Waldoboro High School - Medomak Breeze Yearbook (Waldoboro, ME)

Page 52 text:

48 MEDOMAK BREEZE have lived and died without knowing the meaning of that word. We in America do not realize how fortunate we really are, because we have never had to endure dictatorship. However, our ancestors sailed to America to avoid such leadership and govern themselves. Previously they had been told what to print, what they might say, and how they were to worship. In America we have the opportun- ity to voice our opinion without fear of being thrown into prison or being tortured or killed. We have the op- portunity to vote, to elect officials of the town, state, and nation to repre- sent us in civic matters. If we feel that in some way a person is not suited, we have the right to give sub- stantial reasons to oppose his filling the office. g Newspapers are not compelled to print anything but the truth, although in many other countries, the govern- ment controls the press in all its op- erations. All children have the op- portunity to attend school here in America. This is the basic training for the citizens of tomorrow. The parents pay taxes which enable the school officials to purchase books and other school supplies for use by the students. In these supplies, the truth about the government and all parts of the country is printed, while in other countries, teachers have been forced to burn certain books, which were replaced by others written to mislead the youth of the country a- bout other governments as well as their own. America means an opportunity to be on an equal basis with others. In America a man is hired for a job, solely because he is suited for it and not because he isn't as good socially, as someone else. After accepting a position he is not expected to work until he is utterly exhausted. In 'many of the countries of the world, even today, the laborers are treated much as the slaves in the U. S. up to the time of the Emancipation Proc- lamation by Abraham Lincoln, one of our greatest Presidents. The gov- ernment has spent millions of dollars improving working conditions in this country, so that today the laborer has to work only 40 hours a week as compared with 60 or more before the war. In this country today it is il- legal for a company to hire men and pay them less than the amount certi- fied by our government as minimum livable wages. If the laborers feel that they could better their jobs or that they are not getting all that be- longs to them, they are privileged to go to the labor union, to which they belong. The union in turn strives to settle the difficulty by arbitration. If the dispute can't be settled peaceably the union takes a strike vote, and with a majority, the men go on strike until the employer meets this demand or compromises with them. Where else but in our great country would you find collective bargaining power used to such a great advantage? Is this not excellent security for the fu- ture welfare of the laborers of our country? We in America are free to organize clubs, as long as they do not conflict with one's moral, social, or religious life. In some of these organizations, farming, music and sports are pro- moted. Universities and colleges are provided for those who have the ambition and are privileged to furth- er their education. In our American colleges, students are given oppor- tunities to develop physically as well as mentally. All types of sports are afforded them, such as basketball, baseball, football, swimming, and rowing, all of which are big factors in attaining good sportsmanship, a very necessary quality in building good citizenship. Our idea of sports- manship is further demonstrated by professional teams in these same sports. The rules governing the play- ing of these sports are even much stricter than colleges and high school sports. A participant cannot wager

Page 51 text:

MEDOMA K BREEZE 47 pleasant. In many countries a pupil would never think of expressing views which are different from those being taught, and no one would dare say anything against top officials. Our American politics would be al- most ruined if freedom of speech were taken away from us. Each candidate for an office does much campaigning, and in his speeches he can say almost anything he wishes against opponents. During an election, our topmost offic- ial, the President, is many times the one receiving much of the slander. In many places this would be a crime almost unforgivable and even punish- able by death. The press, in itself, symbolizes our speech rights. All news, regardless of nature, goes into our newspapers. The government has nothing whatso- ever to say about what may or may not be printed. Our newspapers ex- press the opinions of all the classes of people. During this last war we found how fortunate we were on this line. All war news was in the paper almost as soon as it happened. In al- most all foreign countries all news were censored and the people never knew the truth. Educated Americans would never be satisfied to be kept in the dark about a matter in which they all had an interest. I dare say, none of us ever really experienced want. Therefore, most of us don't fully appreciate the true meaning of freedom from want. Let's consider just a few things that the government of America has done to make want a remote thing to most of us. ' In America, the poor, the aged and the less fortunate are all cared for in some way. To be sure, some are over- looked, but that number is progres- sively growing smaller. There are pensions for the aged and crippled, the poorer class receives special aid. The government tries to treat every- one as fairly as possible. We need only to look at war-torn Europe to see what real want is. All the time, we hear stories of starva- tion, of lack of clothing and of homes. We can't visualize the actual suffer- ing that those people in Europe are going through, for we have never experienced anything anywhere near like it. Each of us should take more time to thank God that he lives in America, a land of plenty. In America actual fear is in much the same way as want-it is almost unheard of. How can we fear when we are surrounded everywhere by natural beauty and peace? True. during the war a certain amount of fear existed, but who among us feared, every moment, a bombing or enemies entering our towns? When planes flew over we knew they were oursg they gave us a sense of security rather than fear. Let us take Europe again for example. If we had been there during the war we would have found fear on every hand. Planes roaring above, many times meant death or loss of all possessions. It seemed that fear lurked in every corner. Fear, in certain stages, can become worse than many dreaded diseases. It can make human wrecks of men. Little wonder that in many countries the people can't normalize themselves very easily after living in constant fear. We all rest assured in the fact that America is prepared to safe- guard o'ur complete freedom from fear. America has given us all se- curity and a lack of fear. What more could we ask a country to mean to us, than these four free- doms? There is certainly no place on earth where the people are so blessed as in America. May we all be more grateful and appreciative of the privilege to live in the United States of America. WHAT AMERICA MEANS T0 ME By Ronald Witham fSecond Prizej ' America means many things to mc, the most important of which is free- dom - yes, freedom. Many people

Page 53 text:

MEDOMAK BREEZE 49 on any of the games. He must play the best he can without losing his temper or playing in such a way as to endanger the future of sports. These restrictions are guarded by a heavy penalty of the law. . This helps in pointing out what A- merica means to me as an individual. Authors have lectured on it, but there aren't enough words oral or written to cover completely a true American's view of it. While writing this essay, I came to the realization that we all take far too much for granted con- cerning our glorious home land and its unestimable value to all of us. When studying all of the above priv- ileges of our great land it is my sin- cere hope that America The'Beauti- ful will always remain beautiful un-- der a free and democratic govern- ment of the people, by the people, and for the people. HUNTING IS FUN-A-WOT On day Harry went deer hunting with his thirty-two special. He walk- ed through the woods and walked and walked and walked around in a circle and under brush, through al- ders, swamps, groves, fields, over hills and across rivers. He came upon a track of a deer, so he sat down on a stump to wait for him. The stump was rotten and alive with ants. He heard an awful noise behind him. He looked up on a hill and saw the mean- est, 'most ferocious, ugliest, big buck that he had ever seen. He raised his gun to his shoulder, took careful aim, pulled the trigger, but the gun was empty. He reached into his pocket for some shells when all of a sudden the meanest, ugliest, most ferocious, gi- gantic ant crawled up his pant leg and bit him. The shells went fiying. So Henry walked in circles, crawled through swamps, around bushes, thru alders, and finally reached home. Harry decided that hunting was fun. A-Wot! - Marilyn Gross SNOW Some of us like it, some of us don't. Some of us enjoy seeing it come: Snow is an amazing thing. Millions of tiny flakes fall each year and yet each one has a distinct pattern of its own. When we are out in a storm and compare two or more flakes that have fallen on our coats, it's hard to realize how one flake could have such a simple pattern and the others be so intricate. Most of us take the great genius of Nature for granted. The rest of us like to see it come because of the many winter sports, such as skiing, sliding, tobogganing, the ever popular snowball fight and maybe a moonlight sleigh-ride. We all hate to put on the extra clothes we need to keep warm but most of us agree that it's worth it. Then on Christmas Eve nothing could be more fun than to go out, to- gether with a group of young people, caroling. All the old people and those who are sick enjoy having the fel- lows and girls come around singing carols. And it's fun for us, too, to crunch- along on the hard snow until we're so cold we're ready to go in and have a party ourselves before we split up and wish each other a Merry Christmas, h Nature is also an excellent artist. She makes even the barest trees beau- tiful, in'winter, and I think it ,is the most interesting season we have. Ethel McNally- FUTURE FARMERS or AMERICA The first meeting of the Future Farmers .of America was held in Jan- uary. At that meeting. David Moody, Edward Hill, Lincoln Orff, and Willis Nichols were chosen to go to the Southern district meeting to be held at Turner, Maine, on January 17, 1948. While there it was decided to have the Southern District contests in Fryburg, Maine on May 5th. There the boys of the Medomak Chapter competed with the other boys of oth-