West Virginia Wesleyan College - Murmurmontis Yearbook (Buckhannon, WV)

Page 9 text:

FOREWORD The two hands ... a moment apart . . . one-waiting man . . . one — the God of the Universe . . . between their grasp ... a spark . . . life. Man waits . . . ordinary clay . . . divine life about to invade it. The Herculean hand of man . . . limp . . . waiting. The touch! And it is the dawn of humanity . . . the dawn of desire . . . knowledge . . . understanding . . . power physical . . . power thoughtful . . . movement . . . love. The search begins . . . the pain encountered . . . overwhelms, strengthens, remolds the hand. The hand stretches . . . the tendons tighten. The fist . . . pounding for life . . . pounding at life . . . pounding the barrier that obscures meaning. Man ' s hand. The outward symbol of his being ... his creativity . . . his power . . . his passion. Hands of men . . . moving through history . . . down the endless ages past Families . . . villages together . city-states peace, living in war . . . conquering hand ' s power infinitely magnified . . . joined to search for the good life. . nations . . . empires. Living in . expanding . . . stretching . . . the collectively striving . . . toiling . . . continually searching st.iined by blood, sweat, tears ... no stoi)ping together. The twentieth century, the 60 ' s . . . the nionients. days, weeks, months zoom- ing . . . life flying with them. Hands reach out . . . milking experience from time . . . tearing pieces from the passing moments. Hands busv . . . arranging, sorting, matching the pieces . . . Discovering a puzzle — why life? The end. the purpose . . . what are they? — No answer . . . pieces never fit . . . ]jieces missing . . . keep searching. Searching hands in the world of learning. Wesleyan hands . . . old and young . . . students, professors, and administrator. Education . . . ihe fundamentals, the classics, the unique . . . ! The old hands . . . stern . . . firm . . . guiding . . . inspiring . . . cor- recting . . . urging . . . demanding the difficult, expecting the best ... at times rewarded ... at times ignored. Discouraged . . . delighted . . . bear- ing the trivialities . . . tolerating exams, records, grades. The open hand . . . the teacher of the young, the unlearned, the confused . . . remembering the confused with infinite patience . . . he.iring questions . . . asking question . . . pointing the direction. Living for the moment of the spark when two hands will again clasp each other . . . joining the seeker in the search. The young hands . . . eager . . . busy . . . listless . . . lazv . . . moti ated . . . glimpsing truth. Plato in the Ad Building . . . Bach and Van Gogh in Loar Hall . . . Statistics at 8:00 . . . Econ. at 10:00 . . . Chapel in a g m suit and dirty hands — no time to change. Busy . . . going, moving. Hands . . . leafing through notes in an eleventh hour cram . . . turning the combination lock . . . removing the much-hoped-for letter . . . encouragement, scolding, sweet-nothings, money — these the young hands receive. Hands . . . typing, ap- plauding, joined in a basketball huddle, slamming the floor in a cheer, slinging hash in a Saga kitchen, pushing a pencil til .3:00 a.m. These and more ... all a part of the search. Young hands and old hands . . . reaching up for Ihe spark, the knowledge, the answers . . . groping in darkness . . . basking in the light of new discoveries . . . loving to stretch. Rungs on a ladder . . . disappointments and failures . . . moments of achieve- ments . . . to all things we hold fast. Turn the pages . . . iew the hands of Wesleyan !

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DEDICATION . . . One of the values of higher educalioii is its characteristic fusing of environments. We become acquainted with students who are products of many kinds of cities, interests, and families. Our back- grounds are different, and we are. in some degree at least, proud of them. Our experiences as village or city dwellers, members of fam- ilies of high or low incomes, and past activities as leaders or followers influence our new learning. From these and other details come the foundations which allow us to accept and absorb the carnival of opportunities around us. They have set the emotional and academic stage on which we participate in the coniedv and tragedy of college life. Perhaps the largest part of this heritage is our parents. Thev have conditioned a great deal of the rest of our background bv making some early choices for us. They have encouraged us both subtly and harshly: they have made some show respect in compliance with their wishes and some, rebellion in rejection of their views. They have led us because they were our first contact with the living world and the first people we looked to see and ask. Our devotion to our parents entails more than thanks for sending a check for tuition, filling the refrigerator for vacations, or giving friendly advice. It is more than the memory of early insistence on music lessons, explana- tions of their conceptions of right and wrong, or their loving glow- as the family gathers on Christmas Eve. Our devotion is our appre- ciation for their attendance, for their l(] e aiul concern for us. and for their simply being there. Biological parents have contributed healthy, happv guidance to most of us: but we must also recognize other members of the adult world who have inspired us. We laud the ones who became our early ideals as we listened to their tales, watched their skills, and admired their actions. We praise also those who became examples of our developing characters and philosophies. We thank those who do not say. We have made a mess and expect you to be the worlds salvation. but say to us. We are doing our best and expect ou to do the same. This kind of handshake gives us a forceful boast. Their guiding hands lift us challengingly to fulfill the aim of man- kind — to find the ultimate capacity of our minds and souls. If we will seriously believe this, our best selves will mean being real students and scholars. Well-rounded personalities can not be ends of education but the probable results of our seeking to be full persons. We are thankful to those who exemplified to us high and worthy possibilities and truly attained them. To those who were our first knowledge of feelings and laws higher than ourselves, the first to expect us to stand up as well as to look up, we dedicate the 1962- 1963 MURMLRMOiNTIS,