General Douglas MacArthur High School - Commander Yearbook (Levittown, NY)

Page 30 text:

TO THE CLASS OF 1971 “Patterns seems like an appropriate theme for a comprehensive high school like ours. Our lives form patterns much as do designs created in art or music or shop or English classes. One of the hidden rewards of teaching lies in the percep- tive teacher's growing ability to foresee future developments by patterns or life styles which were begun in youth. By the time of graduation the basic value pat- tern is sketched out: what ensues is embellishment. Only rarely is the change substantive. What I’m suggesting is that all our myriad decisions contribute to the life style, the pattern, the direction our lives take. Some will have lives of quiet desperation: others will curse the stars, but it is the moment of choosing and the following action that determines the pattern — to act nobly or ignobly, with courage or cowardice, honestly or not. in love or with hate — the choice of action makes all the difference. No post-mortem rationalization counts. As our seniors leave us. we wish them godspeed and a life of wise choices. No longer will they account to us: it is now we who count on them. May all the