Classical High School - Classic Myths Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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Cd assfc Cmyfhs To Americans, such ideas as these are abhorrent. When old beliefs and old standards are tottering in the countries. at war, what are we to do? We must cherish these long accepted ideals until the rest of the world again realizes their importance. The present ethical standards in the totalitarian states are so contrary to the commandments of God that both cannot exist. Accordingly, leaders have attempted to crush religion and replace it by the worship of the state. What will happen lo these people? Can man long live without a belief in some power greater than himself? Our forefathers came here for religious. freedomg our whole government has been built on that principle. We in America believe that religion and democracy go hand in hand, that one cannot stand without the other. Protestants, Catholics, and Jews have joined forces to pre- serve those ethical foundations on which our lives must be based. We must preserve courage, hope, tolerance, and faith in man and God not only for ourselves and our nation, but also for the many who have so nearly lost these values in the horror of war. Twenty-nine

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America: Sanctuar of Ideal , gm nge Every person, whether he realizes it or not, has ideals. They are a necessity. They may be either high or low, depending on the individualg but, whatever they are, they do exist in our minds and influence our lives. What a man is is determined largely by his ideals. Ideals are of no less importance to a nation than to an individual. The standards of a nation coincide with those of the majority of its citizens. In the United States we have definite conceptions of right and wrong governed by our inherited beliefs and our consciences. But these conceptions are not narrow. People of many races have brought their spiritual and cultural elements to America. Our endeavors to preserve such national ideals as fair play, integrity, and honor have resulted in such a trust and understanding with Canada, our neighbor to the north, that we need no fortified boundary. Our relations with our southern neighbors, though less perfect, are con- stantly being improved by various means, of which tours of good will and frequent conferences are only two expressions. In fact civilization implies confidence and belief in one's fellow man. All business., all government is based upon the co-operation that this belief involves. But the loss of what one may term the things of the spirit is even greater than the loss of merely cultural elements. Shall we see fit to throw away these as many European nations have done? That they have cast them aside we know by repeated statements which they have made. Dr. Hans Frank, head of the Academy for German Law, told his fellow jurists recently Right is whatever profits a nation, wrong is whatever harms it. Pale phantoms of objective justice do not exist for us any morefn Twenty-eiglz I

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America: Her Con titution iiadkea 94,0-d5efz,g. It is a lofty purpose and a difficult task under any circumstances for a nation to seek to guarantee to each of its citizens freedom, equality, and justice. ln a day when unbridled hatreds, unsurpassed tyrannies, and ruthless war hold sway in all regions of the world, such a course is doubly difficult. lf America is to hold fast to these prin- ciples for which her patriots- have sacrificed their lives and fortunes, if, at the same time, she intends to remain at peace, to offer a helping hand to victims of oppression, and to be a sanctuary for cultural and spiritual ideals, then truly she must have some pillar of strength to which she can cling. Happily there does exist such a source of hope, and it is close at hand. It has guided this nation through fair and stormy times for one hundred and fifty years. Under its leadership there developed a truly independent state under Washington, a continental state under Jefferson, a forever united state following Lincoln, and the cosmopolitan power of towering prestige and glory of our own day. This pillar, tried and true, is the Constitution of the United States. If ever this constitution was of great value, and if ever the principles for which it stands were bitterly and dangerously assailed, it is now. Freedom of speech, denied in so many lands, it forever preserves for us, And not merely the right to speak our thoughts and to assemble in groups to do so, but to print them and gain for them wide dissemination. Further, it guarantees the right of criticizing its own being: to petition the government for redress of grievances and to amend the Constitution when neces- sary, its forbear, the Declaration of Independence, goes so far as to state that should a government evince a design to establish an absolute despotism, it is not only the right but the duty of the people to throw off such government. From these provisions alone we can see that such a form of government, so zealous in protecting its citizens, can never be compatible with totalitarian ideologies, on the contrary, denying the supremacy of the state, it is the great bulwark, the staunch defender of the rights of the individual. As long as this constitution exists, no American home will ever be forced and plundered by government soldiery, no citizen will be rushed off to con- centration camps, none will be imprisoned at the whim of another individual or under the rules of an unjust law. For the privacy of the home, the right to own private property and engage in private enterprise, a public and impartial trial by jury after Thirty