McPherson College - Quadrangle Yearbook (McPherson, KS)

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PRESIDENT W. W. PETERS Chief executive . . . snowed under with responsibilities . . . yet ready and willing to council and direct . . . firm when necessary . . . Practical at all times . . . keen and resourceful . . . this broadminded gentleman has won the respect of all by giving his best . . . we are proud to cull him President . . . I4

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l l x l , , I I ALTHOUGH OUT ON BROAD KANSAS PLAINS . , . I love my little friends . . . The1'e's a long, long: Euvlid ahead . . . We would be lyuilmlinpr . . D0 you believe in signs? . . . Save me a seat! . . . mainstay of Mel-'hersun . . . six hits . . . every one a Miss . . . between peers and laughter . . i3

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l Mllniphersnn Qlnllegc Dr. Peber's Residence W. W. PETERS, PRESIDENT NOW AND TWENTY FIVE YEARS FROM NOW For the first time since I became President of McPherson College, it is my honored privilege to write something for the Quadrangle in reference to World Peace, when the major nations of the world are actually attempting to plan for peaceful relation- ships rather than participating in armed conflict. I am writing this on December 8, 1945, which is just four years from the time it was my duty and privilege to speak in the College Chapel to the faculty and students in reference to our relationships, activities, attitudes, responsibilities, and privileges while our nation was to be engaged in World War II. I attempted to set forth as clearly as I knew how, that it was for each individual to make up his mind according to his own understanding, conviction, and conscience, as to what his attitude should be, and what he should do in reference to war. When one's decision was made, it was urged that he be consistent and that each should respect the other. As the past four years are reviewed at McPherson, there is much for which to be grateful. The individual conscience, in reference to war, has been respected, and there has been, on the whole, an excellent fellowship among students, faculty, and townspeople in the midst of wide differences of opinion and activity in respect, both to attitude toward, and participation in, war and related activities. Young people with wide differences have fellowshipped together in dormitory life, in class and laboratory experiences, in dining hall, in chapel, and in church. They have voted one another into office, have sung together, have debated on the same and opposing teams, and have played and worked together. All prayed and hoped for the day in which armed conflict would cease, and none, or at least few, doubted the outcome so far as military victory was concerned. Now that the guns of World War II are silenced, what are we thinking, believing, planning, and doing? It is most unfortunate that so many are talking about World War III as if war were inevitable. Some even allow themselves to believe that war is in the plan of God. Still others, while wanting peace, allow fears to rule their lives. This does not point the way to peace. We must believe that God is love, and being such, is the God of Peace. If we believe in such a God, we will have faith in His purposes for man, which are to honor Him and to be a blessing unto others. If we honor God, we will love- Him, and if we love Him, we will love our neighbors. If we love our neighbors, we will respect them, and we will treat them as ends and never as means. We will believe in world peace by having active faith in God, faith in ourselves, faith in one another, faith in government, faith in the United Nations Organization, faith in world cooperation for the common good and general welfare, and faith that righteousness will triumph. We must believe that Q15 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and Q21 that He created of one blood all people that dwell upon the face of the earth, and then act accordingly. Acting upon such beliefs, there will be no race, national or class prejudices, and we will accept the Four Freedoms as universal rights. The editor of this year's Quadrangle 119461 and her staff are to be congratulated and commended for selecting World Peace for their theme. May the editor and staff in 1971 be able to report with conviction that World Peace has become secure under a firmly established World Federation of Nations living together for the mutual good of all in a World Brotherhood. To make such a statement possible, the family, the school, social life, business and professional life, and political life must be undergirded with knowledge, sympathetic understanding, kindliness, and good will that develop from the morals and ethics found in the Holy Scriptures. W. VV. Peters