Plymouth High School - Pilgrim Yearbook (Plymouth, MA)

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The Principal Speaks i GOING MY WAY? HE WAY the world is going today it is more than ever important that we should know where we are going- or at least where we want to go. It is of no great use to us or to others to say that we want to travel the road to peace, for all peoples are saying that, and, moreover, are saying it sincerely. The trouble is that peace, as interpreted by the Russians and their satellite nations, imposes conditions upon us that we feel we cannot accept, since that kind of peace bears too close a resemblance to the peace of prison or the peace of death. We must never forget that we are democrats Qwith a small DJ, that we rule ourselves, that our police are subject to us-not we to them, that our public officials from the president down are our servants and we are not their slaves. We believe that we have the right to know all that we can learn of what is going on in the world regardless of the effect this may have on the political fortunes of our officers. We speak our minds as our right, not by grace of some commissar's permission. We are freeg we in- tend to remain freeg we hope that other men may become free. The war recently over still confuses usg one who was our ally now becomes a menace to our institutions. Does that mean we should have spurned his help or refused him aid in the struggle? Does that mean we should now compromise our convictions in deference to his ambitions? The answer is supplied by our history, our traditions, our nature, our com- mon sense-one single explosive NO to both those questions. We shall go our own way, and invite all men to walk with us. We shall go our own way, and respect the rights and the persons of others if they wish to walk apart from us. We shall go our own way, and insist that others respect our right to do just that. And because we believe firmly that the dignity of man demands that all men be free we shall at all times and everywhere hold out a helping hand to men who would be free. To do less is to deny our own birth- right-: Send not to ask for whom the bell tollsg it tolls for thee. These are melancholy days, and each man asks himself, Is 1948 an- other 1938? The Iron Curtain has clanged down on Czecho-Slovakiag the Finns stand in fear of its descending shadowg all Europe trembles- and Korea in far Asia confronts the specter of civil war in the days she hoped would bring her peace and independence. What, then, are we to do? To yield to panic in a world of panic is to accept defeat without making even the effort to struggle. To abandon our 20

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DANIEL WIRZBURGER An eminent golfer He hopes to beg We wish him success Out there' at the tee. RAYMOND ZUPPEROLI Ray's an unassuming chap Who studies hard, it's true: But with that sober air there is A touch of humor, too. ELAINE WOOD Like most of us in the sen- ior class She has her ups and downs, Especially at recess time When that somenne's around. ROBERT BOLDUC Back to Plymouth High From the Navy he came, To 'finish his courses In surroundings tame. ROBERT MILLS Robert left in forty-six To make his nation free But now he's back in P.H.S. Finishing with you and me AMONG THIS THRONG There are, among this gay and carefree throng, Who, by the cruelties of childish heedlessness, Are taught to live in silent, friendless interlude. Imprisoned by the bonds of sensitivity, Alone in worlds of dream or book-created days, They find a bright reality withheld in youth. Who knows what wise young thoughts are born to grow And touch or shake the pillars of our earthliness, As some among us linger in another sphere? SUSANNE TAUB '49 1

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friends-and every free man and free nation is a friend-is to clutch at isolation in a world made one by the atom bomb. To forsake our princi- ples is cowardice unthinkable, a defeat self-indicted. To be men, to be Americans, is all that is left to us-is all that we need to be. Take thought of our past, of the qualities which have made and sus- tained us as a nation: the self-reliance of the men and women who first came to these shores a scant stone's throw from our school, the fortitude of Washington, who forswore a life of ease and plenty because he believed in freedom for all men, the charity of Lincoln, who was martyred because he fought against the division and disintegration of our Union, the ideal- ism of Wilson who would have given to the world the same rights and privileges and opportunities which we as a people must ever hold dear. Be Americans! We need not brag-indeed, we must not brag-but, conscious of our blessings, we must be firm in our determination to protect and defend liberty wherever it may be threatened, we must give of our plenty gen- erously to the suffering and the oppressed. There can be no compromise with principle. We believe in the dignity of man, or we do notg we believe in justice, or we do notg we are children of God, or hypocrites worse than heathens. For the school year just past you have been practising all that I have written of in the preceding paragraphs, and because of your deeds I can write these words knowing that you will understand. The words are not important, what you have done is important. You have set your feet on the only road that oifers hope of peace, peace to all humanity. You have heard the cry of the cold and hungry and fearful, and have given help. You have, in your way, struck a blow for freedom. You have even learned to set aside self-interest. Your sacrifice, not great in degree, perhaps, but it was real. CARE can ever be a fine word in your lives. You march in truly great company, I like to think in truly American company. And may your greeting to all men, to all fellow-sojourners, be the typically friendly, homely, American greeting: Going my way? 21