Yeshiva University High School For Boys - Elchanite Yearbook (New York, NY)

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mechanization. In some there may be a highly and strictly organized class structure, while in others, a con- dition approaching anarchy. But one paramount theme is present in every example: man is at peace with the world about him-each man under his vine, each under his lig-tree. It is not enough, however, simply to portray Utopia, it is necessary to effect it. The practical man superseded the visionary who set the rest of humanity in the right direction. The visionaries design Utopia-the practical men must forge it. Such giants as Thomas jefferson, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Abraham Lincoln and Sun Yat-sen made gareat strides in their lifetimes for this concept. Skeptics wondered: Why is Utopia so crucial that wars be waged to achieve it? Why have men died for a goal they knew to be unattainable? The answer is that these men realized that the search for Utopia is in and of itself important, that man in searching for good becomes good, that in the process of struggling to arrive at Utopia, he reaches it. It is by the never-ending search for perfection that man becomes Man. For when men think of good, how can they do badg when they are joined in a quest, how can there be discord, when they deal in peace, how can there be war? It is for this reason that we, the senior class, have chosen Utopia as the theme for the Elchanite. For whereas in all other matters a man must first make a plan and then carry it out, when he plans for Utopia the vision is the fulfillment, the planning is the goal.

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IN SEARCH OF TOPI The development of man can be viewed as a pro- gression of desires and of the resultant attempts to sat- isfy them. A naked man tries to get clothes, a hungry man food, a lonely man friends, a poor man riches. But few people have had the foresight to plan further than for their immediate future, and fewer still for the future of their Children. It is only the uncommon person of genius and foresight who has been able to express the ultimate aspirations of the human race. These are the men who perceive Utopias. Visionaries like Sir Thomas More, jean-Jacques Rous- seau, Samuel Butler, and Henry David Thoreau have conceived of a perfect existence and have propounded it under such names as Utopia, Erehwon, and Walden. Their critics claimed these states appeared too perfect, too idealistic-simply unattainable. Their objections, however, served only to clarify the contention of the Utopians. For Utopia is not intended as something to actually be achieved, but rather as something to be con- stantly sought. It is a standard by which our actions are to be measured, a guidepost towards which we can orient ourselves. Utopia is the epitome of all that is good and the antithesis of all that is,bad. It does not embody perfection, but rather defines it. But the fact that Utopia defines goodness does not preclude the fact that definitions may diifer. Superficially, Utopias may seem to be diametrically opposed one to the other. In some Utopias man lives in harmony with nature and in others he dominates it by means of super-

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PHASES OF THE MOON One cannot count the ages flown That man the new moon's face has known, Although its time worn, ancient gaze Is born anew with every phase, As Sweethearts sing their songs of love To serenade the moon above The wolves with passion and with hate Their eerie howlings ululate. A thin white dime held to the eye Will block its Visage from the sky. Go - walk and walk throughout the night An'd still not get without its sight. The moon itself personifies The blackness of surrounding skies. Itself a disk of pure white light, The rnoon dispels the dark of night. Robert Silver