Windsor Locks High School - Herald Yearbook (Windsor Locks, CT)

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28 THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD whose heels closely followed the depression. Business and finance were reduced to a chaotic heap from which we are still trying to pick up the pieces. The Deepression. Had it really a direct cauce or was it just the result of the accumulation of all America’s little mistakes in thought and deed. What scars will it leave upon the world? Time alone will tell. Ajid yet is not there a possibility that this so-called depression may be a bless¬ ing in disguise? Perhaps it is just what we needed to shake us out of the self-complacency we had fallen into. It has been a hard teacher. Many people have suffered and suffered much. We have paid much and still are paying for America’s mistake. But the greatest test is yet to come. Will America as a whole be better because of the experience? Have w r e learned our lesson? Have we regained our sense of values? A conception finer and truer than ever before? We have the best to hope for. Experience, ’though a hard teacher, is sometimes the best. Our generation has been, burned. Won’t that make us a little more careful about going near the fire again? We know w r hat America has been through and still is going through. The brunt of the burden, the responsibility of putting America back on the top of the heap has fallen on us. Shall we rise to the occasion, pick up the pieces and bring about through the depression the birth of a new nation ? We can do it. We must do it, and we will do it! The youth of America has been called. It will answer the challenge. The spirit of the past will come to the fore to establish and return true value to the ideals and hopes of America so that this nation of the people, by the people, will not perish from the earth.” Mary Bottasso, ’34. VALEDICTORY. PEACE THROUGH CULTURE. The world wants peace now more than it has ever wanted anything else. Peace is necessary for our existence. But what is the w r orld doing to procure and preserve peace? The League of Nations, the International Court of Arbitrations, Disarmament plans and Peace conferences have been established for the purpose of maintaining good will among nations. But will these organizations be successful in preventing a clash if an argument should rise between two hostile nations? They have proved themselves of little material aid in several uprisings that have taken place in the last decade. Why do people not realize that there will never be perpetual peace on earth while there are misunderstandings on account of race and nation¬ ality? American childrep grow up with the idea that there is no better language or country than their own. They know little concerning foreign people and consequently they look upon them with hostility. These same children, after they have matured, do not understand why two nations should argue. They merely know that their own country is the better and

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD 27 products of our own thoughts and ideas, not by what our companions have given us, nor by what we have copied from our ancestors as a custom or tradition. Triumph comes as the reward of effort:— If you find your task is hard. Try, try again; Time will bring you your reward, Try, try again. All that other folks can do. Why, with patience, should not you ? Only keep this rule in view: Try, trust, triumph. Frances O’Connell, ’34. VALLES. Happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is a state of mind. So many people have the wrong idea as to what things in life are essential to attain it. Many seek to gain it through success; some, through power; some, through wealth; and others, through fame. But have not these formulas been tried? Have not men struggled and fought for something which they thought would bring happiness and having reached their goal found that the fight wasn’t worth the effort, found that in their vain at¬ tempts they have only lost it on the way, found that it isn’t the big things which make for happiness but the many little things which are—Life. Can this be what has happened to America? Can we have been fighting for something that we thought would yield big returns and found that we had gained nothing? With this thought in mind let us look back over America’s past. It was God’s favored among nations. To it He en¬ dowed beauty. He took bits of beauty from all parts of the world to make America. He gave us wealth. Forests teeming with life; a ground filled with the most precious of metals. Then He took the intellect, the culture, and the finest qualities of every nation, poured them into one mold and made Americans. God must have smiled when He made America. But something was wrong—with us, in fact with the whole world. We forgot God; we forgot the finer things in life; our sense of valdes be¬ came distorted. Money became everything. We started to fight. People amassed wealth until it became an obsession. They fought and b ed each other for worldly gains. It became a case of the survival of the fittest in the mad scramble of the business world. Men lost their identities. It wasn’t what are you? What are you here for? But how much money have you? It became a case of “living up to the Jones.” If your neighbor had a house, a radio, and a car; you had to have a house, a radio, and a car. If he played bridge on Sunday eveings, you had to play bridge on Sunday evenings. Nobody had any will or thought of hib own. We became smug, thoughtless. Then something happened. The ten¬ sion. in the business world broke and then came the crash of 29 upon which

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THE HIGH SCHOOL HERALD 29 that they should fight for her. This condition, in all leading countries is usually the cause of the bloody strifes about which we read in history. What can be done to do away with this dangerous condition? James Garfield said, “Education is the chief defense of nations.” The idea is becoming evident that we go to school so that we ctan prepare for a position which will enable us to earn money. Ignorant peo¬ ple even advise youngsters not to go to high school now because there are not positions enough for all the graduates. However, we should not think that a job and money are the only things in life. If the world is going through a terrible crisis, it is all the more reason why we should educate our youth so that they should desire a peaceful world. How will education maintain peace? In high schools, pupils are taught foreign languages and histories. Through these studies they learn the habits and conditions of these people. How can we appreciate the Italians, the French, or the Germans if we know nothing about them. Through some knowledge of the way in which different races live we are stimulated to believe that there is some good in everyone and some good everywhere. Take, for example, the study of Latin. People advise against learn¬ ing Latin. Latin is the foundation of all romance languages. How can you say you know the English language if you do not know Latin when English is derived so largely from the Latin? To be sure, Latin is one of the cul¬ tural subjects. Of course, you can’t get a job by the mere knowledge of Latin, but is there anything which equips you for future life more than that which will make you cultured? Certainly your future is more important to you than a few dollars. Culture helps us to understand the human race,, it sets a high standard of living. And what is as important to international peace as the understanding of various races of people? Frequently, onJy a slight misinterpretation results in a serious controversy. Certainly, these misunderstandings can be prevented very effectively by culture culture which makes people see men of different races and nationalities, not as enemies, but as friends and brothers—culture which opens the ways of the world to all people. Fellow-citizens, never advise your childien not to go to school because they can not get a position after four years of work. A job and money are not the main reasons for gaining an education. Educa¬ tion is for the purpose of bettering the conditions of the world. How do you know but your child may become a great inventor or one of the fore¬ most men of the nation? Undoubtedly, there have been millions ot talents wasted simply because children have not had the opportunity to de elop them. The dollar is the modern deity. It is set on a lofty pedestal. For a dollar many a life is ruined and many a heart is broken. Force the dollar off the pedestal and in its place substitute education and culture. Now is the time to teach our young people who are in the schools so that they will not be motivated by avarice. America is the leader, she must begin. Let us urge Uncle Sam to have more stringent compulsory education laws than he has now.