Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

Page 29 text:

TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 7 On Monday last, the world jury heard an appeal to physical brute force, an appeal to the passion of man. On Tuesday the world jury heard a simple, moving appeal to the spirit and soul of man, an appeal to man's reason. In history the appeal to brute force has often won out temporarily, but never permanently, last week it fail- ed because the will for peace was greater than the will for war, because people prayed that their sons and daugh- ters would not be mutilated and massacred in a senseless struggle for power. The Munich agreement to keep the peace was begun twenty years ago in the hearts of the ordinary men and women of the worldg steadily increasing, it was finally strong enough to overcome what at one time seemed to be impossible odds against it. To-day, more perhaps than ever before, we remember with undying love and gratitude those who were called upon to sacrifice their lives to prove the waste of war. It would seem then that the world has been saved from utter self destruction because of a thought, and be- cause of a man, because of prayer, of true humility, of patience and understanding, of faith, of steadfastness of purpose, of tireless devotion to the well-being of man, of devotion to all that we mean by God. It is probably true that at no other period of history have these qualities been found in such earnestness, such sincerity. They spring, of course, from the Author of our faith in the good life, they are rooted and grounded in love. At all times, but especially at the beginning of a new task, at the beginning of a new school year, we can be immeasurably helped if we will bring these qualities into our lives. They are simple, homely virtues, found in all families where there is love and joy, found in all good neighbours.

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6 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD Never before had there been such an amazingly sud-- den and unexpected delivery from what appeared to be the certainty of utter desolation. How was this miracle performed? Of course we do not know all the practical details, and there was a certain letter sent from this side of the ocean to the leader of the Italian nation, about which we should like to know more. But we do know this,-there was a thought and there was a man. The thought was more widespread and more intense than many governments believed possible. It was a thought based on the anguish of twenty years ago, a thought rooted in and growing from our Memorial Cross and thousands of others like it, from the Tombs of the Un- known Soldiers. It was a thought, held by millions, that war was the very work of the devil, bringing nothing but death and misery to countless millions and solving nothing. Did the eight million men who died in the last great struggle, most of them in the spring of their life, some of them boys of thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen at the out- break of war, sitting in this very room, did these millions give their lives in vain? Was it possible that another generation was to be called upon to suffer even more tortures and more anguish than their fathers and mothers? No, No, No, if there was a God in heaven surely this thing could not be. That was the thought, held by more people than ever before, and offered in prayer all over the world. People of all classes, of all nations, prayed for peace with all their hearts and souls, and the prayer was answered. And there was an instrument to carry out this thought, a man. As he described himself, a man of peace to the bottom of his soulg also a man of true humility, of inex- haustible patience, a man of unswerving faith, of stead- fastness of purpose, a man devoted to the good of his fellow men, a man devoted to his God.

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8 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORJD The profession of peace, made by four of the great nations of Europe when they were within a few hours of tearing each other to pieces, should have an almost limit- less effect for good on the rest of the world. If these nations, bristling with death-dealing arms of all kinds, can recognize the tragic folly of it all, surely other nations will do likewise and realize that peace hath her victories far more renowned than war. Example is usually more effective than words, every day of our lives we are in some way being an example to some one else. Unconsciously you are exercising an in- fluence for good or an influence for evil. Good has won out in the affairs of nations because it had won out in the hearts of many of those who go to make up the na- tions, because they realized the simple truth of Jesus' words: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Good, and all things will be added unto you . There is another of Jesus' sayings, unfortunately, 1 think, often linked in our minds with the giving of money, when really it means much more than that. Considering the part one man has played in saving the World from horror, these words of Jesus seem to have a special mean- ing and significance: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Peace on earth, good-will to men has a truer ring to it to-day than yesterday, may we, by our works, make a real contribution towards the brotherhood of man.