PAGE 2— THE COUGAR CRY, OCTOBER 27> 1975
Robert B. McNeill
The Grim Reaper is no stranger
to the tragic laden corridors of
Wilkes Community College. He’s
been there before. He came again
this past summer, stalked the
Campus, and nodded his head.
Quietly, quickly, without notice
and with cold neutrality of
impartial judgment escorted
“Rob” McNeill through the door
of death.
Rob had no fear of dying, but
had a tremendous love and respect
for life. He also had the wisdom
to “never send to know for whom
bell tolls.” His credentials were
solid gold, varied and many. Pure
respect for his modesty prevents
more than the mention that he
was a Professor, a student, a man
of the cloth and a friend to all.
A calm patience, strength to
accept the trials of life and rise
superior to them, coolness and
presence of mind, calmness amid
storm, clearness of judgment,
immobility, impassiveness and a
keen sense of understanding were
all “Rob” McNeill. He was not
only a teacher of Ufe, but a pupil
as well--a man of conviction—a
man who, while losing battle after
battle to the overpowering forces
of society, inched forward with
the banner of humanity. Small
victories, each to their own, but in
total, a conquest advancing the
good of all mankind.
In a family plot in a small town
in Alabama, a grave marked its
ceremony of victory over Robert
B. McNeill. But this grave has
been cheated. “Rob” McNeill
lives in the heads, hearts and lives
of all he touched.
“OH GRAVE, WHERE IS THY
VICTORY????”
John Cashion
McNeill Will Be Missed
Rob McNeill was cantankerous,
egotistical, bullheaded, and opin
ionated. Why then, did we love
him so, and why does his passing
leave such a void in our lives?
Perhaps his love for us was the
basic reason. Although his was
never a maudlin, sloppy, or showy
affection, no one who knew him
doubted that he wanted the best
for us, and, more profoundly,
that he wanted us to be the best
that we could become. He
constantly pushed his colleagues
and his students alike to more
profound levels of thought, more
compassionate levels of behavior,
and more active levels of
involvement. We always knew
that he thought of us as tlrst-rate
human beings and expected us to
live first-rate lives. This may well
be the deepest level of human
love.
His was not, however, a blind
love. We knew that he saw us as
we were and as we could be at the
same time. It was pointless to
pretend or posture in his presence.
He knew better, and we knew he
knew better. Indeed, I have seen
phoneys who resented him
because they knew he saw through
them. He never doubted the
potential, however, of even the
most artificial pretender.
He saw things clearly because
his intellectual curiosity and his
intellectual honesty required it.
His mind was always active,
always seeking, always on the
cutting edge of the ideas in his
fields of interest, and always
rejecting the faddism and mere
verbiage that passes for thought in
some circles.
The quality that everyone
recognized was Rob’s courage.
Never did he hesitate to act for
fear of his career or even his life,
as evidenced by his actions in
Georgia in the late 50’s in the
early days of the Civil Rights
struggle, or in the late 60’s in less
dramatic but equally threatening
circumstances.
Rob loved humanity and served
humanity in a way and to a degree
that few have the qualities to
match.
The gadfly who loved us as he
irritated us is gone. For a while we
shall mourn him. We shall always
miss him.
Student Tutors
Are you having trouble writing
papers in English? or are you
having trouble in math? Never
fear—STP is here. •
What is STP? That’s the new
student tutorial program which
will begin on campus fall quarter.
What it amounts to is one student
helping another. Anyone can be
on either the giving or receiving
end, or on both ends. But we all
lose if you don’t participate in
some way.
What’s in it for the tutor?
There are several answers to that
question. Some of these are the
satisfaction of knowing you have
helped someone make it through a
course when he otherwise might
have failed, the experience of
working in a teacher assistant type
role, the opportunity to meet new
persons and personalities, and the
iTP
opportunity to get to know your
instructors better through dealing
with them concerning your tutee.
One other possible gain you may
have in participating in STP is
class credit. If you’re taking the
right course, STP may be a class
project. Further, if we have plenty
of participants, we hope to
organize a new club for the tutors.
What’s in it for the tutee? That
one should be obvious. All a tutee
has to do is to tell us in which
subject he is struggling and when
he is free, and a tutor will be
found to help him.
What do you do to become
either a tutee or a tutor? That’s
simple too. All you do is fill out
an application which asks such
questions as how to get in contact
with you, what subject you would
Uke to tutor or to be tutored in,
and when you are free. This
application will be placed in some
classes, student services, in the
Instructional Media Center, and
in the library. All students are
invited to participate, and
remember you may be a tutor in
one subject and a tutee in another.
A vacation is not going
away from your work; it is
getting your work out of your
mind.
Not failure, but low aim is a
crime.
Letters To
The Editor
October 8, 1975
Dear Editors of the Cougar Cry,
I am a freshman in WCC’s
Radio-TV Broadcasting Program.
I have only been here for about
three weeks, but I am very much
impressed by the warmth, sin
cerity, and friendliness of Wilkes
Community College students and
faculty.
I am a lonely person who needs
all the friends I can get, and I
think that this college is the
answer to many of my problems. I
have attended a different com
munity college, but I have found
the program here to be superior to
theirs in many ways. I was
delighted to find that Wilkes had
a one-year broadcasting program
because I have always had a keen
interest in this field. I have looked
other places for a program of
training in broadcasting, but I feel
the program here must un
doubtedly be the best.
I also write poetry and listen to
music a lot, and I was very happy
to hear about your newspaper and
literary magazine here. I believe
the role of a student newspaper
which presents concerns in an
unbiased and non-partisan way to
be a very important one. With so
many different students from
such different walks of life, I feel
that student creativity should not
be overlooked by any means.
The Cougar Cry has already
proved itself to be a vital source of
student opinion to me through the
survey that I filled out today. This
is one indication to me that WCC
exists for its students and that the
newspaper staff wants to know
how students feel on important
issues.
Keep up the good work,
editors, and I want to encourage
the students of WCC to make
contributions to the paper. After
all, a college newspaper exists for
the students and is not the
property of the faithful few who
put it together. I feel that this is
going to be a good year for WCC,
and the paper is one of the things
which will make it a good one.
Sincerely,
Ron Wishon
NOTE: Because of Ron’s obvious
interest in the newspaper, the
advisor and editors invited him to
add his talents to those of “the
faithful few who put it together.”
We are happy to announce he has
joined our ranks.
The Editors
0 ^ ^ a O
o o
a
Free Movies
Oct. 7 — The Graduate
Oct. 14 — Eight on the Lam
Oct. 21 — The Wicked Dreams
of Paul Schultz
Oct. 28 — The Conqueror
Worm
Nov. 4 — Bell, Book, and
Candle
Nov. 11 — Chump at Oxford
Nov. 18 — “$” (Dollars)
Nov. 25 — That Man In
Istanbul
These movies will be shown in
the Teaching Auditorium at 1
P.M. and in Room 209 at 7 P.M.
on the dates above. Sponsored by
the Student Government Associ
ation.
Dec. 2
High
The Noose Hangs
Dec. 9 — Start the Revolution
Without Me
policies of the cougar cry
concerning letters to the editors
are as follows:
(1) Letters must concern present
affairs of Wilkes Community
College or articles of recent
pubUcation.
(2) Letters must be signed.
(3) Letters must be in the
Cougar Cry box one week before
they are to be published.
(4) The staff reserves the right
to print letters in part of in their
entirety.
(5) The staff reserves the right
to print letters alone or with a
reply.
(6) Letters printed do not
necessarily express the opinion of
the staff.
Mark Twain once said this
about experience; We should be
careful to get out of an experi
ence only the wisdom that is in
it — and stop there, lest we be
like the cat that sits down on
a hot stove-lid. She will never
again sit on a hot stove-lid —■
and that is well, but neither will
she ever sit down on a cold one.
Free Grass
Thought that would get your
attention! Now that we have it
may we say it has been suggested
that the name of the school
newspaper be changed from the
“Cougar Cry” to something with
flair. Your suggestion will be
carefully reviewed, and the person
who submits a winning entry,
(should the name be changed) will
received an autographed picture
of John Idol! Place suggestion in
Letters to the Editors Box.
SUGGESTION
When Does Your Real Life Begin?
Someone said to me the other
day, “Now that I am almost out
of college, I keep having this
funny feeling that my life is
supposed to begin. But nothing’s
really different, just sort of
anticlimactic.”
One of the biggest clinches
around is the one about everyone
being so busy preparing for the
future that no one has time for the
present. But have you ever noticed
that one of the troubles with a
cliche is that it’s so famiUar no
one bothers to examine it?
Take the command to be “here
and now,” for example. Everyone
knows we should try to be
involved in the present moment.
Therapists write about it; poets
sing about it; mystics proclaim it.
Still we are educated and groomed
as if today were merely the fuel
for tomorrow, to be utilized as
economically as possible in the
service of the concept of what we
will someday become.
In grammar school we prepare
for high school. In high school we
prepare for college; in college, for
a job. In one job we look for the
next. There seldom seems to be a
sense of existing in a moment as if
it were sufficient unto itself.
Unhappily, I think that many
of us have an attitude that keeps
us from fully entering into most
of our moments. Perhaps the
simplest way to put it is that we
start life not feeling responsible
for our actions. Parents, after all,
do dictate most of our very early
behavior, and often fail ever to
really take charge of our own
destiny. We let teachers or parents
or peers tell us what we “ought”
to do. The trouble with that is that
someone else’s “ought” never
had the imperative of your own
“want.” The resuh is that we do
the expected. We play out our
roles without ever connecting
them to our own inner needs.
How often have you heard, “It
was his fault,” or “I couldn’t help
it,” or, “I really wanted to but”
or, “The real me isn’t like this.”
With excuses like that, we dribble
away our valuable time, staying
uncommitted, unfocused, think
ing that tomorrow our real life
will begin. Not so. Your real life
begins at whatever moment you
decide to connect yourself with
your actions, whenever you learn
to do what you believe as well as
think what you believe.
In an effort to display her
business proficiency in running
the home, the little woman sub
mitted to hubby a detailed ac
count of expenses for the
month. Asked to explain an
entry marked, ESP-$26.98, she
replied, “ESP means, ‘error
some place.’”
We too often love things and
use people when we should be
using things and loving people.