Granite City High School - Warrior Yearbook (Granite City, IL)

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EXCE ' .SIOR. Muriel Morgan. “From lower to the higher next. Not to the top is nature’s text And embryo Good to reach its full stature. Absorbs the evil in it’s nature.” These lines express to us the striving of still higher, ever upward, and onward to the greater achieve- ments in life. This is the desire of every human being who can see the worth of great things. Sometimes a person’s desire to reach this high place is selfish. He is determined to gain what he wishes regardless of other people. Renown gained in this way is seldom envied. It fails to satisfy the person who has obtained it, he cannot understand what is lacking but it is because he is too rapt in his own selfish purpose. The person who wishes to do something to benefit mankind seldom fails to accom- plish his ambition., After a student finishes high-school, he knows that he must now decide what his life work is going to be. His one aim is to do something for the good of mankind. The place that will prepare him for this , is the college. This will take up many years of hard work besides the expense, but his eyes are fixed on a goal and he will succeed because his banner is ‘Excelsior.” There are plenty of people to discourage him, but his purpose remains unmoved. After many years of work he reaches his goal. His reward is the more precious because it has been gained by great toil. He is looked up to as one who has reached his goal because of his noble purpose “Excelsior.” He has built a great character, which attracts the people to him as a magnet attracts steel. They know his superiority, not because of his eloquence but because of some latent power. He has built this character because he started with one purpose uppermost in his mind, the purpose to go ever upward and by so doing, benefit mankind. He has inspired the people around him with the desire to accom- plish great things. . What is it that has raised man to the greatness that he has attained in this twentieth century? It is his great will and purpose to go ever upward, his adherence to one definite point. His constant labor and persistence until the top is reached. This word ‘ ExcelsiorJ’ has raised man from savages to beings whose knowledge is indefinite. TWENTY-TWO

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cause some small obstacle lay in the path to success. Incalculable is that energy ruthlessly spent with- out purpose in forethought and determination in the carrying out of those purposes. Are they then, in principle, differentiated in a large measure from the chaos of the school of fish? But the day has arrived when chaos no longer rules system is the predominating factor while concentra- tion and economy are first lieutenants in American business. Not only is this true but the overcoming of obstacles in the path to success is now enumerated as the main constituent of that feeling which goes to make success desirable. Of what value is success unless you overcome some perplexity in order to succeed. However, the impression should not be made that in no case would a change of course be advisable; in fact, one of the greatest steps in Lincoln’s Life was his change from the country grocery store to the study of Law. There is nevertheless a vast difference between an earnest effort followed by a serious change of course, and the nervous, dissatisfied, grass hopper form of life as followed by some people whose dispositions generally are so selfcentered and narrow that they cannot conclusively agree with them- selves. The opportunity of choosing our own path to success or failure has been left entirely to our own dis- cretion. There was a time when the son had no choice but to follow in the steps of his father. Now the invalidity of this having been brought to light, we have not only the right to chcose our own vocation but we are assisted in every conceivable manner to obtain a higher standard in that vocation. Our opportunities are boundless; success is thrust within our reach at every turn. The dimensions of cur life are as a sliding scale set by our hand alone, with no resistance to that setting, except our own shallowness and debauchery.. We are as the mighty warring winds, as the powerful sandstorm of the desert, as the billowing seething waves of the ocean bound only by those planes which we set for our- selves; bound only by our debased consciousness, our deceit, our distrust of fellow men, and our every adulteration. Yes, we are as the mighty ocean wave capable under debased conditions of rising, arising higher than our fellow men. But then as a result of lacking purposed concentration to slowly fall, causing only a ripple of laughter among them, or on the other hand we may in accordance with our developed founda- tion, rise higher and higher to the utmost elevation, and then crash against the breakwater, degredation that obstacle in the path of the brotherhood of men, making that bulwark tremble in its unrightousness and with the roar of a work well done pass into the realms of the Great Beyond at the feet of Him who is judge of us all.

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Abraham Lincoln started as a poor boy with very little education and the education he had was ob- tained thru his own efforts. He had his eyes fixed on a goal which seemed far beyond the reach of a boy with his education and rank in life. But, by hi 3 indominatable will and untiring purpose he reached his goal. He did the greatest service for the Ameri ’an people that the world has ever known. Classmates, tonight ends our High School career. What our future will be depends upon the way in which we enter it. If we have one aim in view and will power enough to carry our purpose thru and to give us courage to overcome all obstacles and with “Excelsior” uppermost in our minds, we cannot fail. Muriel Morgan. TWENTY-THREE