Sheldon Williams Collegiate - Opus Yearbook (Regina, Saskatchewan Canada)

Page 52 text:

Paul Viminitz In the BRYANT ORATORICAL speak-off at Sheldon - Williams, Paul Viminitz placed first and Sally Moss was runner-up. A PESSIMISTIC LOOK AT PESSIMISM Like almost every year, 1965 was a year of brink¬ manship. We are, as is almost every society, on the brink of war. Perhaps this time we’re just a bit closer to the edge, and the drop is a bit further down, and so the brink becomes a bit more frightening. But that does not excuse the blind pessimistic attitude that so many take. In fact, it condemns it. The blind pessimist is the fool who looks at the world with blinkers on. He is the invalid whose eyes are blinded by the sight of hate and fear, so that he can no longer see love and hope. He is the idiot who walks down the streets of life, peering into the sewers of filth, but never lifting his head to peer into the windows of worth. He’s the coward who hasn’t got the guts to find any meaning in his own life, and therefore denounces all life as futile. But worst of all, he’s got the stupidity to say, “Look, we fight against wrong a id ; njustice, but what’s the use when having defeated one, another pops up the very next instant! Look, we solve one world crisis today, but what’s the use when another is sure to pop up somewhere else tomorrow! Look, we feed a child in India, but another starves in China! Why plant fields to be destroyed by fires of our own making? Why build cities to be destroyed in an instant by an atom bomb?” And with that, he says, “So show me where life isn’t futile.” And with that, he gives up. Norman Morrison was a thirty-one-year-old hus¬ band and father. He was also a very devout Quaker. At six o’clock in the evening, November 3, 1965, he stood with his body soaked in kerosene, on the steps of the Pentagon, with his one-year-old daughter in his arms; and then he put the torch to himself. Five hours later, his wife said, “Norman Morrison has given his life today to express his concern over the loss of life and human suffering caused by the war in Vietnam. He was protesting our government’s deep military in¬ volvement in this war. He felt that all citizens must speak their convictions about our country’s actions.” Norman Morrison was a devout Quaker. Quaker¬ ism condemns suicide. But the real irony of his action is this. He said that he would do it as a protest against loss of life, and human suffering. Yet his act caused his death, would have caused the death of his one-year- old daughter (had his disintegrating arms had the strength to hold on to her), and did indeed cause a great deal of human suffering! Yes, there are many who say that the world is falling apart, and that life is a joke. Perhaps they’re right. I really don’t know for sure. But I do know that we don’t save ourselves by burning our homes, and by burning our bodies, and the bodies of our chil¬ dren. I do know that hatred never brought about an end to bigotry. I do know that just condemnation and disgust never brought about an end to our own stupid¬ ity. And I do know that giving up never solved any¬ thing, tears never washed away anything, and joining the ranks of the destroyers never built anything. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I still think there’s a hell of a lot to live for if we’ve just got the courage to search it out. And that’s why I say: Well, we lived through ' 65. Let’s just do our damn best at ’66, shall we! — PAUL VIMINITZ 50