1973 School Magazine

W,rhabfr fs lrife foroce I came into this world as all men do - a baby, that miracle of life presenting to its parents a perfect restatement of mankind. I was a small creature with the river of life running in my body, yet I was unconsciously using its power to move and talk and live outwardly. From the first awakening in the light of this world, my clear, brilliant eyes darted from face to doll, to tree, to building. Everything was new to this new man. How fascinating it all was when I could not conceive how they existed but that they did. The external world grew in reality day by day as I experienced more of it, while inside myself came the beatings of another. An awareness grew in myself of my thoughts and the strange results of many of my thoughts such as laughter or tears. What was the purpose of my life and presence here? I was a being that was as wonderful a mystery to my new found self as to all men long past. Yet I was not left to the exploration and realization of myself. The world around had decided, all children should be regimented to school and there learn the same facts.to make them fuller persons in the know- ledge 6f/iacts found by others. In all this schooling some;.learnt better than others or faster than others. Outside the classroom the world of human relations provided another school with its own methods of regimentation. It was necessary to learn to associate with other people, to understand their complexities while mine remained instinctive. But these other people fulfilled a need for friendstrip and comradeship that pleased the heart within me and made me feel securer in the turmoil and struggle that swarmed around. High school loomed and arrived. Wider aspects were studied in the subjects begun in primary school and people talked of 'life opening out before you.' Maybe, I thought, there was some greater purpose, in all the years of struggling I was spending, than just accumulating skills and facts in various fields. Other people seemed to sense the possibility of a reality and purpose in what we did, that was beyond the sight of our eyes but was connected to the power we felt in our mind and'spirit.' There must be something, called spirit, inside myself for this person, which I was, did not feel and work as merely limbs and trunk. I pondered on the roots of this tree that man was. The more I have thought and now think about what is beyond the visual person, the more confused and complexare the answers. Around me people hurry and bustle to get done the job assigned to them. Cities and countries produce and feed and develop and build great artificial monu- ments to their glory. Man has built aweb of life that ensnares each new person. A wheel develops of pro- duce and consume.

Yet man is not merely to provide the power for the wheel to turn. Why was man here in the first place? Why does he feel a greater depth to his existence than as a machine? Around me children are born, replicas of generations come and gone and holding within them the seed of generations of man to come. Each has within itself the root of its existence, a spirit that makes it more than just an animal. People, around me, wither in body but still retain the power of man inside. The wonder of their existence is upon them, yet they do not fully comprehend it. No one does, for man remains a mystery unto his very self. Life is a search for the reason for that life. All mankind lives in three dimensions but two of them, and merely feels the third. If man had the third dimension in his hand he would have wisdom, know- ledge and the sight of God before him. Margaret Culpan 6A Marion glanced up from her chemistry problems and noticed that Tim was still chewing the end of his pencil and glaring at his notebook. She had been a bit surprised when she had put his two little sisters to bed that Tim, who was only in fourth grade, had decided to stay up and do his homework- Her own little brothers and sisters next door, would, she guessed, be sprawled all over the floor with a game of monopoly - they certainly would not have touched school books on a Friday night! Marion closed her book. "What's the trouble, Tim?" "Nothing." "Is it sums or writing?" "Sums," "Let's have a look." She moved over and saw the first offive subtractions with only two lines of working beneath it. "Mm. Yes, that's good. You've got the first step right. Have you done sums like this at school?" t'Yes." "Well, what's the next step? You can't take one third from five sixths, can you?" Silence. "They have to have the same name, don't they, so you'll need to find the L.CM." Tim's face brightened. "Oh, yea. I remember. Miss Mills told us about that." Laboriously, he set to work. It was a slow, painful task, and even with Marion's continued help, the five sums were not completed until almost an hour later. But Tim whistled happily as he went off to bed - he understood something. As she settled down to her work again, Marion found she was chewing her pencil, too. Really, the poor boy needed help with his maths - he hardly even understood the basic concepts. Perhaps it was

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