Brockton High School - Brocktonia Yearbook (Brockton, MA)

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PRESIDENTS ADDRESS The Value of An Ideal By ROBERT M. HAYWABD This graduation has been our objective for four long years. This road to knowledge has been a struggle toward man- hood and womanhood. For whatever success, we rejoice: yet the pleasure is mingled with a sense of sadness. The world today has need of us in its many fields of en- deavor, where humanity works to solve the problems of this war-torn year of 1942. Because the world is at war, life now and for many decades will not be easy. We, the younger generation, shall need our beliefs and education to meet this world and its problems. We are going to challenge this tremendous proposition and accept these responsibilities. Humanity, the world over, is encompassed by dangers, and unless man sees a vision, this agonized world is struggling in vain hope of building a better life. The people of this globe cherish an ideal of deliverance from this world's routine. Society is searching for something outside of itself, for society is unhappy, and only a vision can bring to mankind new opportunities, ideals, and a philosophy. Through the long annals of history, people have found the need of ideals. The human heart desires that society create a world which can answer to man's every progressive need, culture, and betterment. Nehru, lndia's great statesman, has established ideals for the future of India based relatively on our ideals of democracy. His vision consists of the enlightenment of the teeming millions, through education and self-rule similar to that of the United States. Today, we find India striving to improve herself. Man's ideals have been the product not alone of his mind, but of his hands. These patterns have become his gods and they have deceived him. Imagina- tion turns out many products which serve man's needs and entertainment. When his mental powers influence many, he comes to believe and trust entirely in them. For example: the Hindu worships clay gods, it is on these that he concentrates his ideals and hopes: here, too, is a common ground in the exchange of thought, belief and action with his fellow-man. This is an estab- lished system of life. Nehru hopes that the Indian multitude can transform some amount of their zealous devotion, from Buddhism to the fundamental ideals of a democratic government. The worship of ideals may be found in the scholar, who focuses his thought on an abstract model that requires a name land that a long onel. The scholar must call upon his resources, and these in turn become his philosophy. It may now be seen that all humanity is fallaciously trusting for progress upon man-made dogmas, and systems. Such energies, be they mental or physical, do not depend on man, but on the Great Creator, the giver of all good things. Man has forgotten God in his desire to arrive, so he creates agencies, organiza- tions, and systems which have failed. These institutions are receiving the acid test today. Some of these idols are represented by commerce, wealth, in- vention, and education. 16

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Every honest person will admit that money is of great concern in his life. Money is an idol which has taken the place in man's thought from the love of his fellow-men. ln money he places his trust. lt is the love of money that causes wars. It is man's dissatisfaction with this world that has caused the present con- sternation. Each nation desires to procure more than its share of the world's store, and the thirst for power becomes a nation's standard. The result is that such a nation cannot trust its neighbors because of jealousies which finally lead to discord. The noble people of each nation are looking forward to a better world where individuals shall be the benefactors of an unselfish neighborhood. Over 2,000 years ago, Christ realized the unfair systems of exchange. He saw a Communistic and Socialistic world, and Christ explained the danger of wealth, greed, and fear. Money was a nuisance to l-lim. Money was a mere medium of exchange! lt is, therefore, the love of money that is holding man back from his dream of a better world. God's children are entitled to essential freedom, no matter what be their race, creed, or color. This hope of brotherhood has always been in men's hearts: this hope is materializing today. Our government is attempting ways and means toward social understanding. In spite of our troubled times, we are as individuals, in our present state because of the progress which others have made possible for us. We remember Alexis Carrel's words, Human beings have not grown as rapidly as the institutions which have sprung from their brains. With science continually forging ahead, we must become more understanding of life. After this war, the airplane is going to form this world into a neighbor- hood which Alfred Tennyson prophesied in Locksley Hall : I dipt into the future far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world and all the wonders that would be Saw the heavens filled with commerce, argosies of magic sails Pilots of a purple twilight, dropping down with costly ba1es. Our hopes are summed up by the poet as he hears The war-drums throb no longer, and sees the battle flags all furled in the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world. 17