San Mateo High School - Elm Yearbook (San Mateo, CA)

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F Q ' 37 V. N i Q Emblem 1 School Is 0l1Iy?A's Good As It -. ' 3 , K xxx -4 L' , uf of ' X o A ' V , f I Us 1 X

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The Leader ef Temerrew illlertiiuri ie i'aIuiamul , K If Skip Forden , fV6 ' l'l,, 'ff ft 'U' J -llbufl-' 7 1945-This is a year of war, this is a war generation. Boys are filling up the ranks, every day one more says Hgoodbyen and goes. We all chip in and give him a present. So long, fellow-H An old grad of three years ago comes back with service ribbons and tells us at assembly how it feels to face the enemy and kill hime- So long, fellowvu The rest of us are waiting for our eighteenth birthdays. Maybe we'll graduate first, or maybe they'll take us immediately. But a fellow waiting for that birthday does a lot of thinking about how the world got this wayfand what he can do to help. As a youth, Abraham Lincoln pointed the way to future generations when he said, l shall study now, and get ready, and some day my chance may comef' l-le studied, got ready, and his chance came. When his country was torn by civil war and on the verge of destruction, he was ready. l-le stepped forward with knowledge and experience gained by study and preparation. l-le was ready to serve when his country called. The future of his country for the next thousand years was in his hands, and one false move might have destroyed her. But because he had studied, because he was prepared, a nation was saved. We, too, must be prepared, for we too shall have our chance. We can not all be Abraham Lincolns, we can not all stand at the helm of the ship of state, in the spotlight, and direct the nation, but the nation itself is strong only as the little people who compose it are strong. Great leaders without a great people behind them are! not enough. Whether it be our fortune to serve in small ways or in large dramatic ways, we must be ready with our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. Qur generation must not fail our country. As the flames of war disappear, a new world will be unfolding. We may meet and direct the world's destiny. We may build a greater, freer, finer world, or we may shrink from our destiny and be carried into war, revolution, and chaos. The world will be what we make it. The coming age must be an age of reason. Already our thinkers are returning to fundamentals. We are asking, What makes a nation? What is the best form of government? What is the nature of war? of peace? Why do nations do what they do? Which are natural allies? Which are natural enemies? By studying, we must learn for what purpose we stand, and why. We must know the issue. We must not let ourselves be waylaid by the extraneous or directed by our prejudices, for we can not build a new world by artificial standards. We must seek fundamentals and truths and from there, build wisely and justly. The eighteenth century was called the Golden Age of France, in the nineteenth century, world leadership was Great Britains The twentieth century leadership, historians say, belongs to the United States. World leadership is thrust upon us by world events. l-low will we use it? For selfish gain? For exploitation, imperialism? If so, then we shall have the same sorry scheme all over again when we, the high school students of today going off to war have raised another generation to fight another war. But if we understand the responsibility our leadership brings us and are prepared for its many problems, we may be able to lead the world into the green pastures of lasting peace. America's sun is rising. The down-trodden, the oppressed, the starving, the scourged turn to us. l-low shall we best serve them? We can do it best by understanding them and the long historic years behind them'-the trends and influences and forces that have brought them and the world to their present plight. We must be able to analyze and strip the sugar-coated propaganda and see the bare essentials. Then let us build from there. All the great works of the world, all the wealth of the old philosophers, historians, mathematicians, scientists are ours to command. Napolean stares defeat in the face, Caesar is stabbed in a marble Roman hall, Socrates drinks the hemlock,-Poland is carved up again, Greece revolts, Germans fall and V-lf day comesnhpast history with the dusts of ages upon it and tomorrow's history out of today's newspaper headlineseours, if we will but grasp itl Let us then, HStudy now, and get ready, and some day our chance may come.

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