Northwest Nazarene University - Oasis Yearbook (Nampa, ID)

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-T sr R. E '-,ar - -- 07 . , ,,.,i . ' Q ,Q ib - xii' ', .2 Y' ' L - -11' ' , D Q-:f fr A ' ' , A. . -f --GNT .-EZ:-in fn -no -Q.- - m- by John Luik IT was The besT of Times, iT wqs The worsT of Times, iT was The age of wisdom, iT was The age of foolishness, iT was The epoch of belief, iT was The epoch of in- creduliTy, iT was The season of lighT, iT was The season of dark- ness, iT was The spring of hope, iT was The winTer of despair, we had everyThing before us, we had noThing before us, we were all going To Heaven, we were all going direcT The oTher way . . Such was our age, The age of The sixTies. IT was an age of ambiva- lence, of conTrasT, of diversiTy. We longed for peace, yeT perpeT- uaTed war. We were cornforTably affluenT, yeT desperaTely poor, We were generally sophisTicaTed, occasionally barbaric, infre- quenfly undersTanding, invaria- bly inToleranT. We made preTen- Tions To wisdom, yeT were incred- ibly foolish. We were smugly saTisfied, yeT sfrangely uneasy, perpeTually opTimisTic, yeT in- creasingly disillusioned, eagerly expecTanT, yeT hesiTaTingly fear- ful. We were confident of our desTinaTion, yeT uncerTain of our clirecTion, sure of our ends, yeT uneasy abouT our means. IT was an age of shaTTered dreams and perverTed hopes. The dream of universal affluence mocked by The grim presence of poverTy, disease, and despair. The dream of equality blocked by The inTransigence of prelu- dice. The dream of peaceful race relaTions shaTTered by The violenT ugliness of hafred, bigoTry, and open warfare. The dream of man's ulTirnaTe harmonizafion wiTh his environmenT displaced by The realiTy of mass pollufion. The dream of remaking urban America Turned To The nighTmare of inner-ciTy decay and suburban sprawl. The dream of rnan uTiliz- ing science for The benefiT of man replaced by The Terrifying prospecT of man using science To confrol man. The dream of man finding The broTherhood of peace and The fellowship of love marred by The persisTenT ouT- breaks of war and haTe. The dream of man's fullesT develop- menT of his raTional capacifies raped by The growing culT of ir- raTionaliTy. The dream of recon- ciling The generaTions made im- possible by Their seeming fasci- nation wiTh ThaT which divides raTher Than uniTes Them. The dream of man finding some sense of meaning, some iusTifi- caTion for his exisTence mocked by The persisfence of absurdiTy and noThingness. IT was disTincTively our age, The producf of our moTives, however ambivalenf, our efforfs, however Thwarfed, and our drearns, how- ever perverfed. Perhaps in our endless diversiTy and conTrasT lies our greaTesT poTenTial for greaTness, as well as for disasTer. Perhaps our only chance of suc- cess is in finding The balance be- Tween individual differences and universal similariTies. Perhaps we will yeT find ThaT hope be- yond hopelessnessf' ThaT Tran- scendence of despair which will enable us To survive.