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

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 13 stronger than cynicism and kindness than cruelty. Let the power of the world be in the hands not of the rich or of the poor, the old or the young, but the simple, the honest and the good. They are to be found in all classes, all creeds and all ages, but, and so often, their very good- ness holds them back. That is what I am fighting for ..... -G.v.M. ONLY BY SACRIFICE CAN WE ACHIEVEH Part of an Address to the 1943 Graduating Class of Queen's University Given by the Principal, Dr. R. C. Wallace You go out into a world that is asking, even demand- ing, that you give all that you have to meet a peril. It is not only a menace of guns and armed men that we face. It is an insidious and penetrating attack on the things that We believe to be true and honest and of good report. There is an assault from Within and from without. The enemy must be beaten, and decisively beaten. You will give your material aid on the battle front or in the factory. You will give your moral support through the strength of your convictions. The one is of little avail Without the other. If we are armed with strong purpose to see to it that decency and kindliness and respect for others must pre- vail in the World, our sword will be strong indeed. If we are filled with a high enthusiasm for righteousness, and put our wills and our strength to the task, right will win the day. You are fortunate in matching your qualities of mind and spirit with the needs of the hour. Already your comrades of yesteryear are achieving feats of heroism and endurance that shine like stars in the night. You are of the same breed. What they have done, you will do. Of that we are assured.

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12 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD 'middling folk' for something better-a world more worthy of their children, a world more simple in its beliefs, nearer to earth and to God. I have heard it so often among soldiers in England and America, in trains, in factories in Chicago and in clubs in London, sometimes so poorly ex- pressed that one can hardly recognize it, but underlying it all there is that craving for a new life. This feeling is no less powerful or significant than the Renaissance was. and Will, I hope and pray, surge over the whole World in a tidal wave-that is the ideal for which we are fighting. Now let me try to express it in practical terms. First, there must be friendship between nations, for on the maintenance of peace all other things depend. This, I believe with fanatical zeal, depends entirely on the co- operation between the British Empire and the U.S.A. This, indeed, is my personal inspiration, something worth living for, something worth dying for. From it may arise un- told happiness, without it I regard the war as lost, re- gardless of the fate of Germany and Japan. I love the American people, for I truly know and understand them, and it is my lifelong ambition to spread that understand- ing. Secondly, we must try to improve the lot of the poor. No sacrifice is too great for the rich to make to ensure that the poor of England have decent houses, good educa- tion, social security and a chance to live a happy life. If we in England could set out to conquer not poverty, but its attendant and unnecessary miseries, as we set out to beat Hitler in 1940, the dream world would soon come to our hands. Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, let us return to God. These last forty years we have drifted away too far, led astray by 'realism' and 'practical living'. Let us return to the fold and guide our lives by His princi- ples and no others. To accomplish this task we have one great weapon- the inherent goodness of man. I love people. I am sure that the good far, far outweighs the bad. Simplicity is

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14 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD To what end? The question is in your mind and in mine. Why this heroism, this fortitude, this sacrifice, this pain? Is it to end in disillusionment and bitterness? He would be lacking in a sense of realism, if not even in com- mon honesty, who would lightheartedly proclaim that all will be well, if only victory be achieved. Victory will give the opportunity to build for a better day, but unless we build, that day may not come. History is strewn with the wrecks of high hopes. Only by courage and un- ilagging perseverance can we do better than we have done. This social mechanism of which we are each a part is a complicated structure. It is easily thrown out of balance. It requires expert handling. Not only goodwill, but much intelligence as well, is needed to build for the days to come. Your ability and your knowledge will be called into play: for you, as trained men and women, may reasonably be expected to play the part of the expert in the case. Be- ginnings are being made by older men and women, but it will be for young minds and hearts such as yours to give the understanding and the sympathy and the faith without which no building will stand secure. There are some elemental principles which I would ask you to keep constantly before you as you look ahead and plan for better things. Experience teaches us that only by sacrifice can we achieve. The measure of what we can get is the measure of what we are prepared to give. The world will become more humane, more decent and more t.ruly spiritual to the degree, and to the degree only, that you and I and others cultivate decency and achieve a higher spiritual life. No system in itself will work the miracle. It depends on us. But that is not to say that we must not give hard and searching thought to a better plan of living together. There are wheels that creak and even wagons that are outworn. By taking thought to- gether, we can do better for human needs than we have yet done. Human happiness cannot be assured by any