Blumenhof High School - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Blumenort, Manitoba Canada)

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Principal ' s Message Various sources today tell us that the attitude of youth throughout the world is characterized by “so what” and “I don’t care”. We are told that the resulting anxiety, tension, and even loneliness reflects boredom — boredom in an age when society offers youth unprecedented oppor¬ tunities everywhere they turn. If the above is true, would you not agree with me that our affluent society has failed to satisfy some basic human need? Could it be that the goals of life presented to young people have been misleading or non-existent; that the meaning of life has been lost? Why, may we ask, produce a constructive life if we came from no where and return to nothing? If nothing matters in the end, then nothing mat¬ ters now. We cannot define proper objectives until we know why we are here. To this I offer only one solution. A lowly Gali¬ lean, and yet One who promised to “be with you” till the end is the answer. As we identify ourselves with Him, as His purpose and mission become ours, we are given true purpose. He has called us to be ambassadors. We are asked to abandon self and to serve mankind. In this way everyone, including youth, can live for a future meeting of the Re¬ deemer while at the same time His personal Commission gives intense meaning and purpose to life NOW. G. Doerksen PAGE 6

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K. R. Jasper Inspector 9 s Message I am honored to be asked to write a message for the 1965 yearbook. It affords me an opportunity to offer congratulations and best wishes to the graduating class — congratulations on your having reached this stage of your high school career, and best wishes for its successful completion. It also affords me an opportunity to express the hope that besides having guided you towards academic achievement, home, school, and church may have devel¬ oped in you a certain quality which is badly needed in today’s world. This quality has to do with purpose in life, not selfish purpose, but God-given purpose. I am frankly pessimistic about the direction in which society is leading us today. With Wordsworth, we can truly say, “. . . getting and spending we lay waste our powers.” Too often the criterion of choice in life is “How much will I make in this particular job, what will it get me? What are the chances of advancement for me? Too seldom does the criterion of choice involve the questions: “What are my capacities for service in this work? What can I give?” I do not suggest that financial considerations should have no part in your thinking about your future. I do say, however, that personal gain, personal advance¬ ment, and their attendant satisfaction do not meet the needs either of the individual, his community or his country. It is in giving, not in getting, that we grow. It is through our being responsible, active citizens that our community and our country thrives, and it is through a truly Christian concern in every aspect of our living that we give to our lives the dignity and worth that reflect God’s purpose. Standing - L. to R.: John J. Peters, Abe G. Penner, Albert Loewen, chairman, John J. Hildebrand Sitting from L. to R.: John K. Schellenberg, secretary-treasurer, Ben Fast, George T. Penner, J. A. Martens PAGE 5

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THE BURDEN OF THE WORLD “Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, The emptiness of ages in his face, And on his back the burden of the world.” Edwin Markham Markham’s burdened labourer was the symbol of the cruelty of the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, a more fitting picture of the world’s burden-bearer is a man reading the newspapers. He leans on his foam- rubber arm rests and gazes into the eyes of starving children, he frowns back at angry mobs and blanches at the horrors of modem warfare. We cannot afford to let the emptiness of indifference creep over our faces. There is too much to be done. Is it too far-fetched to think that we might find the keys to peace and civil order as we study our own history and that of the world? At least we can study chemistry and biology so that those children can be fed. A high school education should make a person a more responsible burden-bearer for the world. Mr. G. Klassen STRIVING FOR MATURITY Webster’s dictionary defines the noun “maturity” as “a state or quality of being mature; ripeness; full development.” This is a state which none of us can claim to have achieved. Our present experience is more appropriately described by the verb “mature” for it means “to bring or hasten to matur¬ ity.” When the doors of our high school open in fall, a group of eager young people crowds into the grade nine room. They should be used to school by now. Nevertheless, this is a new experience. This is high school. They are not quite sure what is expected of them. Instead of being the oldest group, they are the youngest. Everything seems to be so different! This period of uncertainty does not last too long. After a few months of observation and a bit of experimenting, they have found their places in these once strange surround¬ ings. We say they have matured. Life will continue to present new situations to us. We can accept them as challenges to be overcome, or as circum¬ stances to be avoided. What our individual reactions will be will depend on what level of maturity we have reached. I trust that this school year will serve to boost us towards that fuller maturity that we need to meet the vicissitudes of life. Mr. Martens PAGE 7