Do You Recognize the Meaning of What You See?

IT SEEMS to be getting increasingly difficult for people to agree nowadays. Inability to reconcile conflicting views can be found at almost every level of human relationship. Regardless of its cause, to many people it is a matter of serious concern.

On the Family Level

In centuries past only a small minority of married couples considered divorce an acceptable way of solving their disagreements. After all, marriage was “until death do us part.”

But today, a growing number of people view marriage as only a temporary arrangement. Some countries report that a majority of marriages sooner or later end up in divorce. A German newspaper recently said that “the idea that one’s entire life must be spent with the same person is on its way out.” As New York Magazine noted: “Only a perfect relationship will do. No one wants to settle or accommodate.”

On the Employment Level

The greater influence exercised by labor unions since the turn of the century has caused differences between employers and employees to become more obvious. By strikes they have called public attention to the fact that private attempts at agreement have failed. As attempts to reach a settlement continue, weeks, months, or even years, may pass.

A survey of 13 countries on five continents revealed that between 1938 and 1970 there was a 286-percent increase in the number of labor strikes called, and a 709-percent increase in working time lost in settling them, besides other losses.

Regarding a strike against British Steel in 1980, a magazine report says: It “turned into the longest in British postwar history.” When a settlement was finally reached “neither labor nor management had much reason to be happy.”

Not only are more people striking; also more kinds of people. It used to be that a strike by doctors, policemen, schoolteachers or other public servants was almost unthinkable. No longer. Not even among clergymen. In Italy, a few years ago, there was a slowdown strike by 50 Catholic priests when they failed to reach agreement with the Vatican on certain changes in the administration of the Church.

On the Governmental Level

Particularly since the League of Nations was established after World War I, international disagreements have taken on new dimensions. In 1945 the League was succeeded by the United Nations. Until now this organization has been able to prevent a third world war. But has it been able to put an end to the local conflicts that many persons fear could trigger such a nuclear holocaust?

In answer, consider the report from the Stockholm International Peace Institute that, ‘on any given day, there is an average of 12 wars going on somewhere in the world.’ And, according to a study reported in Esquire magazine, there have been upward of 150 wars since the end of World War II in 1945.

Obviously the U.N.’s ability to help nations to achieve peaceful agreement is severely limited. And by elevating local differences to “world problems” to be settled by a global community, it has only served to magnify the scope of disagreements that exist among its member nations.

Then, too, international agreements are often painfully limited. Really, they are nothing much more than agreements to keep on talking about disagreements.

What Does It Mean?

Some people may play down the seriousness of the problem by stating that families, employees and employers, as well as nations, have always had their disagreements. Although true, the question is: Are people and nations finding it easier to agree now or more difficult? Are people less self-centered and selfish now than they were in the pre-1914 days or are they more so?

Regardless of personal opinion, few persons will deny that we are living in “critical times hard to deal with.” The Bible foretold such at 2 Timothy 3:1-5, saying, among other things, that people living at that time would “not [be] open to any agreement.” Based on what you personally have seen, would these words not well describe today’s world?

The Bible says that man’s inability to agree would outstandingly mark “the last days.” That this is so prevalent today is one reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that we are living in the “last days” of Satan’s wicked system. Afterward, according to his promise, God will soon unite all mankind by means of his own righteous government. Happy families, enjoyable working conditions and perfect government will then make it much easier for people to agree.

[Graph on page 24]

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DIVORCE

Up sharply in this century

Percentage of marriages

50

45

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

1900 1910a 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1975 1980

​—U.S.A. ​—Germany —​Canada

[Footnotes]

[Pictures on page 24]

LABOR STRIKE

[Picture on page 25]

World war​—never before 1914

150 wars since World War II

Over 90,000,000 war dead since 1914