Newport News High School - Anchor Yearbook (Newport News, VA)

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Principal’s Message No form of government gives the citizen so much as Democracy, and none makes greater demands upon him in return. We are too much concerned about our rights under the government and too little con- cerned about our obligations and responsibilities to it. Tlie weak citizen fails to do his part because he is concerned mainly with his rights while the good citizen carries his own weight and makes his contribution because he is always eager to give more than he receives. The man who is more concerned with understanding and performing his obligations to society than in getting what he can from society is the one who is happy in his own achievements and is regarded by the world as the good and successful citizen. Your high school has endeavored to shift your attention from your rights, most of which are imaginary, to your duties and obliga- tions, which are real. Knowledge alone will not suffice. Recognizing this, your Alma Mater has enabled you to develop that almost indefin- able necessity, “Morale”, through your contacts with your fellows and by meeting your obligations to the group. Carry this “spirit” or “morale” into your work as you take your place in life. When your morale seems to flag, turn to this message and renew your spirit by reading G. Stanley Hall’s beautiful definition: “When we awake after a sound and refreshing sleep with every organ in tune and at concert pitch, and thank whatever gods we believe in that we are alive, well, young, strong, buoyant, and exuberant, with animal spirits at the top-notch; when we are full of joy that the world is so beautiful, that we can love our dear ones, and throw ourselves into our work with zest and abandon because we like it; when our problems seem not insoluble and the obstacles in our path not insuperable; when we feel that our enemies are either beaten or placated; in a word, when we face reality gladly and with a stout heart even if it is grim and painful, and never doubt that it is good at the core and all evil is sub- ordinate to good, that even if we are defeated and overwhelmed in a good cause, all is not lost; when we feel that we live for something that we would die for if need be — this is “Morale”. “Morale is the very soul of the soldier. It makes an army as keen for attack as valiant in defense. It is bold and even enterprising to say to any and every opportunity ‘1 can’; but it does not stop here but adds ‘I will’. Nor does it stop here, because for it the sad chasm between knowing and even willing and doing is completely bridged, so that the man of morale ‘does it now’.” FRED M. ALEXANDER. Page Thirteen