University of North Carolina Chapel Hill - Yackety Yack Yearbook (Chapel Hill, NC)

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tirely futile. Occasionally, beer breeds a valid fresh thought. Or an insight may arrive to the visceral beat of one of the infinite number of com- bos that circle in and about Chapel Hill, vying for the fraternity ' s favour. A pair of eyes, equally as intoxicated as our ovk ' n, sometimes ■ — for an in- stant • — become more knowing than Plato. Or walking down South Build- ing steps, facing the library ' s chal- lenging bulk, the thought may come that college is not forever, that all lives lead somewhere, and our own lives must go on from this small vil- lage. But where. ' ' And why. In the

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— though this IS a highly personal, debatable and romantic notion — the most valuable things acquired in col- lege ceme when we are alone with ourselves and an idea. It matters not what the idea is, so long as we are concerned with grasping something previously beyond our reach. What js important is that we are awakened, are struck by the ageless curiosity as to the whys. ' ' ' and ' wheres.- ' ' of our lives, of all lives. The idea may come completely unannounced in the midst of the noisiest night of the year in the Tempo; drunken philosophizing in smoky clamorous beerhalls is not en- tioned God and those who exalted Him; above all, those teachers who lifted our eyes — forcibly in most instances ■ — above Y-Court, above Woollen Gym and Harry ' s and fra- ternities and dormitories — in brief, above the passing parade of manifold fun and games, to the lasting ques- tions of the mind and heart. Anything which draws one outside his small circle of problems and con- cerns is beneficial; and if during our stay in Chapel Hill, we — even once — stood and looked beyond this day ' s work and tests and the next evening ' s pleasures and gazed into the swirling awful process that is life — if only ofice we looked beyond ourselves to the stars, then the time has been well spent, for one who has looked upon stars hesitates to return to earth. Per- haps education is essentially the cracking of the tough, unyielding wall of self-preoccupation, the free- ing of one ' s mind arid — if you will — soul, from the tiny confines of self-indulgence and concern. It is not only by books that we are made more knowledgeable, more wise or better able to cope with our lives. Perhaps Pages

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exquisite agony of these questions lies the gift that Carolina has to offer each of us. If we have passed through this time — when we have been most intensely and expertly involved with the things of the mind without once questioning the nature, purpose and destiny of our lives, either we have failed the University, or Carolina has failed us. If all Carolina has come to t t t t t t Page 10