Colebrook Academy - Clipper Yearbook (Colebrook, NH)

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our conviction that injustice, cruelty, and oppression shall be forever blotted out and that people shall be free. Richard Annie '45 SA L UTATCJRY ALLEGUXNCE TO AMERICAN IDEALS As a member of the class of 1945, I wish to welcome all citizens of Colebrook and our faculty to our graduation exercises this evening. We thak you all for helping us to make a success of our four years in Colebrook Academy. Today--as never before--Americanism is a foremost thought in the mints of most people. We have heard it discussed and have read about it, yet have we ever thought as to what makes Americanism and that for which it stands? A man is like a tree. Just as a tree strikes its roots deep into the soil and draws nourishment from it, so a man, although he owes mucl physically and spiritually to the race from which he springs, finds tm his life is directed by the environment in which he develops. That environment must be directed by some pattern of life--the most natural and perfect--democracy. Democracy is not merely a word, nor a word with merely political meaning, but one with an almost religious depth. It is a success when the truth, beauty, and goodness in each man come forthg but it is a failure when regimentation, absorption in things, worldliness in business, and corruption in politics crush and almost kill the divine right that is in each man. Democracy stands as a great bulwark of libery in a world that has gone mad in a search for power. This is not a dead relic, ready to be relegated to some musty vault for future generations to look upon with f. ' rw' ' 1 ' lr . -urioeity. It is a living, working instrument that guards the liberties or one hundred thirty million men, women, and children. No dictator can arise and seize power so long as it is functioning properly. No form of despotism can rule over this nation so long as its citizens fully realize and remain true to their many privileges that are gained by their allegiance to the ideals of democracy. ' It is not just in books of definitions that you will find the man? ing of democracy. It is written in books of Plato and in a modern foctvall story. Democracy begins with the individual. HThe duty of man,n the Greeks said, His to see that human life is so conducted that it does us credit. Now we are all greatly concerned by what it means to be an America We are deeply moved and because of the very depths of our emotion, wc are unusually eager to be clear about what it is for which we are readg to give the last full measure of devotion. It is the man himself--what his strength and character contributes to the life of the community--that counts. A true American holds high E' -o8- '

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vw-.LEDICTQRY ALLEGIANCE TO COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT We are Americans. It is our privilege and duty to defend our country against all enemies. We have come upon a great obstacle, nNazism,n which threatens to destroy all freedom. The brave men livhg before us fought to preserve liberty in this land. They shed their blood to make our land safe for democracy. It was they who established the'great theory of Americanism. It is our duty to protect it with our heart, soul, and life. What would happen if the axis powers should win this war? We would be subjected to the same conditions as those other nations which Hitler now dominates. Many Americans would be slaughtered. Jews wouki be exterminated from the face of the earth as they have been in Europe. Our executives, whose opinions oppose those of the Germans, would be thrown into jail. Concentration camps would be the homes of thosevvho spoke their minds. Germany, Italy,and Japan would take the best from this land and leave the scraps for us. Our Cross in Church would be replaced by the swastiks. Our religion would be dictated to us by thtze barbarious and savage monsters, who have no religion at all. Lilfrty of conscience, equality of life, and the pursuit of happiness would be taken from us. Our constitution and all great American documents would be and died for would without freedom is These are the should make it his destroyed. All that our forefathers fought, bled, perish under the heel of Naxi domination. Life worse than death. reasons why each individual man, woman, and child duty to fight for his country. The time has come when our loyalty is badly needed. The battle has just begun. We are now bn the offensive and must stay there. Everyone must do his part in paving the way to victory. This is no time for strikes. Those who strike for more money in our defense plants and mines are working for Hitler and the Japs. Such strikers are disloyal to our cause. We should feel proud and honored to have the opportunity to serve our country. When the courageous heart. fighting is tough, let us grin and bear it with a Not only on the battle line in combat duty but at home there is need for loyal service. For every man fighting in the front lines, ten are needed to keep him in fighting condition. Our defense factories, mills, and farms must boom. We must raise vegetables, the vitamin- filled foods most essential for our soldiers, in our victory gardens. Wastefulness cannot be tolerated. Every scrap of metal, rubber, and waste fats that we save helps to keep our Army marching to victory. Many million tons of scrap rubber are used to make life preservers, which may save the life of your son in the Navy. Wasmafats are used in making ammunition to blow the Axis from the land. Let us support the Red Cross,whose noble work has lives. We must give and sacrifice Let us give our full assistance to Alertness when we are on duty will and will save many million American our civilian defense officers. save many lives. Americans, unity is a very hard weapon to combat. We must continue to work with, fight with,and help our Allies to our utmost limit. Cooperation and Unity are the keynotes to victory. Every American must give his full allegiance to this cooperative effort. Let us allow no insidious pro- paganda to interfere with this allied effort. Let us hold firm to -57- all that we have if we win this war.

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ideals for his country. We are in the midst of a war waged to make certain that those American ideals of government and life may survive. We look forward to victory that will mean those ways of living, of feeling, and of thinking that seem to be the marks of our people and our history, We find that it is our heritage that has made us what, we are. Looking back into the past, we can see many prophets who have voiced the American spirit. Abraham Lincoln managed to get the whole thing into a sentence: HAS I would not be a slave, so I would not be a mastcr.n This portrays well our idea of equality. A great American loves his country and believes in its high destiny. He is a man of vision. Washington and Lincoln caught thc vision of a great united people--the American Nation. To establish and preserve this nation they dedicated their lives. And so must we dedi- cate our lives for the real ideals of truth, honor, bravery, justice, kindness, and faith. Truth to our country, our fellmfmen, our church, ourselves is a necessity. Honor and bravery lie close together in the fields of conflict, battle, and strife. Kindness, as we all know, should be everywhere. Faith is the hope of the world, a foundation for everything, and without it there can be nothing. A great man is a just man. He is one who recognizes the truth that the power for good in the world is greater than the power forevil. He believes that right makes might and must prevail. he knows that no question is ever settkd intil it is settled on the basis of justice. All these ideals added together make a great American. If you bel eve that race, creed, or color makes an American--then you are wrong. If you believe in your class before your country, your section before your nation, your own self-interest before the nation's need-- then you have not lived up to these ideals. In America men and women come together in freedom to make their own laws, to worship as they choose, to build for the future with hope, to plan for the present with daring, to get along with neighborliness, and to live in the faith of the free. These are pretty big meanings for any persong they are what Americanism means. And our lives, in our time, shall be measured by how we live up to those intentions. Jean Walker '45 SELF-ALLEGMANCE In times of stress such as these, when a nation's existence hangs in the very balance, patriotic zeal is high. Everyone's enthusiasm in the national effort is unquestioned. However, in days of strife, it is well for.man to search his own soul to discover his true standards, cms- cerning not only the principles of the state but also his personal V ideals. Every thinking man sooner or later recognizes the fact that allegiance to himself and to his own code of living preeeeds allegiance to his country. The poet aptly phrased this thought through Polonius who said, uThis above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.n How shall one be true to oneself? ,The first step is the setting up of ideals and principles as standards to be attained. Among the most de- sirable are honesty, courage, and adherence to some religious concept. Let us consider the abstract quality of honesty. Honesty in government and in all dealings among people can only be as high as the ' 459-