NEW EXPERIENCES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20966, 14 December 1942, Page 4

NEW EXPERIENCES

AFTER-SCHOOL WORK

LIFE’S TRIBULATIONS

ADVICE TO PUPILS, “'I wish to address my remarks chiefly to those who are leaving,” said the Rev. John Davie at the break-up ceremony of the Gisborne High School on Friday night. "You are on the threshold oi' new experiences, thrilling, challenging and difficult. Each new experience brings new temptations. and this has been the case since the beginning of time.” The speaker went oh to say that Christ had shared temptation with His fellows when on the threshold of His earthly mission and He went from baptism to temptations in the wilderness. The devil had tried to make Christ doubt the goodness of God and corrupt the spirit of loyalty, as he would do with those boys and girls leaving'school. He warned them to guard against temptation. ”Get out. of your minds,” he continued, “that life is a cushiony job. Life is too great a gift to be wasted on trifling. Your education, if sound, should have prepared and equipped you for the duties and responsibilities of life. Nowadays your education iproceeds along broad lines and with some understanding of youth psychology. Only part of your, education, however, is to be gained in the schools, and only part of that Horn your teachers. The rest you will get from the boys and girls in the school.

The Job of Life

"It is not always an easy matter to adjust yourselves, to the domination of your teacher, nor to accommodate yourself to the whims and fancies of the pupils. Lots of .unpleasant situations arise and there . are many uncongenial things to be done. Our reaction to these is of supreme importance. It is here :that we develop restraint, courage, grit, ability to endure and suffer, and to take the punishment of life. Take the rough stuff of life not merely because it lies in the pathway of life, but because there -is no other way to get the real thrill out of life... The happiest moments are . not .where we have enjoyed some pleasurable nhysical sensations, but where we have given of our best through, real sacrifice,, to complete some seemingly impossible task.” ,

Mr. Davie added that the students should not be afraid of soiling, their hands in the job of life. It was as honourable to be a hand worker as it was to be a brain worker. .Each needed the other, and there was-no room for snobbery in a happy life. The highest forms of .culture and refinement known to mankind , have always been ultimately. ■ associated with tools and labour. The., greatest combination of hand . and .brain .work was seen in. Jesus of Nazareth-- In Him. was the greatest . example of what a really consecrated life' should be. The influence of His character was still,. 2000 years down the ages, blessing mankind. . . , * “Take hold of life with both hands,” concluded the speaker,, Yand do your job. no matter what, it is, with the utmost of your ability, and your life, too, will be a benediction.” .