands on…
On the other hand many of our blind veterans, Negro and white, here and elsewhere,… have begun to see clearly things that they were blind to before they lost their eyesight… Where before they may have been selfish, now they begin to see clearly the beauty of kindness. Where before they may have been blind to the gentleness and love of mother, wife, children or friends, now they see all of that so much more clearly then they ever did before… Because of one kind of blindness, they have been enabled to see more clearly than any other group, perhaps, the bright light of Spirit,… the great Light that created the universe itself, which of course means God. In that alone does one attain understanding, serenity and peace.
The military psychologist who interviewed him, working in Tuskegee’s Federal Neuropsychiatric General Hospital for Veterans, asked him if he had a message of encouragement and cheer for blind veterans. “It may be,” Carver said,
that in a large sense it is not that they who are blind, but the group to which we belong… are truly blind. There are many kinds of blindness. All are bad. Some are worse than others.
You and I can see the light when we open our eyes in the morning; can see the trees, the birds jumping from limb to limb,… can see growing plants and flowers… and happy, beautiful children at play. We can see… sunsets,… twilight, and, at night,… the silvery moon and stars that give… majestic… form and substance to… hills and woods. It is a wonderful thing to be able to see such things.
But often times, the eyes of man are not looking at such things. Their minds are so crowded with lust for power and material goods,… so absorbed with the low and mean that they see nothing except what is in their mind’s eyes… You and I belong to that group of men with seeing eyes who start wars,… murder helpless women and children,… deprive other helpless poor people of things they have created by the sweat of their brows;… who have had advantages of birth and environment and who exploit those less fortunate than themselves;… who look with scorn upon others less fortunate than themselves; who lie and steal;… who get drunk and spend their savings in their own pleasures, thus depriving their wives, children or relatives of bread, clothes and shelter thay they need;… who are utterly selfish and ruthless and cruel. Over in Europe today, men who can see with their eyes but whose souls are utterly blind are murdering helpless thousands,… destroying or burning or stealing everything they can get their hands on…
On the other hand many of our blind veterans, Negro and white, here and elsewhere,… have begun to see clearly things that they were blind to before they lost their eyesight… Where before they may have been selfish, now they begin to see clearly the beauty of kindness. Where before they may have been blind to the gentleness and love of mother, wife, children or friends, now they see all of that so much more clearly then they ever did before… Because of one kind of blindness, they have been enabled to see more clearly than any other group, perhaps, the bright light of Spirit,… the great Light that created the universe itself, which of course means God. In that alone does one attain understanding, serenity and peace.