Newspaper Page Text
Page 6
September 19,1980
Minister’s Message
BY REV. PAUL H. EASLEY
Campus Minister
Clark College
GREETINGS!
I am happy to have recently been selected as
campus minister here at Clark College, a church
related educational institution of the United
Methodist Church.
The coming school year brings a challenge to us
all. To the faculty and staff many long hours in les
son plans, study, teaching, grading, personal
organization puts demands not only on their
school time but many and much on their personal
and family life. For this we all must understand
and have patience, faith and grace. May God
Bless them.
To the upperclassmen, readjustment to the
familiar and often a tendency to forget the
caution and sensitively that newness brings. Keep
the faith. Many look to you for hope, ideals,
morals, values and strength. Your standards of liv
ing impact on us all. Do not overlook the fact that
many rely heavily, on you to set the standards
and guide in the way of truth. I recall part of a
letter my mother wrote to me when I was return
ing to school. “Too few of us know our im
portance,” the letter said. “Yes, you, whoever
you are can do more than you realize. You can br
ing that precious peace and joy to the human
heart which it is looking for. Keep a small amount
for yourself; but spread the rest of it to others ac
cording to His Divine plan. Yes, yes, you are im
portant in bringing God to this earth. Let your
lightshine that others might see your goodwork.
By so doing, this brings about love. There is noth
ing more magical than Love. If you love even your
enemy you will be loving your religion and be
loved. The more you use it, the more it grows. Life
will take on a new meaning.
Sol Again I say keep the faith. May God
surround you with his grace and love.
To all of us who come here to a new en
vironment we bring hidden anxieties, loneliness,
fear of the unknown, rejection of ourselves, due
to our own inner needs and hidden human Rev. Paul H. Easley
obstacles. This causes us to cloud our perception
in life. One of the most important tasks for
you and me is to develop a common and
accurate preception of the problems we have to
solve. Accurate perception is difficult in any
human encounter. It is equally difficult in our
close college community. ”... to be in full accord
and one mind (Phil. 2.2)" Campus life is far
different from all the necessities and securities of
home. Some may test you, tempt you, try to use
you in the light of their distorted values.
However, this new life is your testing and
developing grounds for the future. An engineer
can construct with the aid of percise gauges and
instruments, and thereby be in close proximity to
reality. But when that same engineer or anyone
else, is relating to other human beings, operating
in a world of feelings, attit'ides, values, goals,
ideals, commitments, there may be -9 very
difficult match between reality and one's
perception of. reality.
So! Keep the faith. Hold on to those time
proven positive values. This is the quality of life
we need in our own life and period of history.
To us all, we need each other. Why? For the
leadership it brings, the pride it develops, the
personhood it creates and the future it unfolds.
In order to make life worth while we must make
mature choices. They may present big or little
hang-ups those sticky r.ituations that arise to con
front you with so called self-interest on right
things to do. We don’t always have ready made
answers for every situation, that is why we need a
standard of conduct. Religion develops such
standards.
What can we do to cope? Be specific. Get
together with others and discuss the issue of the
day with openess and honesty. Develop a strong
positive religious life. A good place to start is at
chapel or church. Hope to see you there.
God Bless always, may the future present you
(Photo by Jerome Gwinn) Grace.
In My Op
BY WILLIAM MORRELL
The late 1950’s brought a new legalism to our
society with emphasis on the rights of the in
dividual. This new trend of thought was
accelerated during the 1%0's and 1970’s.
This legalistic society of ours created a needfor
additional legal minds and the need for
specialized legal services. The day of the general
practictioner has almost gone out of existence.
Some legal experts believe that there is an over -
supply of lawyers. This may be so for the white
lawyers based on the ratio of white lawyers to the
white population, but this formula, when applied
to blacks, show the need for additional black
lawyers; particularly in the small community with
no black lawyers.
New laws have been enacted and old ones
amended to provide more and better protection
for the general population than ever before in the
history of this country, but there are still
thousands of statutes on the books that deprive
many citizens of their constitutional guarantees.
• •
inion...
Many are deprived due to technicalities in the law
and sheer ignorance of the law.
The aforementioned individual rights include a
host of things such as, right to a speedy trial, right
to legal counsel, right to the quiet enjoyment of
one’s property, guarantee of merchantability of
products, product liability, and contract liability
to name a few.
The general population is more legal prone
than ever and some will seize the slightest op
portunity to institute legal proceedings if there
are likelihood of monetary gains. One has to be
very careful about how to drive a car down the
street, what he signs his her name to, etc.
In our next article we will talk about how one
might receive legal remedy to some problems in
lieu of retaining legal counsel for a few.
EDITOR’S NOTE
William Morrell is Special Assistant to the
President of Clark College, Elias Blake. His
responsibilities include impact analyses and
studies that affect the college’s physical
development. He is also the primary advisor
on legal issues facing the college.
William Morrell
(Photo by Jerome Gwinn)