Salem High School - Quaker Yearbook (Salem, OH)

Page 10 text:

The forms of communication serve as the ballast of man’s social relationships. They are used and misused, stretched and contorted, until they reach strangeseeming propor- tions. Their purposes strain, breathe, and fight with the effort of decision; yet, they reach for the heights of ideals, as their vision is upward, the goals become yearsdistant and the strugglepath to victory recedes. Immediate things can be talked about simply with oth- ers, but the complexities of intricate thought leave us dumb; our vision cannot penetrate that specious gloss, for we are taught to reason only through impressions. We stand watchwaiting on the sidelines, not in stoicism but in ignorance, stare at life’s game, discuss idly both the mean- ing and the outcome. Man is striving to fill a gap which exists between his understanding and ability to communi- cate. To fill this existing hiatus, we must use language as our tool: we must use language to point beyond language —beyond mere conceptions—to the concrete. But it is in smaller groups, not in the masses, where we get great ideas across, for the common denominator of mankind is too common for greatness. Society is a fence: conforming, continuing, evolving; constant in outer impressions, yet rich and varied within. Society, too, has gaps to fill and problems to conquer. In society, time is a frightening and misunderstood force, the dusty chain which restrains ambition. It is this ambition which reaches for extended goals and fountainheads the dynamic transformation which can change the standards of an age. When we are able to effect the identity of the day, when we follow an act to completion, then have we raised communications to the highest of the arts.

Page 12 text:

“To believe your own thought said Emerson, “to believe that what is true for you in your private life is true for all man—that is genius If we evaluate our personal philoso- phies and our personal actions by imagining them as ex- tended over all of mankind and if we find them good, we have passed the initial test of right action. If then we pro- ceed with self-believing confidence to follow these goals we have set for ourselves, we are able to overcome many dan- gers of our search. We can then acquire our first taste for mastery. Through self-trust we can succeed in isolated areas, but the search for truth pervades all institutions; each part dis- solves as we worry about the whole. It is the whole which is important to all of us, both now and in the future. We always make a real effort to get everything right; yet, when we fail, we laugh it off. The equipment we use—the lan- guage of sound and symbols—combines with the most common means of communication—facial expressions—to give us the basic tools of everyday life. The goals—our goals—pervade all of the mundane activities to control our conscience.