Aquinas Institute - Arete Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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THE ARETE During the ear 7 The Sckooi i Grtnhjrfter... v ' °f the TU Aquinas' 5fucjerlf$' Confn outionTolhe ]]ri e. ■ 52k« i Oky%4f Cow BOV 0«b UvmiiJjA — 7 Ae3 «r «- W rtf Z TTia o ih'S'kooL C(wsf«r ump'T.,«lwr 3«aW Hill twenty-eight

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T H E A K E T E l noU) Cijpself OUR years ago a friend of mine, Joe Rees, was in his fourth year in high school. He was an exceedingly likeable fellow, with what one would call a charming personality. Joe was a good piano-player and would let his school w'ork slide, if necessary, to play for his friends. But in spite of his slack ways he always seemed to be both influential and on good standing with the students and the faculty of the school. At graduation time something happened that was considered very unfortunate. Joe needed but ten credits to graduate and, out of five examinations, he passed only one. Of course he was withheld from participating in the graduation exercises. There was a great deal of discussion over this. Some said Joe got just what he deserved because he relied too much upon his ability to get by. Some of his friends went so far as to say that he was already shelved for a cheap position. There was no doubt that not being among the graduates was a hard blow to him. Not until recently did I know how it affected him; for shortly after the graduation exercises, I lost track of him. A few weeks ago while in town a friend of mine told me of Joe’s remarkable success in life. He is sales manager of an organization with a country-wide reputation. He has over a hundred men under him. In this field he has acquired the reputation of the liveliest and most diligent man in the organization. He has shown the old salesmen how' to sell. Since he came into the organization he has more than tripled the annual sales. When I heard these things. I was deeply interested. I went to his office and, w-hile we wrere talking of the old days, I reminded him that there were a lot of things that he did not take very seriously—his school work for instance. “What happened?” I asked. “Did the graduation exercises have anything to do with the great change that has come over you?” Rees laughed. “That had everything to do with it,” he answered. “When I saw all my class-mates on the stage and me not amongst them, it made me terribly sore at first, at what, I knew' not. Then I saw light. “It was my fault that I was not amongst them. Not that I had been unlucky. What was wTong? “For the first time. I tried to see myself as other people saw me, my bad points and my good points. Being able to make friends readily is a great asset but it is not everything. I had been letting little w'ork that I disliked slide. When down in black and w'hite it was a great shock to me. “That little analysis of myself was the turning point of my life. I resolved not to let the by-products of my mind go to waste. So to-day I get over ten times the profits of my labor writh just a little more energy.” Several things about Rees’s experience need to be thought over by us, especially the importance of studying ourselves systematically. This is the only way we shall be able to know our good points and how to strengthen them, to know our bad points and how to eradicate them. Earl Howard. twenty-seven

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T H E A R E T E Cijc Aquinas' IDribc N the autumn of nineteen twenty-three the Aquinas Institute Campaign was conducted; needless to say, it was a howling success. When the muse of history shall render her verdict in regard to this Drive, the altruistic people who made it possible will be remembered and immortalized. Were it not for the inspired loyalty and sacrifices of the Catholic of average means the campaign, as indicated by the statistics of the committee, would, no doubt, have been a dismal failure. The children who gave their pennies which represented practically all their pecuniary possessions, the wage-earning fathers of large families, the widowed mother, the humble clerk, the sacrificing clergy—all played their part in contributing to the success of the noble work. Our people, both clergy and laity, are to be thanked most heartily for their boundless munificience, their devotedness to the cause of Catholic education. Pascal, the French savant, declared that “a seed sown in good ground brings forth fruit; so does a principle cast into a good mind.” The Catholics of this community, by their contributions, have recognized that the Aquinas Institute is a sower of seeds, the pupil being the ground, as it were, in which the seeds are sown. Further, they have made possible the erection of a temple of erudition in which will be installed in the minds of Catholic youth the self-evident principle that education without religion is a failure. Leo R. Rauber. twenty-nine