John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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IN THE play, The Bonds of Interest, the Spaniard Benavente has woven an ingenious plot that carries a valuable moral. The scene is set in an unnamed European town in the late Middle Ages and the chief figures are a pair of rogues, master and man, who live by their wits without conscientious scruples. Coming to the place as strangers, they succeed in weaving them- selves so completely into the fabric of the community that the bonds of interest thus created in their continued success protect them against exposure and ruin. Too many influential people would be involved in their downfall to permit the truth to be known and the rascals to be seen for what they are. In this imaginary tale, Benavente has given us an excellent example of the complicated nature of many social. economic and political prob- lems with which we have to deal. Things are not ordered so simply that it is readily possible in a given instance even to distinguish right from wrong. For the further step of maintaining the right in full vigor while striking down the wrong, the difficulties grow by leaps and bounds. There is a term often in the mouths of left-wing adherents, over- simplificationu, that has value in this connection despite the questionable use of it by that group. In dealing with matters involving human beings, it is too easy to see issues as all white or all black with no intervening shades of gray. This tendency to which the young, because of their fierce logic and impatient zeal for justice, are particularly inclined is essentially over-simplification . Matters of controversy about which there is heated difference of opinion lend themselves to the sharply drawn contrasts of black and white. Yet, Descartes was correct when he said, Truth is rarely found in either extreme, but somewhere in between. To make matters even harder to resolve, the motives and the arguments of the parties to a con- troversy are a complicated pattem of good and bad, true and false. Similarly, it may be said that no nation wins a modern war, for the lives and fortunes of all nations are so intimately interwoven that a Carthaginian peace would drag down the victors in the ruin of the conquered. Hardly have armed hostilities ceased, when among the vic- torious people measures are adopted to revive the vanquished enemy. It is not pure generosity, but enlightened self-interest that prompted such action. The moral is that of The Bonds of Interest , for good and bad are so closely linked at many points that the surgeon's scalpel over an extended period of delicate probing is needed, rather than impetuous laying about with a broad sword. Intelligent study, patient analysis. careful weighing of all factors, these are the necessary procedures as both the cockle and the wheat are permitted for a while to grow until the time of harvest. That time of harvest must be the moment of calm and balanced reason that will give due value to all elements of the situation and result in a judgement in which there will be little or no over-simplification . In dealing with human problems, complicated as they are by almost inseparably involved good and bad elements, this slow, careful course is the only sure one to follow. The bonds of interest that tie us all so intricately together make the task exceedingly difficult at best. Five

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INSIDE STORY Patricia Butler LATELY THE American public has become increasingly aware of what seems to be a degeneration of the American teen-age population. Is it possible, they ask, for all teen-agers to be bad? But in the words of Father Flanagen of Boy's Town, There is no such thing as a bad boy . This may well have meant any young person needing guidance. For it is in the adolescent stage of life that a person needs understanding and help. more than any other time. Certainly some people have made the wrong turning in life but what of the majority of young people in the country? Let's stop for a moment and reflect on them. A certain high school Ut is not neces- sary to mention the name or the loca- tion of the schooll has greatly influ- enced the lives of its students. Iust what have they gained in their ser- ious efforts to find a place for them- selves? Their lives were in the hands of that school for four years and it had the power to reject them or raise them above their present standards. Six We will follow a student throughout her four years in that school, and she shall remain nameless. Entering the school as the proverbial freshman, she disliked the new life she was thrust into. Adjustment came hard to her and she began to take her school work for granted. She found herself not yet a part of the school and its activities and was greatly troubled by her apparent dis- interest in her education. Throughout her life she had one ambition: to be a teacher. Only this provided her with the determination to go on with her work. Suddenly she found herself in a peculiar position. She began to en- joy her other life for she had found a certain pride in being associated with that high school. Consequently her work improved and she found herself feeling proud when she was praised by a teacher. Oh, she was no student, for she didn't apply herself enough, but at least she was on the way to growing up. Then through the efforts of special courses and understanding teachers she found herself immersed in the activities of the school paper. The people there seemed to like her for her writing and for herself. She gained confidence and therein lies the crux of her uncertainties. Now she belonged. The paper afforded her the oppor- tunity to express herself and thereby discover her assets and her liabilities. She had something fine and wonderful in that narrow bit of print called a paper. Now you may ask, what has that to do with the increasing rates of juvenile delinquency? This girl could have been included in those rates if it hadn't been for her determination to succeed and the unfailing watchfullness of her par- ents and teachers. Is this example so different that it warrants telling? No, for it happens every year, in every city. And it will continue for years to come even unto the end of time.