Monday,
December 4, 1972
TH£ SALtMITE
Page Three
oquy
"THE OUESTIOH IS...”
P
ON WASTED TIME
by James A. Michener
(A one-time professor, editor,
Jorld War II serviceman in the
%uth Pacific, and PulitizerPrize
Mnner, James A. Michener has
moaght a whole new dimension
to the world of literature. One
of the most prolific and exciting
writers of the last three decades.
Mr. Michener has authored such
iest-selling novels as Hawaii,
Caravans, Iberia, and The Drif-
:
Don’t be too calculating.
Don’t be too scientific. Don’t let
the shrinks terrify you or dic
tate the movements of your life.
There is a devine irrelevance
in the universe and many men
and women win through to a
sense of greatness in their lives
by stumbling and fumbling their
|;lvay into patterns that gratify
them and allow them to utilize
heir endowments to the maxi
hum.
If Swarthmore College in
1925 had employed even a half
way decent guidance counselor,
1 would have spent my life as an
isistant professor of education
m some midwestem university.
^ icause when I reported to col
lege it must have been apparent
to everyone that I was destined
for some kind of academic ca-
|eer. Nevertheless, I was allowed
to take Spanish, which leads to
German, which as everyone
knows are important languages
Itudied by serious students who
fcsh to gain a Ph.D.
1^ 1 cannot tell you how often I
^as penalized for having taken
a frivolous language like Spanish
^stead of a decent, self-respec
ting tongue like French. In the
end, 1 sacrificed my academic
areer.
Instead, I continued to putter
ground with Spanish and found
a deep afmity for it. In the end,
I was able to write a book about
Spain which will probably live
N longer than anything else I’ve
bone. In other words, I bhndly
backed into a minor masterpiece,
pere are thousands of people
pompetent to write about
France, and if I had taken that
( language in college I would have
peen prepared to add no new
ideas to general knowledge. It
'as Spanish that opened up for
le a whole new universe of con
cepts and ideas.
I wrote nothing until I was
forty. This tardy beginning, one
( (night say this delinquency,
stemmed from the fact that I
pent a good deal of my early
pie knocking around this coun-
p and Europe, trying to find
pt what I believed in, what
Mues were large enough to en
list my sympathies during what
I sensed would be a long and
-onfused life. Had I committed
'yself at age eighteen, as I was
ncouraged to do, I would not
even have known the parameters
the problem, and any choice I
ight have made then would
'6 had to be wrong.
It took me forty years to find
out the facts.
As a consequence, I have nev
er been able to feel anxiety
about young people who are
fumbling their way toward the
enhghtenment that will keep
them going. I doubt that a young
man - unless he wants to be a
doctor or a research chemist,
where a substantial body of spe
cific knowledge must be mas
tered within a prescribed time -
can waste time, regardless of
what he does. I believe you have
till age thirty-five to decide final
ly on what you are going to do,
and that any exploration you
pursue in the process will in the
end turn out to have been crea
tive.
Indeed, it may well be the
year that observers describe as
“wasted” that will prove to have
been the most productive of
those insights which will keep
you going. The trip to Egypt.
The two years spent working as
a mnner for a bank. The spell
you spent on the newspaper in
Idaho. Your apprenticeship at a
trade. These are the ways in
which a young man ought to
spend his life ... the ways of
waste that lead to true intelli
gence.
Two more comments.
Throughout my life I have been
something of an idealist-opti
mist, so it is startling for me to
discover that recently I have be
come a downright Nietzschean! I
find that the constructive work
of the world is done by an ap-
palingly small percentage of the
general population. The rest sim
ply don’t give a damn ... or they
failed to acquire when young
the ideas that would vitalize
them for the long decades.
I am not saying that they
don’t matter. They count as
among the most precious items
on earth. But they cannot be de
pended upon to generate neces
sary new ideas or put them into
operation if someone else gene
rates them. Therefore those men
and women who do have the en
ergy to form new constmets and
new ways to implement them
must do the work of many. I be
lieve it to be an honorable aspi
ration to want to be among
those creators.
Final comment. I was about
forty when I retired from the
rat race, having satisfied myself
that I could handle it if I had to.
I saw then a man could count
his life a success if he survived -
merely survived - to age sixty-
five without having ended up in
jail (because he couldn’t adjust
to the minimum laws that socie
ty requires) or having landed in
the bobby hatch (because he
could not bring his personality
into harmony with the personal
ities of others.”
I believe this now without
question. Income, position, the
opinion of one’s friends, the
judgement of one’s peers and all
the other traditional criteria by
which human beings are general
ly judged are for the birds. The
only question is, “Can you hang
on through the crap they throw
at you and not lose your free
dom or your good sense?”
I am now sixty-four and
three-quarters, and it’s beginning
to look as if I may make it. If I
do, whatever happens beyond
that is on the house ... and of
no concern to me.
by Karen McCotter
There is one issue in America
today that has yet to receive a
proper definition, or even to
find a suitable perspective, here
at Ho-Hum U: Women’s Libera
tion. Before you groan, “Oh,
not again,” let me say that even
at Salem College Women’s Lib
deserves some consideration.
Here, at the home of the Wake
Forest Co-eds arch-rival, the
Carolina commuter, the pseudo
hippie and other varieties, you
may be faced with the problem
of defining your stand, either
femininely or feministically.
I have found that most Salem
students belong to one of three
groups: the all for it’s, the com
pletely against it’s, and the ma
jority, the in-between apathetics.
The first two groups don’t have
to worry about how to answer
the question, “So, how do you
feel about women’s lib?” The
first will launch into a catalog
of its virtues and the second will
perish at the thought. However,
it is the third group, the indeci
sive group, that will probably
stutter. This is readily under
standable as it is difficult to ex
press an opinion about some
thing controversial that might
fray one’s security blanket.
Another reason that the un
decided have trouble with the
question is that it is usually being
asked by their dates. To avoid
ridicule and to ensure a second
beer, most girls will deny any
feminist ideas categorically. But
if you feel a little guilty or un
comfortable when you take up
verbal residence under that mag
nolia tree, then perhaps you are
not destined to remain an apa
thetic fence-sitter. If so, do your-'
self the favor of finding out
what the movement is doing for
you and to yOu and take a posi
tion. It is easier to say Yay or
Nay when you believe it.
Leg Board Min
November 27, 1972
I. The meeting was called to order by Christina Spence.
II. The Dean’s Coffee will be held on December 8, 1972 from
9:30 to 11:15 in the Club Dining Room.
III. Items on the agenda for the November 28th SGA meeting were
discussed.
IV. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann Campbell
SGA Secretary
GHIIFOID OFFEIS
DISCODNI ID'S
Guilford College News Bureau
Money-saving International
Student Identity Cards good
through Dec. 31 of 1973 now
are available to all bonafide col
lege students in the area from
the Office of Overseas and Off-
Campu^ Studies at Guilford Col
lege in Greensboro, N.C.
Coordinator Claude C. Shotts
said the ISIC can be an invalua
ble asset to the American college
student studying or traveling in
Europe, and is becoming increas
ingly invaluable in other areas of
the world where student conces
sions are being developed.
The card entitles the holder
to discounts and student reduc
tions at concert halls, shops,
most museums and some thea
ters, he said.
“Holders of the ID cards also
are eligible for the money-saving
services offered by the European
national student travel bureaus,
Shotts pointed out.
“Of particular interest are in
tra-European charter flights, stu
dent train and ship information,
low-cost tours and holiday cen
ters, accomodations in student
hostels and meals in student res
taurants,” he added.
The ID card can save “tre
mendous amounts of money on
the intra-European student char
ter flights - as much as two-
thirds of the regular commercial
fare,” the veteran traveler stated.
Shotts, whose office at Guil
ford is the area representative
for the Council of International
Educational Exchange, said the
applicant must be a full-time ma
triculated student, enrolled for
the current academic year. Sept.
1972 until June 1973.
Since 1957, Shotts has con
ducted 10-week Seminars A-
broad each summer, taking col
lege students through 11 differ
ent countries of Europe. They
meet with college students in the
various lands and hold rap ses
sions with political figures.
Enrollment in the student
Seminars Abroad is not limited
to Guilford College students, but
is open to all college students.
Shotts may be contacted at Guil
ford College for details.
Mary Dashiell, junior, demonstrates a spindle used in weaving
at the April Arts Crafts Seminar last month.