Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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lltoirtal ' • ' •T WILL win or I will fall. These were the words of a winner, Nancy Greene, A Canada ' s only Olympic Gold Medallist this year. We may not all be flying down mile long slalom courses, racing against the clock, but we can each benefit from this skier ' s philosophy. Unfortunately, the wish to shoot for the stars is often suppressed by a fear of falling. We are going to fall, perhaps more often than we shall win. Our lives will ebb away, giving us high points and low depths; and the most successful of us will be those who, while rejoicing in a victory, can accept a failure; can fall and fall and not become discouraged. The true competitor burns to win, but he can look on his setbacks, disap- pointing as they may be, as stepping stones of experience. Competition, the desire to succeed in any form of life, inevitably trails losses in its wake. Intoxi- cating victory is a reward deserved only by those who, like Nancy Greene, face failure bravely, never letting it lure them into self-pity, but rather using it to goad them on to the heights. [3]

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In iirmortam CHARLES VINCENT MASSEY s a great Canadian, the Rt. Hon. Vincent Massey will be remembered foi £ asserting Canada ' s position abroad, for he admired all that is best in Canada ' s tradition, history, and way of life. He showed the world what Canada stood for. During World War II, he held the post of High Commissioner for Canada at Canada House, London, England. The very fact that he voluntarily withstood the hardships of war-torn Britain underlines his unflinching sense of duty. In London, he stood for Canada; he spoke for Canada. To Canadian troops abroad, he and Mrs. Massey extended a warm welcome by establishing hospitality centres for all ranks. They were also instrumental in founding a convalescent home for wounded Canadian soldiers. But it is as Canada ' s first native-born governor-general that we, the Canadian youth, will remember Vincent Massey. In this we can rejoice that Canada is a nation — individual and autonomous — yet a nation respecting the Crown and all the traditions and ideals for which it stands, a nation in which are united peoples of many races, creeds, and colours. Vincent Massey stood for these things — he himself a Canadian first, yet respecting the place of the Crown in Canada. During his term of office he revived former customs, such as the governor-general ' s drive to the opening of Parliament in an open carriage. He spoke to millions of their place in Canada, of Canada ' s place in the world. He showed us that we carmot progress without respect for the past. He spoke to school children, granting many of them holidays in the name of the Qvieen , thus bringing the Crown nearer to them. Trafalgar was one of the schools to which he granted such a holiday when, on February 10, 1956, he opened our new wing. This day will always be remembered by all those present at the ceremonies as a very happy occasion. Vincent Massey had faith in Canada ' s future. To us who want to make bright that future, he had this to say: What sort of person do we wish our young Canadian to be? What will he be like if he embodies the best in the Canada around him? He will have some reverence for the past, a respect for what has gone before. He will have kept some of the simple virtues of an earlier time which will help him to sort out the real from the counterfeit. He will think for himself, with respect for the views of others. He will work hard and play hard and know how to use his increasing leisure. He will have resources within him to keep him independent of the mechanized pleasure of the age. He will be able to laugh at the absurd and will become angry at the sight of injustice. He will not be ashamed of good manners. He will show an inherited instinct for freedom. He will nurse a personal devotion to the welfare and safety of his country. He will have a deep and quiet belief in what she is and what she can do. Surely, if we remember these words, the Canada of tomorrow will be a better place in which to live. [5]