North Andover High School - Knight Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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Is thi s the right way to go about judging anyone? It is certainly no way to judge an American, says our Constitution! Our entire system and idea of government is based on the worth and dignity of an individual as a person! It is a very sad thing that in a democracy, where equal rights are granted all, so much intolerance should flourish. We must be made, if necessary, to realize that it is not who we are, but what we do and how faithfully we live up to our duties and responsibility that really determines which of us are true Americans. I would like to tell very briefly about someone who, in my opinion, is an ex¬ cellent example of Americanism at its very best. This man is the widely known states¬ man, Dr. Ralph Bunche, a prominent member of the United Nations and one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of race relations. Dr. Bunche is the grandson of an American slave and he also has some American-Indian blood. Although at a great dis¬ advantage, simply because he was a Negro, he rose magnificently to meet this challenge and to force the world to recognize him for what he is, a brilliant scholar and statesman. It couldn’t have been an easy fight, for many doors were politely but firmly closed in earlier years to the eager, ambitious, hard-working young Negro. His career itself has been on a steady upswing since the day when he gradu¬ ated with highest honors from college. He was the first Negro to hold a really important job with the State Department. After receiving countless awards down through the years, Dr. Bunche joined the U. N. where he indeed has written a brilliant page in its history. Recently his career was crowned when he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Here indeed is a true American who has given a great deal to his country. Of course, most of us are not able to contribute as much to the country as Dr. Bunche has, and actually we need not, to be good Americans. However, each and every one can ask himself these questions, “Am I earnestly trying in every way to be a good citizen, or instead am I taking the easy way out? Am I taking the precious free¬ doms and privileges I possess for granted? Do I even unconsciously tend to discriminate against certain people who are of a different race or religion than I am? If you are guilty of any one of these things, it is entirely up to you to conquer them, and be really worthy of that proud title, American citizen. Margaret Willett Class Essay SHALL WE SURVIVE? While we Americans have been absorbed in our own problems, our worries over the Korean war and the threat of Communism, we have neglected to keep a tight rein on our government and its operation. There are many evidences of corrupt forces operating within our government. The recent senate-crime investigations, for example, brought to light the decay that has crept into our nation and threatened our society. Scandal in government can be traced to the Romans. The great Roman Empire was constantly threatened, as we are, by external forces and survived them all. No, mighty Rome wasn’t crushed by attacks from foreign powers—the Roman Empire crumbled from the corrosion of its own internal decay and corruption. Is that what our great country is facing? We must realize that we can survive in the face of inter¬ national disaster, but cannot survive if our democratic principles and moral standards, decline. Let us examine the causes of this corrupton. When our country was first taking roots, there was too great an emphasis on the material aspects of life, a phe¬ nomenon quite common in a pioneering country like our own where a young and vigorous people were filling a virgin continent, hewing down the forests, breaking the plains and, in general, developing the physical resources. { 17

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Of course, the Bible is the most remarkable of all books. It contains prose that is singular in its calm beauty, poetry that has been unsurpassed in the history of the world. It teaches with a quiet simplicity that assures the reader, This is the truth.” Yes, books have much to offer us. To the student, a library is a garden of information from which he may choose the fruit which seems most tempting to him. Francis Bacon once said, Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” The groping student tastes a great many books—books which deal with every phase of life; he swallows a smaller group—the books that he studies in school, and from the books he has tasted and the books he has swallowed he gradually singles out the few that he will chew and digest. Books are necessary, not only to students but to everyone in the world. They provide hours of enjoyment, escape from the reality of life, information which makes the world seem more interesting, and inspiration when times are hard. In the words of Emilie Poulson, Books are keys to wisdom’s treasure; Books are gates to lands of pleasure; Books are paths that upward lead; Books are friends. Come, let us read.” Marjorie A. Terret Salutatory WHAT MAKES THE TRUE AMERICAN? In these troubled times we are all very proud to call ourselves Americans, citizens of the greatest nation on earth. This title carries with it a sense of assurance and strength in a war-ravaged world where, in the last years, few people have been able to feel any confidence at all. Yes, it is a wonderful thing to be able to say, I am an American,” and thus to link oneself with such a democratic, peace-loving, and yet powerful country such as our own. But, actually, do we ever stop to think exactly what kind of person is worthy of that cherished title in its true sense? Although many citizens fully enjoy all the rich benefits that it offers, how many of us honestly shoulder our share of its very heavy responsibility? Each one of us, down deep in our hearts, know that many times in our life we have very gravely shirked our duties as United States citizens. Sometimes it seems of so little importance to go out and cast a single ballot, especially if it is cold or rainy. And yet, if those who feel this way would only realize that in casting that single ballot they are making use of a very wonderful privilege, one that few people enjoy, and one that many have died for, perhaps they would make more of an effort. Although very few of us really measure up to the title American citizen” in its true meaning, unfortunately there are many people in this country who attach a totally different meaning to it. These people insist that to be a true American, one must be of a certain race, creed, or color. Also, there are those who proudly claim this title simply because they can positively trace their family back to the earliest days of our country, even, in some cases as far back as the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. f 16

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This materialistic feeling was aggravated by the shock and dislocation of two World Wars within one short lifetime. There was a moral lethargy produced by the drain of two world-wide conflicts upon our energies, resources, and emotions. In the next place, the underworld learned how to organize in prohibition days, and a citizenry that was not in sympathy with the Prohibition Act looked on with humor¬ ous unconcern at the orgy of lawlessness, and even grew used to it. Then when prohibition passed away, organized crime, proud and prosperous now, not only tolerated but even accepted by the better elements” of the country, turned its organization to other sources of easy money. Betting took on the magnitude of a national industry, branched out into allied fields of vice, corrupted the law enforcement agencies, and sent its cancerous roots far deeper into the body politic than an almost fatally good-natured public realized. Then came the greatest lesson in civics that this grand country of ours ever got. The Kefauver Committee turned up sensation after sensation. And at last the country is informed and aroused. What can be done to remedy this situation? There must be a complete and continuous knowledge of the conditions and a reawakening of moral sentiments. This is the joint responsibility of church, home, school and any mode of communication such as press, radio and television. There must be a re-dedication of the nation to the old American slogan Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” In the eighteenth century, England was eaten with corruption under the reign of Walpole. She pulled herself out of that slough. And what she had done we Americans certainly can do. This vigilance will take, among other forms, the form of voting at every elec¬ tion, voting for the best man regardless of party designation, and, above all, removing promptly any official whose actions show a neglect of or contempt for the common good. Briefly, we are in a period of scandalous corruption because we didn’t care enough about how our government was being run in the first place. Too long have we Americans expected some political magician to waft our troubles away with the flick of a wand. Too long have we placed a childish trust in the mere politician and his theo¬ retical patriotism. It was not this spirit that made this country blossom and bud like the rose. It was not this spirit that struck for independence. It was not this spirit that pro¬ duced our constitution, characterized by the great Lord Acton as the greatest article of government ever struck off by the hand of mortal man.” We need to get back to the old American idea that that government is best which is most watched. But we our¬ selves, individually, must do the watching. We are the captains of our fate We are the masters of our souls.” Barbara Watts 08