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Page Two THE WOLVERINE OBSERVER April, 1958 Wolverine Observer Staff 1957-58 They’ll Blow Up Hell By MARION A. ALBERT Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Associate Editor Feature Editor Sports Writers Business Manager Advertising Manager Circulation Manager . Reporters Advisors Sallie E. Smart W. F. Carmichael Ellen Rhyne Benjamin Geer Robert White, Robert Maycox Curtis Jones Bernice Crafton Wayman Shiver Marion Albert, Patricia Jenkins, Elnora Simmons, Bobby Huff, Robert White, Maxine Walter, Barbara Ramey, Rufus Kilgore, W. Hixon and W. Windham Dr. B. J. Farmer, Miss V. Benton Member Intercollegiate Press In this complex society of ours, we are confronted with many prob lems, some of which include prob lems of juvenile delinquency, per sons plagued with mental diseases, problems concerning economic con ditions, and problems of crime. Through research and study, we have found that it is no longer necessary to chain, beat, or jail individuals who are afflicted with these maladjustments, as was the case many centuries ago. What then, can you do to such individ uals ? Is counseling doing any good with respect to these prob lems ? Must we re-employ the crude forms of punishment? IN MEMORIAM t If I were a poet, I would ask the goddess of poetry for the in spiration, insight, rhyme, meter, beauty, and above all sincerity to write a fine poem. I would want this poem to be the most meaning ful in the world. It would be written in the true Brownite spirit— sacred truth. If I were Alfred Lord Tennyson, I would write another “In Memoriam,” but this time an elegy of our dear friend Carlton Hopkins. I am not a poet nor am I Alfred Lord Tennyson, but I am a “Brownite” and a friend of Carl ton’s. It is with these cherished thoughts that I write this edi torial in commemoration of a true “Brownite.” It was April 1, 1958, when the sound wave bearing unwanted news hit our campus. The Brown ite receiving station intercepted the sounds which bore the words: “A Brownite has crossed the bar and joined the innumerable cara van.” Carlton Hopkins was a native of Boston, Georgia. He was the grandson of Mrs. Josie Bell Rich ardson. He has a sister, Josie Hopkins, who is a graduate of Morris Brown College, and a brother, Mitchell Hopkins, who is now a senior at Morris Brown' College. Carlton came to Morris Brown College in 1953 to further his edu cation. He struggled and worked his way through college for four long years. He was very ambi tious, friendly, active, cooperative and considerate. During his life at Morris Brown he took part in such school activities as follows: member of the Student council, Assistant Secretary in the Dean’s Office, a true fraternal brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Associate Editor of the Brownite Annual of 1956-1957, Managing Editor of the Wolverine Observer, Committee Chairman of the Senior Class, and above all, from his heart, he was a true, true Brown ite. I cannot do justice to the memory of Carlton Hopkins, For I am but an earthly Muse, And owning but a little art To lull with song an aching heart, And render human love his dues. —Tennyson You can’t count the times you have sat in the classrooms and noted the names and fraternity symbols carved on the seats, or the times you have seen the writ ings and drawings on the walls in the bathrooms. Why do these individuals carve on seats? Why do they write on the walls ? Why do they throw bottles ? Can it be because their minds are idle, or because they suffer from some type of nervous tension, or is it because they just don’t know any better because of their home training? I was once led to believe that the only way certain types of people would not prove destructible to property would be to make everything out of steel and bolt these things to the floors. This way, these ob jects could not be moved about to satisfy the desires of particular individuals. For the most part, we have been thinking that these acts were just of a minor nature, or innocent acts, and that there was no prob lem at all. Therefore, we gave lit tle or no concern to them. Probably, it all started by writ ing on the desks, then carving on the desks, then it moved on to cutting holes in upholstery. My suggestion is that we find some thing else fop these individuals to do to “get their kicks” or very soon they will be trying to “blow up hell.” “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend,” is one of the definitions. Prayer is the communion with heaven. It is a two- way conversation between God and man. Prayer is coming in con tact with the power of God. The question has been asked, “Must we pray without ceasing? Must we be constantly on our knees? Must our lips be forever re peating some set of phrases of adoration and petition to God?” A friend telling of his behavior on the battle field when shells were bursting all about him said; “At such a time every thing you do is prayer.” A dear old lady explained how, as she is awakened in the morning, she says to God, “Awaken me to my spiritual needs this morning.” Then when she dresses, she prays, “Lord clothe me with the robe of Thy righteousness today.” As she eats her breakfast she asks, “dear Lord, please feed me with the Bread of life,” Then, when she washes the dishes, her request is, “Dear Lord, wash me and make me clean.” When she sweeps the floor, she asks God to sweep sins out of her life and make her heart a fit place for the Holy Spirit to abide. The point illustrated in her ex perience is that we should be so intimate with Jesus that it will be easy to practice His presence in our lives and never allow our selves to go beyond the reach of His influence. A sainted old man dying on his bed of pain said to a friend, “Keep prayer up to date, for when you are as sick as I am, you won’t feel like praying.” One of the early Christians wrote, “The empty vessel is by prayer carried to the full foun tain.” Prayer is the connecting link with heaven. Prayer is the password of the humble heart as it comes in contact with the Majesty of heaven. Some people feel that they can not pray because they do not know how to talk with God. They do not know what to say. But one does not need a prayer book to talk with our heavenly Father. Sup pose some friend should come to you and begin to read out of a book instead of telling you direct ly what is in his heart. You would probably say, “Put down that book and tell me. I want to know what you think—not what some book says.” Prayer is heart to heart talk with God. It consists of a conversation of divine love. If a young man should try to court his lady by looking in a book and reading every sentence he speaks to her, how long would that court ship last? Or if they should get married, how long do you think that marriage would last if he had to read every thing he says from out of a book? Love is not ap proached that way. Jesus said: “But when ye pray, use not vain repititions, as the heathens do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them. For your Father knoweth what things ye have need of be fore ye ask him.” (Matt. 6:7, 8). God knows all about us before we come to Him. We do not need to repeat over and over our wants to Him. “O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou understand- est my thought afar off. Thou Compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.”-—• Psalm 139:1-4. God listens to our hearts rather than our lips when we pray. The words that we speak are insignifi cant in comparision with the feel ings of our innermost selves. “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the out ward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”—I Samuel, 16:7. Ben’s Pen Ad in Springfield Bulletin— Wanted. A secretary—-Who looks like a girl—thinks like a man— acts like a lady—and works like a dog. Seen in a French antique shop in New York: English and French spoken—Cash understood. Sign in a Fort Worth, Texas T. V. repair shop: “Do it yourself, then bring it to us. Co-ed on her way to political rally: “I’m going with an open mind, a complete lack of prejudice, and a cool rational approach to listen to what I’m convinced is pure rubbish.” Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. One of the disturbing things about world news is that we know we are going to have to read it in the newspapers after we hear it over the radio before we see it on television. Sign on the door of a gift shop: “Please open before Christmas.” Sign on a closed New Jersey service station: We undersold everyone. A young minister’s prayer: O Lord, forgive us for being so sen sitive about the things that do not matter and so insensitive to the things that do. A University of Washington student has solved his problem of getting to class from one of the university’s far-flung parking lots. A passerby saw him park his car, get out, open the door of the trunk, take out a bicycle, and pedal off into the direction of the upper campus. —Banjamin Geer Is “Creative Altruism” The Answer For World Peace? Each day as we read our newspapers we learn about some kind of crisis. It might be a crisis in education, religion, science, or even hu man relations. And when we have finished reading of one we say to ourselves, “Surely this must be the last one.” Let me caution you be fore you form that opinion. As long as we have a progressive society we are going to be faced with some kind of acute problems. According to Dr. Pitirim Soro- j kin in his lectures at Gammon ' >0;l! 'ds of states like Georgia, Theological Seminary, however, we are now faced with the great est tragedy of our history. He forecasts a total destruction of Western cultures because of our conflicting values. He contends, however, that we can be saved through creative altruism. This means that man must let the energies of love and truth domi nate his activities. Some of us say that this can be done and yet others say that this is a proposi tion for an “ideal state.” Can crea tive altruism work between cul tures where men are constantly cutting each other’s throats ? Where prejudice and ignorance have been the foundation for many institutions and societies? Where groups are in conflict as to what is best for their welfare? Where man has adopted the “dog-eat- dog” or “do-unto-others-before- they-do-unto-you” philosophy ? Dr. Sorokin cited the case of the Montgomery boycott and the ac tions of Dr. King and his follow ers as an indication of creative altruism in action, but I ask you, had this incident occurred in Georgia in a very similar manner would creative altruism have been the answer or would it have re sulted in bloodshed? If I were to assume that crea tive altruism can work in estab lishing international peace, where would we start? Would Dr. Soro kin suggest that we implement this doctrine in our elementary schools and let it grow with the new generation? If we did this I wonder how willing the education Florida, South Carolina, and Mis sissippi would be to let a teacher stand in the classrooms and drill into the students that “you must love that little black boy going down the street. Love him and let him know you love him. Talk with him. Play with him. Invite him to your concerts, your dances, your parties.” It might work, but I wonder. Or would Dr. Sorokin suggest that a Jew or a Negro approach a southern segregationist and tell him the truth—tell him that he is his equal? Tell the segregationist that even his laws and statutes are full of bias and prejudice? Tell him that he should learn the sig nificance of man’s relation to man ? I wonder if it will work. And how would Dr. Sorokin suggest that these Western cul tures come together? Would he suggest that we call a UN con ference and declare that we are going to disarm, and that in the future we will love and trust each other? Or would he suggest that each culture “smuggle” a repre sentative into these respective na tions and “preach the word of love.” If they did this, I wonder if they would get back to their country alive or be convicted as spies. I wonder. Some of us say that this idea of an inevitable destruction of Western culture is a fallacy, but then when we think of the pos sibility of a nuclear explosion—I WONDER. Will creative altruism be the answer for international peace ? Same Old Story In America, where the open class system prevails, one wonders why succesful men always give the hard-luck story in referring to their past. If these men confront ed so many obstacles in reaching their present status, then why does America advocate the open class system? If you should read one of these men’s autobiographies you will conclude that the caste system exists in America. The writer had to confront so many difficulties that one imagines he must have been superhuman to overcome them. Well, what the writer real ly is doing is giving the same old “hard luck” story. His purpose is very obvious—the “hard luck” story will make people appreciate him more; the more people ap preciate him, the more popular he becomes. His popularity is due more to his past than to his capa bilities. American students hear the Abe Lincoln story so much that they become discouraged instead of en couraged. Students are sympathe tic with “poor Abe” and give up the idea of trying to achieve what ever they set forth to pursue be cause they can’t take it like “poor Abe” did. Teachers give the “same old story” about having only one suit of clothing which they had to wash every night in order to inspire stu dents. But the story is so old and stale that it barely enters one ear and passes out of the other. American students no longer ap preciate the same old story of “hard luck” and would be grateful if someone came up with a new story. MAID’S EYE VIEW A maid being interviewed ex-- plained that she left her last posi tion because she couldn’t stand the way the master and mistress were always quarreling. “That must have been unpleasant,” remarked the prospective employer. “Yes, sir,” the girl declared, “they was at it all the time. When it wasn’t me and him, it was me and her!” (The Reader’s Digest) Roving Reporter By PATRICIA JENKINS Question: Why are most of our campus organizations dominated by the same few students? Answer: Because they are the only ones smart enough to do any thing. There are too many dis interested persons who sit back and let others take the lead. Three cheers for the Leaders!! Mary Belcher Morris Answer: Because everyone is look ing for a scapegoat. Therefore, the students (who do not par ticipate), feel these students can handle affairs better than they. Sylvia Carter Answer: Partly because of the friendship gained by the ruling students on the campus. Some of the students do not seem to have minds of their own when it comes to making decisions. They roll along on whatever their friend or some other person sug gests. By doing so, it is not best for the school nor the organi zation, because sometimes some of the ideas that are kept hid den may be the ones that would help our institution prosper. Ernest Coleman Answer: Because the rest of them lack interest. Mary Kelley Answer: I do not know enough about the organizations and no one has tried to interest us in the organizations. This is my first year. Ruby Jefferson CLASSIFIED CLASSICS Fi-om the Abilene, Texas, Re porter-News: “$10 reward for south side apartment. Large enough to keep young wife from going home to mother. Small enough to keep mother from com ing here.” (The Reader’s Digest) From a Vermont Development Commission advertisement of a local farm for sale: “If purchased before the next heavy windstorm a barn is included.” (The Reader’s Digest)