St Marys High School - Salute Yearbook (New Baltimore, MI)

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69 I 'ig 5734 -, -f 4 fb E9 confident. to place our trust in tiod As we look forward to the crosses that will be placed on our shoulders whether we want them or not, we tremble. XVhat if we weaken and cast the cross down? Human nature is weak and abhors suffering-yet that is no reason to fail Christ. VVe, therefore. have 2. request to make of our friends whom we are leaving to continue their studies in these hallowed walls. 'Remember us in your prayers-please. lint that is not all. Our superiors know that a Catholic view of life is of little value to him who does not form habits of living' daily according' to it. Care was taken that these too were formed. Habits are defined, by the philosopher. as constant dispositions that tend to influence one repeatedly to perform similar actions. Such dispositions were formed in our minds and wills during our four-years stay at St. Marys XN'hen. four years ago we came to St. Blary's, we were strongheaded. and even stubborn. VVe felt important. But these illusions were soon dispelled. VVe soon learned that there are such things as discipline, order and subordina- tion. The program of our daily activities was mapped out for us according' to which we were expected to live. Uh! we didn't like it a bit-stoo many rules. too many bells. not enough freedom, too much like slavery-we called it facism. Our superiors we dubbed joy killers -old foggies, who forgot that they were once young. Yes, we resented this tedious routine. All our complaints, however, were futile-we just could not have things our way. Now, we must admit that our superiors were wiser than we. They knew that one day we must deal with people who will show us but slight con- sideration and who will not be servile to our commands. They knew that it is much easier to fall into strongheadcdness and selfishness, than to break these habits later on or to be in constant war with others. ln other words. all these rules were calculated to help us to become the men we wish to be. XYe've learned Christian standards and values in the classroom. Their applica- tion was a matter of discipline and effort in the concrete circumstances in which we found ourselves. The high school age is the time for concentrating on the formation of mental habits: such as those of industry, attention, and self-control. If good mental habits are not laid down during these formative years they will be learned less perfectly and with great difficulty later. ln many instances they will not be learned at all. XYe had the good fortune to study at St. Marys where the circumstances for the formation of such habits are more favorable than in the city. The daily program is a great help in the matter of habit formation. The time for study is a sacred thing. There are no outside distractionsg it was useless to think of the good shows in the nearby theaters-we just could not attend. so why worry about it? And when in the midst of the solution of mathematics there was no call from sis to help wash the dishes. No Quizz Kids on the radio to distract us-no meeting the gang' in the corner thug' store. Nye could there- fore concentrate all our attention on our studies. This sounds unattractive- yet we lived through it. and we are glad to have had the opportunity to attend St. Klary's. XYe feel better prepared to face life.

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?vr 010' ga 3: and Yfour Q10 q is only proper that after four years of study we pause briefly and make an examination of conscience. take stock of what we are today and compare ourselves with what we were four years ago. In other words it is fitting that we ask ourselves the question: VVhat have the four years at St. Marys given us? In the first rush of the many things that come to mind we can only say in answer: St. Mary's High School has given us very many things-pride in ourselves and our heritage, a flaming love of democracy and our country. training in character, a solid education, a home, friendships with boys our age from all over the country and warm associations with priests, who have been like real fathers to us. These and other things has St. Mary's High School given us during the four years spent here. If we were asked which of these things, in our opinion, are the most im- portant either now or in our future lives, I imagine that offhand most of us would hesitate before answering. As we think over the many aspects of our training, of the friendships and associations We have made, and of the solid education we have received, all of them seem important and very dear to us. liut after taking deeper thought, I believe that our answer would be something like this. Four years ago we looked forward to a life of gayety and merrymaking after graduation. To us, like to many others imbued with the modern philo- sophy of pleasure-seeking , success in life was synonymous with a lot of money, a big automobile, and what the world calls a good-time. These to us seemed the things worthy of effortg while the greatest evil that could befall us was the ridicule and laughter of the world should we fail to fall in line with wordly standards. Thanks to the untiring efforts of our educators, these ideas of success have changed. Today, we understand that success is measured not by the size of the pay-checks, nor by the size of the automobile, nor the applause of the world, but by hardships, sacrifice of self, by the problems that are squarely met and successfully solved. We have learned that our most important-our only business is to serve God and save our souls: all else is secondary and must be made to serve this most important end. In short, we have learned that the Catechism must not only be memorized, but-and what is most im- portant-lived. Today we understand that the success of every decent man depends on sacrifice, hard work, and persevering purpose. In a word it means the cross-and no cross no crown. Only hard, faithful and sinless labor brings the happiness and peace which the world seeks in its good-times. This truth seems so unreasonable that the world will not accept it. It is the truth ex- pressed divinely in the startling words that tell us that he who seeks his life, i. e. his good times, shall not find it, but he that shall lose his life. i. e. make sacrifices for a decent observance of the Ten Commandments, shall find hap- piness. Yet it is one thing to know the principles of decent living and quite another to live according to them. This we know from personal experience. How often have we not made resolutions to observe the rules of St. Mary's only to fail in a moment of weakness. These failures have taught us not to be over- felt-A s 'fwlit

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l-ife at St. Mary's has furnished us with an invaluable experience. NVC are not paragons of students' virtues: nor are we Aristotles and Virgils. We did not learn as much as could be expected, much of what we have heard in the classroom we have already forgotten, and much that we have learned will use to us later in life. How many of us will remember and make rules of Latin grammar, or the theorems of geometry? But the classroom was not lost. Our English, Polish, and Latin classes have our minds an interest in literature and thus furnished us with a be of little use of the time in the aroused in key by which we can unlock the great minds of all ages. The same is true of history. VVho of us will remember the dates of historical events? VVe did not get as much information as we could have, had we been more attentive in the classroom. VVe did, however, acquire an inquisitiveness, and an interest in history, which will prod us onward to further study. Yes, St. Mary's has trained us to train ourselves. The result of this careful training of will and mind are the strong loyalties, which we have in our hearts. St. Marys has taught us to be loyal to the Church, who is Christg she has taught us to do everything for Him through the Blessed Virgin, to whom this school is dedicated. She has developed in us a strong loyalty to Cyril and Methodius, who were the Apostles of the Slavs, they who made it possible for you and me to have our Christian heritage, who brought the first word of God to our Slavic forefathers. She has taught us to be loyal to the Pope, to the bishop of our diocese, and to our pastors. She has taught us to work for our country and for its great traditions of democracy: one of the few countries that still respects the dignity of man. She made it very clear to us that we should be loyal to our Polish heritage, to the institutions that .Xmericans of Polish descent have built in this country. And lastly, but of utmost importance, to our parents who have brought us into this world, they who planted the seeds of christianity in our hearts and which St. Marys has developed: to them who have suffered all hardships to make us rigid Catholics. It was to them that we went crying when we were young, in them we always found consolations. Such, I think would be the answer that the graduates of St. Mary's High School would give upon reflection if asked the question: VV'hat has St. Marys given you during the four years you have spent here? Some of us, I'm sure, would add other things, personal ones, but all, I think, would agree that what St. lIary's has given us boils down essentially to training in proper habits, development of the proper outlook on life and the building of strong loyalties. On one other thing all my classmates would agree, namely, that St. Mary's has developed within our hearts a burning love of these hallowed walls, which have housed us for four years, and an enthusiastic loyalty to the ideals for which the school stands. It is hard to put this love and loyalty into words-- I shall not even try to do itg but I am sure that I speak for every member of the class of 1946, when I say that we shall put the gratitude which we feel in our hearts towards St. Blary's into actions, actions which will promote and spread the ideals of St. 1Ia1'y's. May God Bless and guide St. Marys and help us to work for her glory all our lives. LW. 4'6'..-