Carleton College - Algol Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

Page 12 text:

HEN I was a student in college, a phrase which was widely current at the time made a deep impression upon me and has been a continuing influ- ence with me ever since,-- the spirit of a true life. I was taught to believe that there exists within the nature of things a pat- tern for every individual's life and for every relationship and every activity in which he may be involved: that a true life is one which corresponds with this pattern: that every man has Within him the mysterious power of choice, which he can use in a right way or in a Wrong wayp that a true life is the result of a steady purpose to know and to do the will of Godg and that this can be accom- plished by keeping open the inner recess of consciousness to influences ema- nating from Him. I was also taught to believe that the spirit of such a life is best exemplified in Iesus and that His spirit of unselfishness represents the essence of all right relationships among people. lt is difficult for me to see light in any other direction. The World today is stubbornly refusing to accept totalitarian ideals: selfishness and aggrandize- ment, even on a national scale, are not the proper ends of human life, nor can any wrong thing be made right by force. Our country was founded upon re- ligious faith. ln God we trust assumes that at the heart of what We call the universe there is intelligence and character and purpose, and that men and women as individuals achieve their possibilities and their destiny by bringing their lives into relations of correspondence with these inner attributes of reality, -that is, with God, and thus do His will. Capacity to choose is God's great- est gift to man and choice motivated by unselfishness is the basis of the good life. The purpose of democratic government is to organize and maintain con- ditions which are favorable to freedom of choiceg it is the function of liberal education to help students live the lives of free men, to understand the implica- tions of freedom and to assume its responsibilities. DONALD l. COWLING

Page 14 text:

S-1 W, A0 ze Cmfefm . . . lt took no more than a single glimpse of Willis tower and a friendly wave on a friendly campus to make us feel that Carleton was a part of us. It took less than the few days known as freshman week to make us feel a part of Carleton -to lead us to realize that we hold a particular place in its tradition. We are Carleton, l945. We are the 9:1 ratio referred to by TIME, the students who transferred East and West, and those who hung a service flag in the chapel as a reminder that our 1945 census was incomplete. Though we still haunt the Tea Room, run for eight o'clocks, find dread in exam week and delight in spring, we undeniably divide our heart between the CSA and an A.P.O. and our interest between the Plantagenent dynasty and news from lwo lima. For we are Carleton, 1945.