Boston Latin School - Liber Actorum Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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JOSEPH L. POWERS H ead mailer In other years, graduation has been the occasion for congratulation and joyful leave-taking. The happiest four years of life were about to open. Each boy had definite plans for his own futureg or if they weren't definite as yet, it was his affair to shape them as he would. Nothing stood in his way unless it were his own inertia or his own incompetence or, perhaps, lack of funds, and this was not much of a hurdle for a boy of ability and determination and gumption. This year, the picture is different. The joys of graduation are somewhat tempered by uneasiness. You-all of us, indeed-are living in the midst of forces which may rudely upset all our calculations. We can no longer count on living life as usual . We still enjoy our freedom to plan our own futures. And we are determined to preserve that freedom, but we may have to sacrifice a little of it in order to preserve any of it. How far should you allow this state of uncertainty to alter your plans for college? Should you go ahead, refusing to give the war any place in your plans or your thoughts, or should you, accept- ing it as something unavoidable, hurry to enter the armed forces to help to get the nightmare over with? The answer should take into account the best interests of yourself and the best interests of your country. Let us be as realistic as possible about it. We know that the process of education, interrupted for a period of years, can be resumed only with difficulty, if at all-that is, as an ordered process. Looking at the matter from the angle merely of enlightened selfishness, it is better that you do not interrupt that process. Maybe the war will end before the call comes for you. That we earnestly hope. And this viewpoint is not purely selfish, either. This war is going to end sooner or later, but it's going to drag along in its wake a trail of staggering problems such as our people have never had to deal with. Their solution will call for trained minds as well as trained hands. And it will be you boys--your generation-in whose lap that job will be placed. It would be short-sighted of our government to empty the colleges or unnecessarily interrupt the process of education. But you can't just ignore the war. Winning it is our first concern: everything else must be subor- dinated to that end. If we should lose it, the futures of all of us would be blasted beyond redemption. We are not going to lose itg but the Winning of it may mean bitter sacrifices for you and for thousands of boys like you. Suppose the danger to our freedom should become so threatening that you boys, even in your early college years, must be called to its defence. Then, of course, there is only one answer possible. If that day comes, you will respond eagerly, as Latin School boys have responded in all our wars. Whatever lies ahead for you, may God guide and protect you all. Page Ten