Page 49 - 1956

Junior Essay--Helen Elliot-XA
FOR WHAT SHOULD THE HUMAN RACE STRIVE?
There are many in this world who talk learnedly of peace, equality of race and brotherhood of man. They are men of high renown, who although they may not be directly connected with,
say, the United Nations, are always ready to expound their theones upon the subject. However, th~ir lofty conceptions seem far
above the ordinary man, and although many people read and hear about these views, few have any comprehension of their meaning. Therefore, better understanding might come to them if they had smaller aims to wo~k for, before reaching toward the higher things of life. Man must be able to reach for high goals{ but ones he can attain, before he can gather strength for the ong, hard struggle, which, it is hoped, will lead to the elevated goals
of the human race, present and future.
What of the H bomb? Will it prevent us from reacning our ends? After thousands of years spent working toward these, must we end our existence before we have attained what we have striven for so long? This world can survive tf the leaders of the nations endeavour to create unity of thought. Then, and only then, bombs and other instruments of destruction can be scrapped or used for peaceful means only, without fear of total extinction. It would not be a wise nor just policy for the free world to lay down its arms and refuse to fight if need should arise, hoping the aggressive countries would be so ful of admiration, that they, too, would immediately put down their weapons and sign a peace treaty for all eternity. However, it would be wise for the d~fensive and offensive countries to try to settle their disputes
without warfare. If the hustling people of this busy world could find time to talk over the matter sincerely, there might never again be bloodshed.
We, of the free nations, must try to analyse our thoughts, synchronize our acts and define our motives, if we are to conquer one of the universal plaquea--Communism. The elimination of the Communistic world and its control over satellite countries would mean the attainment of a hard, but not too distant goal, and we can do this, not by war, but by strategy. By undermining the curtains they have built up between their world and ours, and utilizing their nropaganda for our own use, we can tell the
people of those countries what we are working for and how it applies to them. Secure in the thought of our rightness and their
wrongness, do we not close our eyes to the corrosive ~ffect of the brass-knuckled, Communistic threat?
The Communists, when they first began their regime had a. basically good idea, in that they wanted to rid the worid of high and low classes and make everyone equal. However, the world was not ready for this type of thinking and never will be, if the wrong persons are in command. There is a better way of living thao the Communist way of life, as it is now.
What of the indi·'fidual? The persons whose names stand ou't as the names of men who pioneered as scientists, surely they will not have to stop their work? As their work is always for peace, this will not be necessary. The world will always need great minds, not to devise diabolical instruments of destructioni but to further our knowledge, enable us to understand more ful y the mysteries of life and thus make our goals closer.
Many years will pass before we achieve our ends and we may never attain them, but if the people of the free worid endeavour to succeed, eventually we may have Peace, ann with it, Equality of Race, and Brotherhood of Man.
47