Simmons College - Microcosm Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 11 text:

To the Clam 0 mefeen Cfbmyf THE age in which we live is an age of corporate effort' It is not a new phenomenong it was characteristic of the Middle Ages. The gildes, the uni- versities, the cathedrals, political theories and religious doctrines were expressions of it. The critical spirit and the joy of life introduced by the Renaissance substituted for corporate effort a rugged individualism, the con- quest ofa new world nurtured this individualism and the philosophy of the eighteenth century consecrated it. With the invention and introduction of machinery individualism began to decline. More and more corporate organization took possession of economic activityg more and more the theory of a mechanized society has come to prevail. The individual apart from an organized group counts for little. Hence the multiplication of clubs and societies and propaganda bodies of all sorts. Mass power has been increased but the joy of individual effort has been reduced. The voice that cries in the wilderness cannot make itself heard against the voice that speaks in the microphone. The finest fruit of your education will be perhaps the ability on occasion to detach yourselves spiritually and intellectually from the mass conscious- nessg the ability to look at things through your own eyes and your own experiencesg the freedom to criticize and reject for your own conduct those tendencies in society which do not command your approvalg the power to tolerate and attribute worthy motives to those with whom you do not agree. A generous conformity to the prevailing modes of living does not involve a slavish acceptance of all the ideas and theories which lie back of them. fQf'fey77Uf1We0ffHfw0LC