Smithville High School - Fabrica Yearbook (Smithville, OH)

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MOSAIC ANNUAL SALUTATGRY VA L U ES Value , we could say, is the hinge upon which hangs our failure or success in life. Each country has its different social cus- toms and habits and generally each country has set its own moral values. But here in America, the 'tmelting-pot of the nations , so many different countries and nationalities have contributed toward making up our population that there can be no set values to anything. Hence, what may seem to be wrong to one person may be considered all right by another person, and where one per- son might think of the possession of money as the most important thing in the world, another person would consider having friends far more important. The reason for this fluctuation in evaluation among different people is the fact that the modes and social customs of people are the main constituents in determining the values of the factors which go to make up our lives. The vast difference in the national- ities and customs of the populace of America. makes our social and economical life much more complex than that of other countries. We may conclude then that where there are great differences in nationality, there will be great differences in customs, and where there is great oscilliation or deviation in customs, there is great oscilliation in evaluations. For further thought along this line we might take the early American colonies for an example. As long as the separate colonies could govern themselves they made progress but when the colonies started to overlap each other, because of their greatly differing ideas in reference to government and because of t.heir conflicting social customs, their progress was retarded for a while till they learned to compromise. Because of the great difference in evaluations of the important elements of our lives we must learn to be able to measure the true values of life and also how to adjust ourselves to these values, else we cannot be happy nor can we find any amount of suc- cess or happiness in life. Now let us consider some of these important elements which have such a great influence on our lives, what they are, and their real values. The first, and most important influence in our lives, I think, is our character. The word character when it is applied to per- sons signifies the marks or qualities which distinguish one person from another. Do not confuse this with personality 5 personality is used to describe the effects which a person's traits produce on others. Abbott said, In truth, character is what a person is, reputation is what he is supposed to be. Newman has said that character is what a man is in his inmost thoughts. My character determines the course of my whole life, whether I am going to lead a clean honest life, or whether 1 am going to be a cheat and do everything for my own gain at the cost of someone else. As Newman said our character is what we are in our inmost thought, and these inmost thoughts are what determine our actions. ln Proverbs 23:7, we find this verse: As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. N ow since we have learned what character really is, we must learn how to achieve those things which would prove most val- uable in making up character. We should try to acquire honesty for this can always be used as a stepping-stone to success and happiness, and without it we could not expect to attain character. Honesty, I think, is the foundation on which to build a good character. Some other qualities which would be of a distinct advantage in building a commendable character are: good judgment, kind- ness, loyalty, and courtesy. In order that we may be able to live a clean, honest life, we are given a sense of right and wrong and only through exercising this sense shall we ever be able to attain good judgment. Our decisions as to what we are going to do about incidents which un- ceasingly come into our lives either strengthen us or weaken us for the next decision we will have to make. We should certainly not overlook kindness in building our characters. If we live for kindness' sake instead of for the sake of personal gain we will in the end be recipients of a greater gain than we had ever thought to achieve. I'm sure we all value friendship above almost anything else that we have. Yet if we are unwilling to be loyal we will never realize the joy of having true friends. Of course, we will also have to sacrifice sometimes if we expect to have friends, but the very motive which lies behind this sacrifice is loyalty. Then we must develop courtesy, a consideration and respect for other people and their rights. If we do not learn to exercise this courtesy toward others we can expect only rudeness and hard knocks in return. We must also realize that environment has a great deal to do with the great deviation in senses of value. For instance, a per- son who comes from an extremely poor environment in regard to material things, learns to value the possession of these material things very highly. As a result such a person is liable to strive for material riches throughout his entire life and give little consid- eration to the other more important things in life which we have just considered. Then we could take for another example, the child who from babyhood to manhood or womanhood is continually being spoiled and shielded by its parents. He goes out into life expecting the same thing from the world and is completely thrown off balance by the harsh treatment which comes to him from those who have more consideration for themselves than for him. Ithink it would be utterly impossible to completely analyze this problem of values because of the great complexity of our social and economical life. However we should always try to value things at their true worth and to do that which we feel is right, regardless of the pain, hardship, or labor involved. -Elizabeth Kriner.

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MCDSAIC ANNUAL VALEDICTORY HAPPINESS Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness have long been held to be one of the inalienable rights of man, but ask ten different people to define happiness and you probably will have ten different answers. This is because people's ideas differ so much as to what constitutes real happiness. Webster defines happiness as a state of well- being brought about by good luck, good fortune or prosperity, but he does not and can not list any number of things that would be considered constituents of happiness by all classes of people. Solomon once said, Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding, and we realize that this is still true today. Those who do not strive for education, wisdom and understanding may be happy in their ignorance, but they, in their ignorance, fail to realize that there is a greater happiness to be had by obtaining knowledge, and consequently, an appreciation of the finer things of life. One who has this appreciation of the higher things in life not only finds enjoyment in his work and in his home life, but can spend many hours in the enjoyment of music, reading, painting or sculpturing, that would otherwise be spent in detrimental activities. Many whose indolence keeps them from working for an education try to excuse themselves by referring to the old adage where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise, but too often these people never live long enough to experi- ence this bliss. These two types of happiness are also brought out by the following poem of Popeg The learned is happy Nature to explore The fool is happy that he knows no more. Another component of happiness is adduced by the following quotation by Samuel Coleridgeg It is one main point of happiness, that he that is happy doth know and judge himself to be so. Very frequently we find our- selves feeling dejected and gloomy because we look only at our misfortunes and do not take time to list in our minds all of the incentives that we have for enjoyment. Even Mr. Scrooge of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol was able to enjoy life and be happy when he finally took the time to count his blessings and appreciate them. All children should be taught to appreciate the blessings that they have, no matter how simple they may be and they should learn to derive happiness from the blessings that they have, however few they are. The child brought up to have expensive tastes does not stand as good a chance of being happy as the child who is brought up learning to enjoy the beauties of nature and to be satisfied with good simple food and clothing. Another kind of happiness is the happiness that most people derive from their work, and the first thing that is essential to this kind of happiness is finding work that you are fitted to do and work that you like. No one can be truly happy while he is doing something that he considers a drudgery or a bore. Therefore it is the duty of the parents and the teachers to help young people determine what they are best fitted to do. However, not all people are suited for high positions and not all people should strive for the best paying jobs. Although most people are happy in humble work and should not try for a higher place in life, one who has the ability to hold a better position should never be satisfied until he has reached his goal. One of the greatest degrees of happiness comes to us when we have tried to make some one else happy. No one can help but have a feeling of joyousness within if he has spent a few minutes of each day in trying to make some other person happy. An almost equal degree of happiness comes to one who can look at his associates and know that he has a friend who has helped him to bear some burden that- was too heavy to bear alone. No matter what constituents make up the happiness, one who has true happiness has a feeling of joyous satis- faction that can not be derived from any other source. 'Tis not in titles nor in rank, 'Tis not in wealth, like London bank, To make us truly blest. If happiness hath not her seat And center in the breast, We may be wise or rich or great, But never can be blest. -Kenneth M iller

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MOSAIC ANNUAL JUNIOR CLASS Rowl Mr. Berkey, Herman, Stewart. Shisler, H.Miller. J. Zimmerman, Heiks. Row2 Keyser, Bergoon, Bird, Leitner, Deneke, Hoffman, Blough. Row3 Wirth, Kaufman, Hartzler, Lytle, Audet, Marthey, Hostetler. Row4 Wallace, Bechtel. Byler, Gresser, Matz, Luedemann. Row5 D. Zimmerman, Beck, C. Miller, Carmony. Smith, Franham, Petcrman. Row6 Rehm, Beck, Kahler, Lowe, Ramseyer, Murray, Brubaker, Roth. Shoup