Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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' I ' lic iirxl (lii ' lie met lirv iiicidrnldlly ill Hinilri ' s. She uui silliii;j in a corurY •with II glass oj tomato jiiiic in Innit of lin. He blew out the miiti li milli wliicli lie hud just lit II rii arette. mid. a-iilhiuo over to lin tiil h iisiied ij he might join hei. hi the course oj the coiiveisiition lie asked iiisuiillx. liy the way. what did you lliiiik oj my nitiiism of your j)oeui ' Was I rigliti ' ■Oil. es. she veplied. you were right. Your iritiiisiii was quite liellijul. Thiinhs very miiili. I. too. felt the ojieiiiiig lines weren ' t quite all light. You know. I hiidn ' t retiised it even once . . . All that was iiioiiths ago. lie had iiatuially stayed away jioui her ever sinie. Only this morning it suddenly occurred to him thiit — ' o, my dear sir. I ' liul said as he and Debbie set dirwii then cups on the table, I ' m iilraid you don ' t at all convince me that social life here is anywhere near xehat it should be. And tn Ihiuk oj it that straight jroiii liere I shall have to go into the service. Ah. the military! You kiiirw, it ' s such a striking contrast how over here everyone has to go into the service, and how in my country so many people try their level best to get into the military and simply can ' t. I tried to gel in, and I couldn ' t, not because I -was unfit or anything, but simply because they wouldn ' t take me. But then, of coiir.se. in my country lliey place so little emphasis on the 111 Hi tiny. What do they place more emphasis on? Oh. I don ' t knirw. They talk about non--violeiit approaches and about trying to see the other person ' s point of view. It may be true that seenig the other person ' s point of view often means little more than seeing one ' s ouni point of view from different angles, but still it might sometimes gii ' e one a better per- spective on things, might even in the long run give one a greater sense of concern for others. Are you implying that over here we don ' t have a sense of concern for others? No, no. please don ' t interpret my words too rigidly. I don ' t ex ' en know you people well enough to say whether you do have a sufficient .sense of concern for others or not. All I can say is that in some of the outxeard manifestations of the students here I do not note the same intensity that I saw in Eurofjean or Asian students. Take, for example, the public demonstrations in Cleveland in which some Oberlin students took jmrt as ii protest against Russian oppression in Hungary. The day before the demonstrations, a great many students in my dining-hall felt quite uneasy xidien a sfn-aker referred to the whole affair in a rather moved voice. The fact that they should feel uncomfortable to see someone worked up about the Hungarian issue seems somehirw to suggest a fundamental attitude of aloofness. And then when the demonstrations luere over, that is. after duty had been done, they sang college songs on their way back to Oberlin . . . Don ' t think I ' m trying to condemn the idea of singing college songs on such oc- casions. All I ' m trying to do is point out objectively the difference in the manner in which American students on the one hand and European and Asian students on the other behave in similar situations . . . Besides, there ' s the question of feeling concerned not only for those who are oppressed by your own enemies, but also for the ones who are oppressed by those who are not your enemies. One may 23

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Betsy Bridginan and Dave Siveel study pages from early Shair inaniiscripis on display in the Miller Room of Carnegie Liliiuiy. rill •. ' . i ' linih (if medieval art attracted visitors to the exhibit of illuminated manuscripts and oilier relics of the middle ages front the ] rivate collection of Frederick B. .4rtz. Miss Eileen Thornton. College I.ihrarian, shows students Marcia Higuclii and Adrian Parker volumes of the Ijventy- four Ming Dynasties enclosed within the memorial cabinet. 22

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it is not cards, it is singittg after meals. Stefan Gabalac, liehe Botty, Marcia Monroe, Sally Hamilton. Jean Miller, and Jolm Chii ' ily sound off with calypso! Every dining hall has its card fiends, and Fairchild seniors have had long experience. L to R.: Mel Long, Bob Lippman, Sue Lilly. Roy Schmichel, John Stimson, Mary Lee Hayes, Don Douglas, Bill Reed, Mary Ann Smucker. doubt whether there is any point in .student. ' i etting excited about snrJi tliing. ' s; or whether processions serve any purpose at all, but since one ivas taken out for Hungary, why is it that no one ever thought of taking oxU a procession in protest of the bombing of Egypt? Why is it that no one ever thinks of taking out a pro- cession in protest of all that ' s still happening in South Africa or Algeria or Goa? And please don ' t tell me tliat luhat happened i?i Hungary is by no means com- parable to u ' hat is happening in Goa or Algeria . . . But it ' s time for lunch now. I ' m afraid I made a regular speech out of it all! At liincfi he .sat next to George, a classmate of his. George did fmrt-litiie work in the kitchen for his board. They were served by the headwaiter, Jeny, who was George ' s boss. That was a tiling he could never stop feeling surprised about. Back home many people wouldn ' t believe him if he were to tell them that there were places where a person ' s oxun boss could luait on him like this withoxtt either of them thinking anything aboiil it. ,4nd it was also remarkable— this also xvould probably sound like a pompous sidtcinent to some — but it really n ' os remarkable, the way no social stigma attached to any kind of xvork. 24