Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

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R A D I A T O R Y E A R BOOK 1 9 2 9 Class Oration Continued How truly the Bible says, “Tho a man die, yet shall lie live. ’ Who can deny the living influence of these men? The world still follows the teachings of Socrates. The highest ideal of every true patriot today is that of Lincoln in his day - - the whole Union, one and inseparable. World Peace through the League of Nations will be the watchword of tomorrow. In this age of standardization and blind following of leaders, the intellectual revolution has cast aside conventions, broken up old political beliefs, disclosed hidden forces of nature and of man. The trend of this modern transition period has been to destroy rather than to create. Now the time has come when we must begin reconstruction of our ideals. The Bible says,“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The most vital need of the world today is men who can cling consistently to their ideals. Today, as never before, ideals arc threatened on all sides. The guiding stars of our lives become hidden by clouds and so the ship must wander from the course, beaten by the winds, until at last it is shattered on the rocks. Yet, as has been said before, no society ever existed without ideals. Once America loses hers, her decadence will begin. Ilow great the dangers that threaten them today! The first phase of existence in which ideals are menaced is one’s life work. Every person has his unique place in the scheme of things, a place which can be filled only by himself. Only when nis aims are high will his accomplishment be great. On the efficiency of the parts depends the efficiency of the whole. But today the danger of losing one's ideals is undeniable. To achieve the most possible in his position and to effect the most good to the world is the consummate of every truly educated youth as he enters life. The mad race for material gain evident on all sides tends to warp this purpose, however. If that lofty ideal should sink to a base aim of self-enrichment, the real purpose of the life work is lost. The heroes of progress are not the giants of finance, but the self-sacrificing, magnanimous men who made al- truistic service their loftiest ideal. Furthermore, the spirit of satisfaction at a mediocre attainment is all too prevalent. No influence is more harmful than the apathy which tends to follow. To be content with a position which offers no opportunity for the advancement of one’s ideal of accomplishment, to rest on the laurels of a previous victory each is destructive; for when progress ceases, retrogression begins. He whose heart is in his work can never fall into such a condition. Let us consider next the menace to all which youth has been taught in the home, in the school, and by the church to consider fair and beautiful in the Arts and in Morals and in their relations to Life itself. Appreciation of the fine arts and good music and good literature has been almost entirely lost : and what has sprung up in its place? Subtle influences baneful to our morals: amusements, which far from fulfilling the real purpose of amusement, namely to refresh the mind and turn the thoughts to the finer things, arc slowly destroying the sense of decency and propriety; literature, which docs not lead to fuller lives and a broader appreciation of one’s fellow-men, the real purpose of literature — but rather pictures only the mean and sordid: these are the evils youth must combat if he is to keep his standards of morality high. The only solution of the problem lies in being ever guided by the aims instilled by parents, school, and church. The man makes the ideal: the ideal makes the man. The third danger to individual and national existence is the loss of the ideals of true patriotism. Intolerance, class distinction, party spirit and disobedience of law, all tend to obscure the main aim of a citizen that of serving the nation. Intolerance and class distinction — to crush out these evils was the very purpose of those who colonized our shores, the dream of our early statesmen, the aim of’all our great men, yet these evils exist today. The last presidential campaign was an indication of the power of intolerance. The constant struggles between Capital and Labor constitute the mark of class distinction. 20

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19 2 9 R A D I A T O R Y E A R ROOK CLASS ORATION IDEALS —THE NEED OF THE DAY The man of ideals is as the hand of God among his fellow creatures, creating an inspiration for better things and an uplifting influence in the lives of men. We live in an age of standardization. The wonderful progress of science has, at the very same time it has accomplished unmeasured good, effected an evil condition, that of stand- ardization, not only of machines and institutions, but also of men. A man is measured not by his personality, not by his aims, nor his ideals, but for his value in dollars and cents as a cog in a vast machine. Despite the high standards of education, despite the nice training of youth for independ- ent thinking, blind following of a leader is another evil of our complicated civilization. Witness, for example, the effect of the newspaper on the public today. The opinions of the press are taken without question. In other words, the convictions of one man, the editor, become the convictions of a large community. Modern life is like a swift tide drawing all men along with it. their own personal ideals and ambitions forgotten. It is the tendency of the world today to ridicule and hold up to scorn the idealist and so it is that the young man filled with the aspiration of his school and college days, when he faces the indifferent attitude of the world, all too often loses his ideals and becomes as the rest of men, a part of the machine. High moral courage is demanded if one would stand against the tide, and few arc able to do it. Yet looking back over history we find that every step in the advance of civilization has been due to men of vision. The history of civilization is the history of the rise and fall of nations. Each nation which has won a place in history has had high ideals — governmental, social, religious, or economic: but the loss of these has in every case spelt ruin. I low high the standards of Greece and Rome and how soon they fell when these had been lost! How laudable the purposes of our Pilgrim fathers, the founders, and of our statesmen, the builders of our nation! And with what courage they held to them, though the thunder of war oft shook the very foundation of the structure they were rearing! The ideals of yesterday arc the realities of today; the ideals of today will be the realities of tomorrow. There was a time when freedom of speech was a mere fantasy; what is it today? A reality. There was a time when Democracy existed only in the minds of dreamers; what is it today? The accepted policy of all the world. There was a time when religious freedom existed only in Utopia; what is its status today? In every civilized nation the unquestioned right of every human being. Civilization has been attained only by a succession of ideals. Yet in the nations of the past, as today, men of vision were not appreciated until the fruits of their labors were reaped. Because Socrates, in ancient Athens, clung to his ideals, the betterment of youth and the teaching of the truth, he was forced to drink the cup of hemlock. Then long after he had gone, the wisdom of his teachings was realized, and the name of Socrates was eulogized by his countrymen. Recall Cato, the Censor of Rome, who devoted the whole of his long life to one end — the moral betterment of his fellow citizens. And what was his reward? In his lifetime only scorn; after death, eulogy. As Greece had its Socrates and Rome its Cato, so had America its Abraham Lincoln and its Woodrow Wilson. In the darkest days of the great Civil War, Lincoln, a true helmsman, guided the ship of state with his dream of a perfect union, like a star, ever before him. At last, when the smoke of battle had cleared away, and right had conquered, his ideal was realized and the World whispered the name of Lincoln in reverent awe. Woodrow Wilson’s advanced theories of world peace and the League of Nations, the ultimate ideals of a lifetime of public service, met only the derision of his countrymen. The very people whose honor he preserved intact during the Great War, who owe him an unpayable debt, broke his heart by their disdain toward his plans. The day is yet to come when his ideals will become realities, but when the millennium is reached Americans will realize that Woodrow Wilson was not selfish, but magnanimous; not a man of the nation, but of the world; not a man of the day, but of the Ages. 19 J

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1 9 2 9 R A I) I A T O R Y E A R B O O K Cla»» Oration—Concluded So too, blind party spirit, which ignores majority aims in worship of its own self-centered ideals, must be lought. If too widespread, it in itself may become a serious impediment to the promotion of that end toward which America strives, world service. But the most serious source of danger to the ideals of Patriotism is the ever growing spirit of lawlessness. Obedience to law is the very keystone of Democracy. How great the danger that this cardinal principle of Democracy be undermined! There exists today a tending to disobey or ignore the obnoxious laws, a tendency which has become so imbued in public opinion that newspapers actually glorify the breaker of the more odious laws. President Hoover himself admits that lawlessness has taken too firm a grip on the nation. It is the supreme test of moral courage to stand against public opinion in one’s respect for Law. John Bradley Winslow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, says, “It is hardly too much to say that civilization is really law, or at least that it cannot exist in the absence of law.” So we see, disobedience of law undermines the safety, not only of Democracy, but of Civilization itself. All these evils — intolerance, class distinction, party spirit and disobedience of law — the true patriot must cope with that the ideals of the government shall not be lost. In the quality of the ideals of each succeeding generation lies the hope of civilization. High ideals have made civilization all it is; high ideals alone will make it all it can be. CLASSMATES: Our place in life now lies before us. Whether it be our destiny to fill a great position or a small one, let us carry our ideals of High School days into it that when the path is rough and smoother roads beckon the way which leads to inevitable oblivion, that star may mark our course and our ideals in life may be attained. Let us not make mere earthly reward or fame or praise the end of our life work. The satisfaction that comes from having done one’s best is a far greater reward. The truest satisfaction is that of conscience. The outward standards of morality may change, but there ever remains the immutable laws of Right and Wrong which must decide the course of our lives. Let us keep the ideals of Right before us that our self-respect may be ever preserved in all our relations with our fellow-men. Let self-respect be the crowning glory of all our achievements, for if a man loses self-respect he has lost all. Lastly, Classmates, let us cling to our ideals of Patriotism. The nation will soon grant us the privilege of citizenship. In the words of Webster, “The great trust now descends to new hands.” School life has prepared us for this trust and has instilled in our hearts noble patriotic ideals. Let us keep them ever before us as guides that we may justify our trust. The ideals we have set up we may not attain. But if our constant striving toward that goal but inspire another to take up the work, we may believe with William James, “The ceaseless whisper of the more permanent ideals, the steady tug of Truth and Justice, give them but time, must warp the world in their direction.” CHARLES QUINN. 21