London Normal School - Spectrum Yearbook (London, Ontario Canada)

Page 20 text:

This year Canadians everywhere celebrate Canada ' s Centennial, and one man in particular, Sir John A. Macdonald, becomes a national hero. Undoubtedly Sir John A. created the framework for a nation, and did this against formidable difficulties. But let us not forget the other unsung heroes who kept the concept of a nation alive during the subsequent hundred years, a group ranging from practical politicians to iron-willed settlers to rowdy shovelstiffs on the railroad gangs. Individually these men do not make the pages of history; but as a group Canada owes its continued existence to them. They were great because they tried, they often failed, but they kept trying again. It is to these builders of the nation that we dedicate the SPECTRUM of 1967. The caveman on our first page introduces you to this Centennial Yearbook. As you look at him, think of some of the ways in which man has climbed the ladder of history by taking risks. As you close your book, look at the man of today on the last page. How did we arrive at today ' s Canada in a land which so often in its physical nature seemed to hate the intruder? What is ahead of us in this land? Without doubt there will be more problems, more opportunities, and more risks. The problems will be answered, the risks will be taken, and the opportunities will be seized. For risk-taking is the essential first step in making decisions, in crossing new frontiers of knowledge, in accepting who we are and what we can do. As teachers, let us follow the great men of the past in this -- that we shall willingly undertake risks for the sake of a wider future. Penny Plowman Editor-in-Chief 16