Hope High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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Anthony Medal Winners ARLINE GOODMAN MARVIN SILK 'kept I i cement' ' i' The World of Tomorrow Depends on Me The world of tomorrow depends on me. There are many times when I should like to deny that statement, refuse the responsibility that has been left to me, but I am living in the year 1946, and the world will not wait for me to accept reality. Often, during the night, I awake in a cold sweat, terrified at the thought that I and my generation will be the leaders of this earth in a few short years. Am I prepared to take up my duties as a citizen? Educationally I have been given every advantage. My schools, teachers, and books have been of the finest that my community had to offer. At home I am given the love and care of an affectionate family, and I lack no material comforts. As far as religion is concerned, I have been brought up in a conservative manner which includes Sunday school, the Bible, and weekly sermons. My life is a well-ordered, normal affair, with extra- curricular activities sprinkled liberally over my scho- lastic routine. Every tool has been put into my hands. Now I must fashion with them the kind of life I want, A chain is as strong as its weakest link. This sage old adage is never more true than when applied to the citizens of tomorrow. By strengthening the character of each individual we can strengthen our civilization. That is why I feel that if, in some small way, I can make my life a worthy contribution to society, I am helping to create a finer world. I do not pretend that it will be an easy task, but at least I have been fortu- nate enough to realize the trust that has been placed upon me, and knowledge of the task to be accomplished is half the battle. I have always been baffled by those people who say, Let George do it. Haven't they yet learned that they are responsible for their own actions? Perhaps they don't care whether or not they make something of them- selves, but they should realize that no one else is going to do things for them. Success does not come easily, but it is so much sweeter when won after a long, tedious struggle. The world will be no better than what we, the youth, make it. With this thought in mind. I am going out into the world of tomorrow, prepared to do the best I can for my fellow man, my country, and my God. Brothers under the Skin When God created the world, he filled it with fish and fowl, moving creatures and insects of all species. On the sixth day God created Adam. But Adam was created alone. He was the only creature of his kind. Adam faced the world alone. The evidence that God coveted Adam as a special treasure is exhibited in the fact that he was created in the image of God. If God took such a delight in Adam, why then did he not fill the earth with creatures like him? Why was man created single in number while other living things were created in multitudes? Why did God make Adam the only progenitor of the human race? It was in order to combat intolerance that God cre- ated only one man. Man is a vain, egotistical creature. It is in his heart to act and to feel superiorg it is in his heart to feel omnipotent. If God had created man in great numbers, each one would have felt ,superior to the otherg each one would have felt intolerance for the otherg in each generation there would have been violence. Intolerance teaches violence: intolerance stresses petty differences. Intolerance was not stopped. It gave birth to a worse form of hatred--tolerance. This lethal germ stresses passive enmity. It is a form of hatred that is subdued and lodged in the heart. There it is nour- ished. and there it flourishes. The heart tells the mind to tolerate. The heart tells the mind that people are different! But how are they different? Does a person whose hands are black await less eagerly the chance to make an honest and decent living? Does a man whose eyes are slanted and whose skin is yellow fight less eagerly for freedom, peace, and security? Does the heart of a man who professes Judaism beat less fervently in prayer to God? Does a Catholic or a Mohammedan not fear the power of the Almighty? Are men who are black, or yellow, or red, or Jewish, or Catholic, or Protestant, or Confucian actually different from one another? The color of a man's skin can 'be changed: the religion of a man can be changedg but his soul can never be changed! Men are men because they have souls. Man is like man because of the soul he possesses. Men are not different from one another, men are all brothers under the skin.

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Recipients of the Dennis Award . AWARDED FOR V HONORS IN LOYALTY, LEADERSHIP, SCHO- LASTIC ABILITY, AND INITIATIVE JEROME SPUNT GERTRUDE MUNRO , Graduation. Speakers First row, left to right: Gertrude Munro, Arline Goodman, Harriet Rotman. Second row: Marvin Silk, Sam Kestenmzm, Richard Lorette,

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Honorable Mention PATRICIA PARKER Intolerance is 21 Luxury That We Can't Afford I met Gladys Colyer a year after her release from a Japanese prison camp in the Philippine Islands, and it was from her that I learned the meaning of genuine tol- erance. I wish that the world could have learned that lesson with me. People had told me about Mrs. Colyer's experiences as a prisoner of the Japanese, and I expected to see a worn. tired-looking woman. Instead, I saw a tall. slim woman with shining blonde hair, eyes as blue as a summer sky, and one of the sweetest smiles I have ever seen. She was dressed in a gay, yellow dress, and she had a single strand of pearls at her throat. It seemed as though this woman had always lived where happi- ness reigned. However, the story which Gladys Colyer told us was not a happy one. She and her husband, Paul, and their two small children were living in China at a mis- sion station, but they were forced to evacuate when the Japanese arrived. They were sent to the Philip- pines. and shortly after their arrival they were taken prisoner by the Japanese army. For three long years they lived in a world of high walls, barbed wire. and yellow-skinned soldiers. The children became accus- tomed to hearing a foreign language: they said their prayers at night while Japanese guards cleaned their rifles outside the door: they often fell asleep with tears streaming down their faces because they were hungry. But they never forgot how to laugh, because they had a mom and a dad who made them believe in their Father, God, a God who was constantly watching over them. Yes. I-Ie did watch over them. A year ago the Ameri- can army released Gladys and Paul and their children, and it wasn't long before they were back in the haven of the United States. They Went to church that first Sunday they were home and thanked God for their freedom. freedom which they had suffered to obtain. I had an opportunity to talk to Mrs. Colyer per- sonally? and the things she said I can never erase from my memory. She said. Paul and I are going back to China as soon as we can. We are going back to a land of wounded, starving people, and we are taking with us the God we found in a Japanese prison camp. We can help those people as no other Americans can. for we have put our own children to bed with tears in their eyes because they were hungry . We. here in America. realize that we must learn more about tolerance. but do we realize that intolerance is a luxury? Gladys and Paul have no time to hate the Japanese: they can not afford that luxury. They know they must not preach tolerance, but they must live it. We shall never have everlasting peace until we stop making speeches. until we forget about the use of arms, until we come to regard intolerance as a luxury we cannot possibly afford. When the little people of the world learn to love their fellow men as Gladys and Paul do. then only shall we have peace on earth for all humanity. SAM KESTENMAN Spring Once Again It is Spring again. Firm gusts of air tinged ever so slightly with frost, yet bathed in sunshine. sweep happily up streets which have not quite recovered from the effects of a cruel winter. Ugly brown lawns begin to assume a greenish hue, though they are still soggy and muddy from the thaw. One seems to detect a definite lift in his spirit, and for once everything seems to go right. Happy boys with baseball bats and gloves hurry to the sandlot in eager anticipation: girls ride merrily along on bicycles recently brought up from warm cellars. Everyone feels light and gay, though perhaps just a little moody. It is spring once again. Did I say everyone? Funny how one's thoughts wander when he is happy-and it is spring. But it cannot be forgotten that spring is also making its quiet appearance in other lands less fortunate than ours. Other lands-what a colorful picture those two words could paint for some poor innocent with a vivid imagi- nation! I-Ie would probably dream of magnificent land- scapes, majestic palaces. and happy people--and how wrong he would be, for instead of beautiful scenery, there is nothing but a pock-marked wasteland. The earth is barren of food. and what little foliage there is, must struggle to keep alive. The beautiful palaces are either mere frames or piles of debris. and the people, the happy, carefree people, are little more than walk- ing dead-homeless, hungry. and alone. They have become used to these conditions, and their lives do not seem unusual. Gradually, however, they find it more and more diffi- cult to remain hopeless. Something in the air is touch- ing their hearts and lifting their spirits. At first they lower their eyes and shrink back in fear of this strange atmosphere, but soon. just as the low rumbling notes of a symphony suddenlv burst into a tremendous chord, their minds begin to grasp the reason for this change. They raise their eyes and look about them, and they see what has altered their lives. Brightly colored wild flowers have sprung up as far as the eye can see. Patches of grass are struggling upward through the muck. Hard green buds have begun to sprout on the branches of the trees that are yet alive. and singing birds once more begin to build summer houses. New life has sprung up. New life that is green and beautiful. New life that causes starving children to find happiness, that makes suffering people lift their tear-filled eyes towards a blue sky. New life that promises the world a new and happy future. It is spring once again.