Putnam City High School - Treasure Chest Yearbook (Oklahoma City, OK)

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paper articles, crime and nu- dity in movies. For as Gunner Myrdal, a noted scholar on American affairs, once wrote about America: 'There is no country on earth which has more of a common, explicit morality. . . Cinvolvingj dignity of the hu- man individual, justice be- tween people, liberty, equali- ty of opportunity and brother- hood.' T We are the inheritors of the world's richest and most powerful nation. Though only six per cent of the world's population is scattered from the Atlantic Coast to the Pa- cific Isles, it is this minority which produces the majority of the world's production of goods. We are the best fed, best dressed, best educated nation in the world today. We live in a countryin which the sweat on a man's brow can elevate him to a level far above the one into which he was born. We choose our leaders: we choose our jobs: we choose where to live. We also live in a country of change. We are able to change our leaders if better leadership is neededg we can change our financial status, if we are willing to work at itg and we can change our living condition, if we are open-minded enough. If we want to voice an opinion con- trary to that of our govern- ment or that of our neighbor, we have the right, the re- sponsibility, to do so. Through our free press, we are assured that what we read, in the vast majority of instances, is the truth and not some govern- mental interpretation or pro- paganda. j 'America is a basin,' as Wayne Iackson, a friend and Putnam City senior, once told me, 'in which there is con- stantly flowing both the hot and cold currents which we and the world continuously createf America is an incorpora- tion, a mixture of conserva- tives and liberals, of cities and towns, of every spice that God blended in man. We are a conglomeration united by the words and ideas which were first set down by our fore- fathers. The United States We are called. United, not because we are a school of gudgeons swimming foolishly about wearing red, white and blue to proclaim our loyalty-but because we are loyal. United not to the point that our pa- triotism has blinded us to the deep problems of our govern- ment-but because we are patriotic. And united, not be- cause we are free to the point of being indomitable-but because we are free. To remain a free people and to preserve our liberty. we must unite the inex- haustible energies of our youth to be prepared to face the long struggle of existence. We must be ever on the alert to guard our precious rights and privileges from those who might twist or turn them for their self-benefit. Take your stand teens! Exert your rights and freedoms to benefit your fellow men, so we might leave this world a better place to live and grow in unity and peace with our world-wide brothers. The American scene is as varied as the students and faculty of Putnam City High School, but just as this varied high school has rules and regulations governing its func- tions, America has its laws. And even more importantg just as Putnam has its pride and spirit which continues to place it both scholastically and athletically above other schools, America has its heritage and patriotism which sets it above other nations. Within the pages of this yearbook, the story of a free young people is writteng the actions, work, joys, and sor- rows of young Americans are pictured: and the true por- trait of the American teenager is painted. You will not find a story of demonstrations or violent riots: of useless speeches or rash actions, but a vibrant account of Young Americans. Through our actions and words we will be made ac- countable by the world and our children yet unborn. Men will one day look upon what we have said, written and preserved: and then we will be judged as critically as we now judge our fathers. The banner of America has waved in the breeze above our heads for a good number of years nowg and the Ameri- ca which was once an infant has grown to become the father of free men every- where. Yet,-the hardships and challenges which confront us are as difficult and demanding as were those which stared in- to the proud and patriotic eyes of our fathers in years past. Fore word --3

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Which way toward tomorrow America? On perhaps a rainy, perhaps a sunny Iuly day, now nearly two hundred years past, there was recorded the birth of a nation upon a document of Independence. To a sleeping worldof people ruled by kings and czars, America awoke and cried her words of freedom- words which were to change dreams to realities and the ruled to the self-ruled. Within this book of our friends and memories, there also lies the chronicle of America which we all shall be a part of-a chronicle which a free people shall write, and tomorrow a free people shall read. However, it has been the unfortunate duty of history to record a page with blood and tragedy since that first day, in order to preserve the prize of freedom which the Revolution won. Civil Wars in our once- divided land strengthened our constitutional belief in free- dom and equal opportunities for all men. Two World Wars in distant lands have filled a thousand graveyards with American men and women, who died defending their country and its ideas. And now, following the high- pressured Cold War, emerges the Viet Nam War-a politi- cians' war to some-which daily claims a multitude of young lives, both American and Vietnamese,which should be working toward peace in- stead of struggling in war. However, history has prov- en its tedious trial with free- domg now the task of its pres- Foreword - 2 ervation lies with us, Ameri- ca's present and hopeful fu- ture. Now the precious life of liberty and happiness, for which our fathers and their fathers fought and died, is in our hands alone. Now the wrinkled page of history turns and we are left to compose its words. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washing- ton D.C., on a torrid Septem- ber day in 1963, the late Reverend Martin Luther King once told a sea of 210,000 demonstrators below his po- dium of an idealistic dream he had for all Americans: 'This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off,' he said, 'or to take the tran- quilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. . . I have a dreamf His was a wondrous dream,- a dream of fulfillment. The American Creed, which guar- antees equality, was his bea- con. The belief -that men should be judged, not by the color of their skin or the ac- cent of their tongueg but by their character and good will, was his hope-a hope which will eternally remain, although its author did not live to see it become a reality. Like Dr. King, we the stu- dents of Putnam City are also dreamers. We too are search- ing forthe answers he sought. Can we, the younger gen- eration, thought to be so fast- moving and unstable, so un- ruly and misguided, so morally corrupt and liberal, find these answers? Can we leap our social barriers to eliminate our ghetto conditions, aid our poverty stricken and raise our fellow men to a level of equali- ty? Can we cross the oceans, with their cultural, lingual, fi- nancial and geographical gaps, to unify our world, to form alliances with our broth- ers of other lands? These are questions which can only be answered with foresight, patience and time. It cannot be denied that America is marked with many sores which often cause the world, with its never ending problems and frustrations, to become a distasteful well from which to drink. Commer- cialism with its glaring neon signs and gaudy billboards has turned part of America into a jungle of eye-sores more suited for robots than humans. Urban blight with its smog, congested streets and de- teriorating neighborhoods is enough to make any tax payer Cand we are all tax payersl disagreeable after a day of having stomached it. These are but a few of the problems we, the generation who are left to find the answers, must face. The list goes on endlessly, including everything from the War in Viet Nam to medical costs to national debts. However, in the midst of our dreams of improving to- morrow, it is best that we not forget the realities of fulfill- ment which already surround us. The American has created more than discouraging news-

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