1956 MVHS Valedictory Speech – Elceone Black
I have been selected as the speaker from the Senior Class to bid farewell to Mt. Vernon High School, the school we love. The associations we have had here, our classmates, our friends, our teachers, and the many, many happy events will all be cherished memories for the future. Between a memory and a reality, there’s just a fleeting moment.
We who stand tonight at the meeting between a happy past and an unknown future have reached not the end, but the commencement of our lives. What those lives are to be depends in a large measure upon the foundations we have laid thus far in life. Classmates, what a big thought it is that from this time on, we have the shaping of our destinies in our own hands.
In planning a future for ourselves, we shall remember that the material things in life are by no means the most important things. The one thing that we should all strive for in life is TRUE HAPPINESS. What we do for others is what makes happiness and success—not those things we can take and hold for ourselves. Constructive living as a key to a happy living should be taught early in life to young people, allowing them the tranquility of mind and soul which comes only from service to others.
Did you ever stop to think how many organizations, business concerns, etc., there are that have their mottos, their ideals, and their motives all hinged around the word service? Each is trying to serve its community, state, nation, and fellowman. For example, no organization is more wonderful than the Red Cross, and no organization renders more service to its fellow man.
Sir Wilfred Grenfell has given his body, soul, and mind to the icebound people in Labrador for thirty years. Ask him what life means. He could answer you for he found the meaning of life just where you and I will find it … not in selfishness, but in service. This ancient truth cannot be repeated too often. It is the very heart and soul of beautiful living. If you know a person who is in need of help and you render your services unto him, you will realize what true happiness is.
We are the builders of our own future. Sometimes I wonder if we do not expect too much as a gift and as a reward, and forget that we are building, contributing, and molding our future by what we do and what we are every day.
I have never met a person who was unselfish, thoughtful, and considerate of others, who for one moment would admit that life was not worthwhile. The only people I have known who said life wasn't worthwhile were the people who were wrapped up in themselves.
We must not only render service to our friends and neighbors, but to our community and country as well. Entering into neighborhood activities builds not only a community, but it also builds the individual, draws out talents, and widens interests. The person who is most likely to be complaining about the neighborhood or the town or the city in which he lives is the one who never does anything to help improve that neighborhood, town, or city; who does not join in with others in the community in promoting causes that are good and that will improve the community. A community reflects the lives of the citizens who live there. If the citizens are uninterested, the community will show that neglect and lack of interest. The fine towns, the ones in which we are all proud and happy to live, are the towns where the individual citizens get out and help with the community projects. And they are happy while doing so.
Practically the same thing applies to serving our country, but on a wider scale. Our government is not separate and apart from ourselves. Your government is you, and it is I---our government is citizens individually and collectively. And our country is what we make it. To our hearts, true patriotism is that highest and best love of country that has the nation's purest and noblest good at heart, that has a great and lofty conception of what the nation should be; thus, we should use all our power, influence, energy, and service to bring her as close to that ideal as it is possible for her to come.
Yet, no matter how much service we render unto our fellowman and our country, we will not be a truly happy person without service to our Maker. "For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Without God, we can do absolutely nothing in life. A Christian person is one of the happiest persons there is, because he has so much to which he can look forward. A true Christian not only serves God, but also his fellowman, community, and country.
So as we step forth through the gateway tonight, classmates, let us walk out into the world bravely with a full realization of all that will be expected of us, and let our greatest desire be to render faithful, self-sacrificing service.
By Elceone Black
