Berry College - Cabin Log Yearbook (Mount Berry, GA)

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We continued being vaguely interested in Viet Nam and occasionally we were reminded that our guys were over there still fighting and still dying. We got busy with the rest of our world and forgot to remember how it was in a little war-torn coun- try. At times we traced the war on square little maps in newspapers printed for the publicis knowledge of whats going on over there, but what do we really know of the whole ugly busi- ness of war? And yet, it is a necessary business e- tisupPose thEy gave a WAl' and nobody CarnE . . P Sometimes our inability to accept this strange- ness drove us to artificial means of escape. Our coping mechanisms went defunct and for a short, absurd time, we intellectually hallucinated our- selves into believing this is where itis at. We were wrong - it is not, nor will it ever be found in a reality contrived by drugs. We will find ourselves from the inside out, and nothing externally in- duced supercedes the inner awareness. What is the it that we as the inhabitants of this strange new land were.searching for? Some- times we faced it alone in our cluttered, dusty rooms with postered walls proclaiming our pseudo-identities with Joplin, Namath, and James Taylor. We scrutinized our minds for a clue to it - a reason for being, a rationale for acceptance, a purpose for existence. Our scrutiny was not pursued in total darkness. We found meaning at odd, unexpected times; we were happy and con- tent as though our human battery had been re- juvenated by a walk to Victory Lake, a work-out in the gym, or a hearty hour of' mop-pushing. Our searching was temporarily appeased as we opened the windows of our active minds and. gave them a chance to air-out and freshen-up. At other times we searched with friends, not our hi and byei acquaintances, but those with whom we had reached an understanding and shared our fears and inadequacies. Together we got past the dialogue of daily troubles, failed exams, unfinished term papers, and parental woes. We gave of ourselves and took in exchange, for the acquisition of meaning is a dual process; to give and refrain from taking results in a lopsided life alfair. Together we flew kites, split taxi fares, borrowed dimes and while we didnit always un- ravel any mysterious cognizance, we experienced each other and that experience was good. AREYOUUP! I

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AND OCCASIONALLY, WE CAUGHT A glimpse of meaning in a classroom. We surpassed the rote spoon-feeding and regurgitating of facts and perceived the creation of an idea, the finale of undetgtanding, and we learned. It didnit, nor willu it evEr simply happen, it is the effect of a cause. These occasions made some sense of our being here and justified our rising to the de- spised clanging of the alarm clock and bothering to go to class. We benefited when we bothered ourselves to do more than simply sit and trace patterns across desk tops. And the result of our efforts - perhaps, now we can gaze into a mirror seeing more than a freckled nose, a dimpled cheek, an obstinate cowlick, or a shadowy beard. Perhaps now, there is a rehection of a tmei embodied in every ele- ment that combines to create a human. That rehection is tinged with awareness but not black- ened by despair because our world is not perfect. We are reminded that just as the world is not perfect, neither are we and therefore, we suit each other admirably. We have finally realized that life - the good life - will not come timidly tapping on our shoulder; it doesnit hide with us in secure dorm rooms or exist in a dormant stage with our never- ending routine of mediocrity. Our good life, isn7t compartmentalized into badness and good- ness, love and hate, war and peace, understand- ing and prejudice; but rather, it scans the gamut of all this and still finds reason for being. If we simply wait for life to come to us, we will have lived for nothing e suppose we LIved, FEared, and loved In Secret and NobOdy kneW . . .