Wilmington High School - Mirror Yearbook (Wilmington, VT)

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I think that the truly significant things we do to other people are those things of which we ourselves take the least notice. l'm always amazed at the power of a casual glance, a few words of encouragement,a sympathetic tone of voice. Yet now incredibly careless we are of each other. How effortlessly we destroy our environ- ment. How easily we demean others- and in doing so-ourselves. lt's so easy to write someone off-to dismiss a person's importance with a mindless stero- type-to fall back into roles and patterns which insulate us from that which would otherwise threaten us. But it seems that we can never really iso- late ourselves. We are always making con- tact with others. Robert Penn Warren wrote in ALL THE KlNG'S IVIEN that, the world is like an enormous spider web and if you touch it, however lightly, at any point, the vibration ripples to the remotest perimeter and the drowsy spider feels the tingle and is drowsy no more but springs out to fling the gossamer coils about you have touched the web and then inject the black, numb- ing poison under your hide. It does not matter whether or not you meant to brush the web of things. Your happy foot or your gay wing may have brushed it ever so lightly, but what happens always happens and there is the spider, bearded black and with his great faceted eyes glittering like mir- ros in the sun, or like God's eye, and the fangs dripping. Though we are fated to brush this web, it is still within our power to determine the direc- tion and intensity of the ripple-an awesome, though exhilarating responsibility. Robert Levine OPPOSITE PAGE-UPPER LEFT FORREST IVIURDOCK--Principal. UPPER RIGHT CAROL ABAR--Phys. Ed. IVIIDDLE LEFT WAYLAND HALL--Custodian. IVIIDDLE RIGHT JOHN COLONA, lVIusic. LOWER LEFT CARIVIELITA ALLEN--Secretary. LOWER RIGHT RICHARD LEVESQUE--Language. 13

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NORIVI SHULIVIAN--Special Education. IVIERT LEARNARD--Custodian. I have spoken with many of you either as a part of class or in private conversations about many of the social problems facing our country. Without exception you have asked, But why do we have to have wars?, Why do there have to be poor people? , Why can't we just love everyone? . Your idealism has been evident. So has your frustration. You have the answers now. But there is a problem. The problem is the process known as implementation . It is during this process that ideas, good ideas, are slashed, distorted, folded, spindled, and mutilated to suit the realistic visions of those people we call pragmatists. These pragmatists are forever telling the idealists, as they will someday tell you, Your ideas and solutions are too extreme, too flimsy, too idealistic. They are simply not practical. You will be accused of thinking with your heart instead of your brain. Be prepared for these accusations. Be prepared for set-backs. These realists will seem hard and callous. They will appear to by cynical, pessimistic, and insensitive to the needs of the people you seek to help. They will be older than you. They will be your parents, your teachers, your bosses. You will find yourself hating these realists. You will feel that they are the only obstacle between you and instant success. They will of- fer discouragement. Do not accept it. They will offer despair. Do not accept it. They will offer hopelessness. Do not accept it. They will offer experience. Take it! Realists, in most instances, will have experienced the problems that fit your solutions. You need them. Without the challenges they offer your ideas and ideals will wither and decay. You and your allies will spend your time convincing yourselves that your way is the only way. But realize as well that the realists need you. They need your freshness. They need a new perspective unobscured by years of anger, failure, and frustration. 14