Medina High School - Medinian Yearbook (Medina, OH)

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14 ©lye Annual isfiecl and not willing to cease labor. He must be active and obtain results. Satisfaction would have meant stagnation and great loss to the world. The satisfied person has reached his or her goal ; for such a one there are no more worlds to conquer, no lofty height to arouse ambition. He has reached his highest level, work ceases, and usefulness forever lies dormant. On the other hand, who would dare, by thought or art, to try to limit the possibility of the unsatisfied? From this class we have derived great benefit. Early geographies con- tained maps of the United States with a great stretch marked, “ The American Desert.” In Columbus’ time the map of the world had peculiar characters marking the then unknown parts of the globe. Today the maps are different ; we even know about the north and south pole, because men were unsatisfied and forever reaching out. Since the days when people just landed on the Virginia and the New England coast, the unsatisfaction on the part of the pioneer has given us a country extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. We are also indebted to our scholars and men of science for their unsatisfied condition and their determination to acquire more than they already possess. I wish you to note that unsatisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Unsatisfaction is constructive; it builds up, it investigates, it leaves results behind. Dissatisfaction is distinctive. It builds nothing; it is not satisfied with things; it produces grumblers, complainers, and faultfinders. Unsatisfaction, then, makes us reach out from the present in the hope of attaining more ; therefore, to be able to do more. I. We then have a mission in the world, which is “ to do.” “ Deeds are the coin of Heaven; Faith without works is dead.” So give a cup of cold water in Christ’s name. Do the will of my Fat her which is in Heaven. Christ worked — Paul worked; we are to work and do things according to our several abilities. In this age of intellectual attainments, we know that knowledge is power. During your school life you have been like a storage battery connected with a great dynamo (the American Public School System) storing up knowledge, absorbed from teach- er, book, and class. Now you are to be disconnected from these, and expected to reproduce in the many avenues of life — this knowledge or power. Use it wisely, use it to the very best advantage, and bring glory and honor to your school by doing something. II. Man’s work is to do one thing and do it well, rather than to do many things imperfectly. Concentration is absolutely necessary to success. There are many Jacks of all Trades, but when we need to have a delicate operation performed we seek a specialist who has made this one branch a specialty. The tendency of this age is in the direction of specialization — one who is an expert in one particular line of labor or thought. Select a calling for which you are best fitted ; you know the direction in which your inclination lies. All cannot be laborers, mechanics, teachers, professional people; still, there is an affinity between them all. They all work together for the common good of mankind. When you have selected your life’s work then magnify it. Honor your calling and endeavor to make it the very best vocation in the world. Put your heart, mind and energy into it and always be proud of the one thing you have chosen.

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Stye Amtttal 13 llarralaumttr § rrmmt HOW TO OBTAIN THE PRIZE. BY W. V. EDWARDS, B.D., PH. D. Rector St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. This one thing I do, forgetting those things which ore behind , and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus . — Philippjans 3:13-14. This is the advice given to the Church and it is applicable to our use tonight. St. Paul was a man of large attainments; as a scholar he had sat at the feet of Gamaliel; he was a man of exceptional wisdom. He had been blessed in that he had received a special revelation from Heaven. A man with these advantages should have been satisfied; not so with St. Paul. He was an unsatisfied man. He realized that there were still greater attainments than those already in his possession. This high attainment for him was Jesus Christ, the highest ideal for us all. Had Paul been perfectly satisfied with himself and the world in which he lived, there would have been no chain of churches in Europe, Asia and America today. He was unsat-

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®lj£ Annual 15 Never envy others, or their callings; never think theirs is a more successful career than your own. All sails look snowy white in the distance, but are no whiter than others when close at hand. III. The method of successful doing. Forget the past with its mistakes and failures; forget even the already high attain- ments. Be active and make the most of the present. Live in the present and be optimistic. Try to penetrate the future; ever push onward. “ Launch out into the deep.” Do not long for the good old times; if it were possible for them to return we would be very much disappointed with them. Do not think that all the opportunity for advance- ment was in the good old days. There is more opportunity in the present than there ever was in the past for the one who is fitted to receive it. Do not try to turn the wheels of progress backward by always looking and longing for the past. Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Many young lives with everything before them have become pillars of salt because they refused to forget the past and turned back upon the future. Believe the “ Golden Age ” is still future, arid that still greater things are to be brought out in the future than have been in the past, even though we are very much in- debted to the past for many things of our everyday life. Then we must be strenuous, up and doing, determined to achieve. As all roads led to Rome, so should your every effort lead toward your chosen ideal. Do not sleep or become indifferent. Keep awake to your opportunity. “ He who would attain great heights must work into the small hours of the night while his brethren sleep.” Be optimistic. Life is worth living. The world is bright before you. Success awaits your taking it. Choose a fitting position; then aim high and make yourself invaluable to the world, your employer, and the community. Resolve to keep your eye ever upon the prize and use every effort to obtain it by constant activity. Be not like the stagnant pool which becomes poisonous, but rather like the rippling stream; no matter how small you may be, its activity leads it into larger and still larger streams until it finally becomes part of the great ocean. To the Class of 1916 : You remind me of a great ship ready to be launched. Twelve years ago the keel, or the backbone of your education was laid down. Year after year the work of construction has progressed. Ribs, plates and armor have been added until today you are a completed production of “ Medina High School.” In a few days the props and stays (your teachers) which have supported you during this long period will be taken away. The “ Farewell ” of the Superintendent will be the final signal which will release you from all connection with your school. Surrounded by relatives and friends, you will glide down the ways into the sea of commercial, professional, and domestic life upon which you are to sail unaided and alone. May you each have a happy and prosperous life under the care of the Captain of our Salvation, who will reward the faithful and give to them the prize for which they have worked so hard.