Lafayette High School - Legend Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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ix Our Principal MR. JOSEPH BELLAFIORE

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When that something indefinable Cries within the sinews of us, When that never-liberated spirit Asks more from our lives, Let it be possible for each of us To find a peace, a fulfillment, a haven. Let the knowledge stored within the folds of Grant us accomplishment and success, The success that comes from seeing Dreams become realities, hopes become proof That life has no boundaries, no forseeable end Let all the friends weive met and treasured Provide the soothing past we'll never forget. Let the life we leave, prepare us for the life We rush, maybe blindly, to meet. And let there be an escape from sorrow That gnawing, gorging sorrow of seeing Glittering and buoyant life Grow tarnished and subdued. our minds, Louis Nordstrom

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LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL Benson Ave., Bay 43rd St. lo 27th Ave. Brooklyn, N. Y. Dear Graduates: This year the theme of the LEGEND is Royalty, and we hope to get some of its splendor and elegance into the book. Mary Corabi, our queenly editor, asked me to write a few words for the graduates and, in deference to her royal behest, I am happy to wish you all good health and good fortune as you say farewell to Lafayette. I salute you who display royal talent, noble personality, regal conduct. We who dwell in a democracy still revere and respect our ancient heritage when there were lords and ladies. Despite our lip service to the common man of the twentieth century, we secretly admire the uncommon man. We practice uniformity while yearning to be different. We recognize nobility of character and bow before the aristocracy of intelligence. This is good, proper, and just. For in a democracy, we cannot entirely forget the medieval grace and resplendent courtesy that placed royalty at the heart and center of loyalty and pageantry. Therefore, let us roll out the red carpet for our parade of graduates, our own men and women of distinction! While the fanfare of trumpets fades in our ears, let us tum for a moment to the disguised symbols of royalty still extant in our own lives. Take Brooklyn, our home town, the fond citadel of our everyday experiences. We write the King's English. We hold our commencement exercises at the Kings Theatre. We ride on Kings Highway. We vote in Kings County. Are these purely coincidental or the unconscious striving to revivify a vanished kingdom by the sea? We seek royalty in common things. We aim for the king pin in bowling. We declare a royal flush the winner in a game of poker. Shoppers receive King Korn stamps in the food market. On television we watch someone become queen for a day. We say, He's a prince of good fellows. Let us touch solid earth for a moment. You do not need at all a family pedi- gree or a borrowed coat-of-arms to face the world. True aristocracy exists only in the mind and spirit. A poet said, My mind to me a kingdom is. Another poet sang: The captains and the kings depart: Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Kipling found this idea in the Old Testament. We can try to echo it in our daily lives. Thank God for America where we prize not nobility of descent but rather nobility of ascent. The pre-eminent distinction is the royalty of virtue. Enough of posing. Be yourself. You can be king or queen in your own right because our first parents thousands of years ago in the Garden were made the lords of creation. If you can rule yourself, give fealty and allegiance to Him who made you, deal with others with charity, then indeed you are a member of royalty. Blessings on thee! Cordially yours, Joseph Bellafiore Principal Seven