Introduction
My grandfather Charles was an intelligent and interesting man. At the age of eighteen he had the courage to forsake his homeland, sail halfway around the world and adopt a new way of life in New Zealand . I would have liked to have known what motivated him, Was it pure adventure or an inner need urging him toward personal freedom, self determination or something else.

I knew him for only a few days when he was in his seventies and I little more than a tenth of his age, I never had the opportunity of knowing his thoughts or learning the wisdom he had gathered over his lifetime.My story is both family and social history seen through one pair of eyes, I have not tried to protect anyone by changing names of people or places. The story is just as I remember things had happened. It also shows the process of my thinking and growth toward inner peace and the philosophical conclusions which have meant so much to me. In no way do I wish to condemn other points of view or beliefs. Life is a very individual expression. I have been faithful to my own convictions,

My two books sold out fairly quickly. They have involved a good deal of research which I have enjoyed. They have been a kind of therapy confirming my release from the early years of religious brain washing. I have been driven by the need to find answers to the ethical

questions which arose and seriously bothered me at the time of my mother's death.

The last eighty years have seen giant strides in science, technology and human understanding. For a very short time 1 experienced that oid-time way of life before technology and psychology changed things for all of us. In social thinking and attitudes about life, there seems to be a five hundred year generation gap between my father and my family.

A prevailing idea sixty or more years ago was that discipline which included punishment was necessary in training children. The old saying, "Spare the rod and spoil the child" was taken to mean, if you spared the rod, the automatic result would be a spoilt child who even' one would abhore. Even praise was frowned upon because the praised person might become 'bigheaded'. The religious training was to humble oneself. Jesus said "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" Matt. 18:4,

Fortunately my parents were not harsh on us. Thev did. however, keep a tight rein concerning what we could do. with whom we could play and what we couid read. Any person or place outside the narrow religious group was out of bounds. They firmly believed in the Bible statement "bring up a child in the way he should go and when he is old. he will not depart from if Prov. 22:6.

I began to reject dependency on a religious

dogma and the old ideas offered and power, I gladly accepted the reality of personal responsibility and the benefit of self esteem. I had to acknowledge that every other person had a self- which needed understanding and acceptance if not respect. In a way I have become a bridge for the family between the old idea of humble submission to a dogma and the acceptance of human potential, social ethics and self expression.

Life has been an unusual and interesting experience for me. 1 have enjoyed its challenges and the warmth of a loving family and friends, I was fortunate to have honourable parents who loved their boys and taught us to always value truth and justlce.

My brother Edwin used to jokingly say "I don't believe in good luck, only bad," By its nature luck is unreliable and for most of us has very little to do with success. It seems to me that opportunities are continually being presented to us. It is our ability to recognise an opportunity when it does arrive and the courage to put it to use which constitutes good fortune and success. Persona! success is much more important than business success and also has very little to do with luck. But if we want to enough and arc persistent, we can achieve our goals. 1 did and here is how I achieved my most important aspirations and the dreams which were first conceived while I was a lad in the orphanage.

In my eighty first year Steve Cooper