Binghamton North High School 1948 Yearbook (Binghamton, NY) - Full Access

"1 Speak for ~emocracy" I, as a former subject of complete totalitarian– ism, speak for demo9rocy. I om humbly grateful that I hove escaped the horrors of war and per– secution and that I con now live in this wonderful country where everyone con enjoy the blessings of democracy. Because I hove seen the seeds of intolerance, greed, prejudice and hatred planted among the weak, misguided and ignorant people of a notion, and hove also seen the inevitable climax which brought unspeakable terror and loss to those of all races, colors, and creeds of the entire world, I know that it is my privilege and duty to plead with you to do everything within your power to safeguard our democracy for which the builders of this notion hove hoped, prayed, lived, and even died. We all hove witnessed time and time again the terrible outcomes of the teaching of totalita– rianism, and it is up to us, the youth and future of America, to show the world what true democ– rocy is and for what it stands. Ever since the birth of our notion, we hove ad– vocated individualism; we hove been taught that all men ore created equal and ore endowed by their Creator with certain inoliennoble rights, and this has accounted for the enormous growth of this notion where there con be no room for in– tolerance in any form . Too few of us fully appreciate what a great blessing it is to be able to express oneself freely and to worship God in one's own fashion without fear. I know, because I hove experienced the persecution of minorities, witnessed the burnings of the Temples of God and hove seen not only the destruction of the living, but I hove even seen the incited crowds demolish groves so that not even the dead could rest in peace Furthermore, I hove lived through a period in which the innocent were tortured to death; concentration camps were overfilled with those who still believed in the rights of free speech and religion, and a period in which parents were deprived of their God -given rights of bringing up their children, by being forced to turn them over to organizations which taught them from earliest childhood that might is right and that anyone, including even their own parents, who contradicted that belief was regarded a traitor to the state and was to be pun– ished and tortured by methods sometimes even worse than death. This is the result of totalitarianism in which the mosses leave to follow blindly their demented leaders and in which there is no room for mercy and remorse. Now we hove arrived at the crossroads of des– tiny; one way leads to a better understanding not only among the people of our notion, but most important among the notions of the world; the other rood con lead only to what may well be the utter destruction and even the end of all man– kind. Again, I implore the youth of America to realize fully the importance and seriousness of this critical moment, to toke on active port in spreading the ideals of democracy so that the hope of the world may not be destroyed. We must ask God to give us strength and wis– dom to place ourselves in the lead in giving to the other notions a flaming example of our inter– pretation of freedom and democracy. (The above was o speech delovered by Irene Veot, coty winner of the notional "I Speak for Democracy" contest, conducted on Bino– homton lost October.! Pooe Seventy-Four