Holyoke High School - Annual Yearbook (Holyoke, MA)

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Class Oration—Our Choice JOHN J. BRESNA1IAX KEY chapter in our book of life has been closed. The time has come to meditate our future, to map out our course of life, to ponder our social heritage, or to terminate formu- lated plans. Let us take inventory. AVhat has made the present day and a bright future possible for us.’ The sacrifice of our parents and the American system of school- ing evolved through years of experimentation by the minds of creative thinkers. To the present day all we have, we owe to someone else; our greatest debt is to our parents, to our teachers, and to all the great who have made history. They have given us without hoping for material reward. They have helped mould our minds and characters for the best; they have assisted us to lay the foundation for our future life. We must now build upon our training and education. Still, we have a freedom of choice—as concerns our future. At the crossroad of life specimens of life’s offerings are spread before us. These are an honorable career, a mediocre existence, or a vicious, degraded life. This last offering we shall immediately eliminate, as no sane, decent human being will hesitate to discard this choice. May we consider then, the two other courses possible for us to choose: success or mediocrity. How will non guide your choice? In making a selection we must consider the subsequent payment, for we are subject to an immutable law which governs our existence. This law is compensation. We must take the bitter with the sweet, for every sweet hath its compensating sour; every good, its evil. Be the pay- ment for our choice immediate, or deferred, pay we must sometime. There is no escape; it is as inevitable as Death itself. “What will you have?” quoth God, “take it. and pay.” So, then, look well to your choice. Be equipped for your chosen work. Be ready to pay for what you take; then make the gallant fight for success and happiness. Conform to the law of Nature, and your chances for success are augmented. Violate it and you are doomed and forced to pay dearly. “Commit a crime and the world is made of glass.” says Emerson. IIow true that philosophy is! A perfect equity adjusts itself, too, in all phases of life. Man seeks greatness. He would have but one side of nature, the sweet, without twenty

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Who's Who In 1933 ■a? Most Popular Girl Most Popular Boy Brightest Girl Brightest Boy Most Versatile Girl Most Versatile Boy Girl Most To Be Admired Boy Most To Be Admired Girl Most Likely To Succeed Boy Most Likely To Succeed Glass Musician ('lass Artist Best Girl Athlete Best Boy Athlete ('lass Genius Prettiest Girl Most Handsome Boy Best Sutured Girl Best Sutured Boy Most Studious Girl Most Studious Boy ('lass Gloom Dispeller, Girl Class Gloom Dispeller, Boy Class Belle Class Beau . Class Beau Brummell Class Chatterer, Girl Class Chatterer, Boy Most Quiet Girl Most Quiet Boy Most Bashful Girl Most Bashful Boy . Helen Downing Janies Dunn Barbara (lately John Appel Madelyn Alderman Robert Anderson . Helen Downing James Dunn Barbara (lately . John Appel Edward Nowak Mildred Pampel . . Ians Fun Chester Wilusz Joseph Freedman Catherine Spooner Rodrique Valliere Mary Long James Dunn Barbara (lately John Appel Florence Klopfer Pasquale Sandrilla Caroline Cnderdorfel Robert Mooney Henry Campbell Elizabeth LaBreeque Paul Gingras Nellie Prior Ellerton Glover Nellie Prior . Edward Stiles nineteen

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the bitter. But, Nature forbids tliis unbalanced distribution of her favors. We must lose at times if we would win at others. It is certain that in our struggle for success, we are confronted with two factors: the mundane and the spiritual. We must not be deferred from our initial objective by these forces—rather must we compel them to serve us. We are going into a world that believes it certainly doesn’t need us and probably doesn’t want us. Ours is the task to convince the world that it DOE',S’ need us and really should welcome us. How can we do it? Now. with chosen career and a knowledge of right and wrong, we must seek an attainable objective. There appears to be none! Business and the professions appear to lx1 crowded. But, such is not the case. We are assured by the best authorities that there is a woeful dearth of excellence in every business and profession; indeed, so rare is excellence that it is conspicuous wherever it is revealed. There IS room for efficient, industrious, creative youth, and always will be. Conditions are in disorder; international animosity abounds; and economic chaos threatens. But, depression is ephemeral, as history has proven again and again. Despite conditions we shall retain our courage and look to the future as our predecessors did, with the wel- fare of those who are to come after us in mind, and so the cycle of life goes on. We shall give the world the best we are capable of and that is excellence. We have the equipment—learning—and that is the chief means of combating the competition of civilization. Now. that higher education has become a necessity, we specialize in one field that we may challenge competition. But we must not permit our choice of a vocation to interfere with our hereditary obligations. We must remember that our sole purpose in education is not merely to win over the illiterate and the unskilled. We must assume the responsibility that goes with civilization and its progress. Every fragment of knowledge, which we have gleaned from our studies, has been compiled for us. from the actual experience (and self-reliance) of others. So—with this inherent and deep-rooted sense of duty, let us enter into the arena of life with a feeling of reverence and humility. Let us weave these fine emotions, which we necessarily feel, into our design for living. The mist of uncertainty is rising. We discover ourselves among the foothills of life. Ahead, loom lofty mountains, future obstacles, which we are equipped to overcome and over w hich we shall pass. ttrenty-one