Stuyvesant High School - Indicator Yearbook (New York, NY)

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30 we gl Cl,JlflCl,f85 0 I9 7: The pessimists are always telling us that civilization has gone into a tailspin. Their pessimism is a brooding omnipresence. If you do not guard against them, they will corrode, even cripple your future. Let me identify certain types, for to be able to spot them and to know what makes them tick is a battle won in the campaign against them. There is the inveterate pessimist. For reasons known only to the physiologists and psychologists, he is born grey-haired. This type frequently lapses into the good old days myth. Matthew Arnold is a classic example of this type. Recall his lines from Dover Beach : And we are here as on a darkling plain! Swept with confused alarms of struggle and ilightj Where ignorant armies clash by night. Mr. Arnold wrote these lines in 1867. Yet. the world went on to conquer disease, produce great art, and raise the standard of living for ever-increasing numbers of people to unparalleled heights. Then there is the type that, out of egocentricity, projects his own life cycle to that of an entire civilization. H. G. Wells is a good example. In his youth. Mr. Wells was ever ready with blue- prints of the new society. fHave you ever read his The World Sei Free?l In his old age, he wrote a series of despairing tracts with such expressive titles as The Fare of Homo Sapiens, Babes in the Darkling Wood and Mind ur the end of its Tetlzer. Mr. Wells should have reread his own histories, which say that it took Roman civilization 400 years to fall after the beginning of its decline, that Roman civilization produced immortal works during the de- cline, and that it really never fell. Roman civilization simply amal- gamated with a younger, more virile civilization. Finally, there is the subtle type of pessimist. I say l'subtle because the morphology of this pessimist is complicated. He has some ability, but not enough talent to ring the bell. He is not enterprising out of fear of failure. He equates success with stupid- ity and materialism. He becomes frustrated. The final stage of this pessimist's career is escape into a romantic pessimism. He assumes an Olympian detachment toward the world and its problems. To rationalize his own inaction, he shows contempt for the inferior mortal who abuses himself with life's tasks. Clever on the surface, he often sounds convincing to the unwary. In short, donit let anybody rob you of your Spring and Summer. Translated into human terms, don't let anyone deprive you of your spontaneity, your individuality, your enthusiasm. They are qualities that make up the best part of life. They are the qualities that have made many a Renaissance in the history of mankind. They are the qualities that will help us through you to replenish our present civilization. And, remember, what's to come is yours. Sincerely yours, .gamuef .gjfeingerg

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