PAGE TWO
"There are always in the world a few inspired men whose acquaintance
Editorially Speaking
"He who thinks his place below him will certainly be below his place."
—LORD HALIFAX
Man In Our Society
Today, more than ever before in the century subsequent to the
Industrial Revolution, most of us are aware that our Way, the
American Way of Life, is being seriously challenged. As unbelievable
as it may seem, this challenge is being directed at us from within our
midst. It is a challenge from a few to many; it is a challenge to de
termine whether we will live as part of a mass whose thoughts and
mannerisms are determned by a thinking and perhaps scheming
plutocracy, or whether we will live according to important natural
assets of a democracy, for example, that of an individual person, the
fountainhead of all good, of energy, of all that is creative.
The Industrial Revolution may be regarded as the start of a decline
if not degradation of certain phases of social life. It tended to mold
all except the very aristocratic and the business and government
officials —into the same character, that is, into the form of the “mass
man.”
For over one hundred years, our society—and, for that matter, our
whole civilization has been seriously endangered by this idea of
“mass man.” This danger stems from a few who are not of the mass,
but tend to do the thinking for the mass. This problem is a direct
outgrowth of conformity or “togetherness” caused by the “mass man”
idea. As people conform and band together so as not to be laughed
at or be thought of as strange because they do not always agree with
the group, they tend to go along with the “herd” and the ideas of a
few leaders.
It is now relatively simple to see how unscrupulous demagogues,
fanatics, atheists, and other undesirable elements, by manipulating
•thoughts and ideas which temporarily please the “mass man,” can
•easily rise to power, a rise which nearly always contributes to the
decay and degradation of mankind.
We can then comprehend that the “mass man” is a real and
eve T-present threat to our very existence. If we are to overcome this
potential decline of civilization, we must look to the individual. Albert
Schweitzer in The Decay and the Restoration of Civilization has stated
this more clearly and precisely. Mr. Schweitzer said this: “The
renewal of civilization has nothing to do with movements which bear
the character of experiences of the crowd; these are never anything
but reactions to external happenings. But civilization can only revive
when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new
tone of mind independent of the one prevalent among the crowd and
in opposition to it, a tone of mind which will gradually win influence
over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. It is
only an ethical movement which can rescue from the slough of
barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals...”
Josiah Holland in The Day’s Demand has stated for us the basic
essentials that we must possess if we are to accept and defeat the
challenge of the “mass man.” Perhaps it would be wise for each of
us to consider this following creed and to practice it as much as
possible!
“God give us men! A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking;
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duty and in private thinking;
For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large profession and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.”
JOSIAH G. HOLLAND
1819-1881
By PAUL MILLER
HIGH ACRES COLLEGIAN
is beyond price."—PLATO
Persevere In Your Field Of Study
The academic year is well underway. The first barrage of blue
books have hit the campus. Many have been successful in meeting
their first tests; others have not been so successful. As a result, some
students have already begun to contemplate a switch to easier
curriculums. As far as they know, the death knell for their original
intellectual goals has been rung. They have already quit and given
up the pursuit of the work which would have interested them most.
They have not steeled themselves against the bleak reality that
nothing worth having is easily attained. Yet, perseverance would
carry many of them through, and one day they would become a real
asset to their chosen field and experience the pure platonic joy that
comes of thinking and surmounting the obstacles confronting finite
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes summed up succinctly and
emphatically this point on real intellectual endeavor when he wrote
this: “No man has earned the right to intellectual ambition until he
has learned to lay his course by a star which he has never seen; to
dig by the divining rod for springs from which he may never drink.
Only when you have worked alone, when you have felt around you a
black gulf of solitude more isolating than that which surrounds a dy
ing man, and in hope and despair have trusted to your own unshaken
will, then only will you have achieved; thus only can you gain the se
cret isolated joy of the thinker who knows that a hundred years after
he is dead and forgotten, men who have never heard of him will be
moving to the measure of his thought.”
Most emphatic and relevant to the point of this article is his
statement of the necessity of each man meeting alone the gulfs of
solitude and despair which challenge his ambitions and through
perseverance and trust in his own will bridge these gaps and
accomplish his intended goal. Then, and only then, will he have
become an individual distinct from the crowd. His education will have
provided him with the means of proving himself. He will have stood
alone in his despair like the biblical Job and brought his weakness
and desire to quit under the subjugation of his will.
Nothing can be done about the blue-book tests which have passed.
Much can be done in preparing for the tests of the future. If we fail
a course, let us repeat it, rather than forget it. It may prove to be the
only stumbling block to a successful college career in our chosen field.
Above all, let us consider and reconsider before we take any such
drastic steps as denying our original goals and switching to easier
curriculums. If we persevere, we may still fail, but we will have
greatly reduced the chances for failing. We will be left with a higher
regard for ourselves if we have tried than if we have only lain down
and quit and taken the easiest way out.
LIBRARY NEWS CIRCLE K NEWS
Gifts, in the form of periodicals,
were given by the faculty to the
Penn State students. These are as
follows:
Mr. Amidon—American Historical
Review, The Progressive, The
Manchester Guardian (19
works), Mississippi Valley His
torical Review, Pennsylvania
History.
Mr. Zerbe American Math,
Monthly.
Mr. Wilcox—College English.
Mr. Nelson The American
Engineer, Pa. Professional
Engineer.
Mr. Kostos—Journal of Engineer
ing Graphic Science, Collegiate
News and Views, Industrial
Reference Viewer, The Lamp.
Mr. Billig (P. P. & L.)—Public
Utilities.
Mr. Schneider Penn State
Alumni News.
Mrs. Kostenbauder
Congress Journal.
Mr. and Mrs. John Longo—Book,
Moscow Was My Parish by
Rev. George Bissonnette (espe
cially autographed to the Penn
State Students).
Students check your library
bulletin board for rules and
regulations. 1
NOVEMBER 21, 1960
By 808 PETRAS
On October 31, 1960, the Circle
K Club held a special meeting
which took place in the lounge of
the Highacres Union Building. In
attendance were the Key Clubs of
Nescopeck and Hazle Township,
the Hazleton Kiwanis Club, and
several members of the student
body. During this meeting, Mr.
Bachman of the Hazleton Kiwanis
Club initiated the new members
of the Circle K Club, and Mr.
David Amidon spoke on the
religious issue in the past
election.
Citizenship Quotient was held at
Highacres on November 1, 1960.
This served as a project for the
Circle K Club in connection with
the International Organization
and as a sociology project for Mr.
McKinstry’s class. Circle K would
like to thank those persons who
participated in this project.
Finally, at the second Commu
nity Concert held on Monday,
November 7, 1960, the Club served
as ushers.
Mining