Somerville High School - Radiator Yearbook (Somerville, MA)

Page 14 text:

[The Class of 1970 has witnessed a decade of con- trast — man’s inhumanity to man and man’s hul manity to man. Man has hated man; man has loved i man. Man has destroyed ideals and man has re stored ideals. The agony and ecstasy of a whole de lade has shaped the future development of eaMI individual of our class., MW A I During the past decade, the Peace Corps, Vista and the | peace movements were born. The deciphering of J the genetic code was ac- i complished and the trans- 1 i planting of the human heaJD was developed. Man finailw escaped the pull of earth’JfJ 1 gravity, orbited freely in Ml space and set foot on thAfj moon. New programs in MM .education were initiated Mi aid the economically pooMf and the culturally deprivlc|| I To solve the problems oflnj ghetto, research was unlaflB taken and new program® were begun. rIn these same years. hcMnKWid lence, corruption and IBflukBjj i branded a stigma on everAjjtiidenl I Our youthful, idealistic leadAsJW crushed by a few hateful awf«5| I people. Lost in the confusion we knew so little about, we saw®» , pie raging and protesting loudly.® | threat of a nuclear holocaust, cctJ stantly hovered over our shoulders] Yet. we enter this new decade, full of hope, for we feel the time for change is being realized by more people. Until 1970 the desires for peace and universal brotherhood were merely whispered. Because of a greater awareness of social respon- sibility. these desires are now strong commands, given in an insistent voice. It is in response to these commands that people gathered on com- mons and squares the world over to pray for peace in an attempt to save mankind. To live in peace and harmony for a weekend, people gathered in a place, called Woodstock. The deaths of Kennedy. King. Churchill and Nehru profoundly affected not just one nation, but all mankind. Both American and Russian space explorers who sacrificed their lives, were equally mourned. Peo- ple did not ask: What country were they from? They simply asked. Who? or What men? 10