UPON REFLECTION, the future sometimes seems ominous indeed. Some ecologists allot a maximum of 30 years before our natural environment collapses and dooms the whole of the human species.
International conflict still rages across the globe, threatening to destroy us, if not with a roar; by a spectacular thermo-nuclear blast, then with a whimper; by a continual state of world anarchy and hate, thus precluding all attempts by reasonable and sane men to unite mankind long enough to achieve an acceptable, decent degree of social and economic justice, freedom and peace. Throughout the entire previous history of man, the urgency of attacking human cruelty and folly seems banal when compared to the urgency of the present.
For today, there is a simple tight-lipped desperation in the necessity to achieve a new order. The results of man's reckless technology, destruction of his surroundings, irresponsible proliferation, and continuing fear and hostility toward his brother have brought us to the point where the decision to do any less than what is necesary is a universal death warrant.
That change is vitally necessary, there can be no doubt. What is harder to realize is that change and our response to problems must be revolutionary. As Abraham Lincoln said... "As our case is new, so must we think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves."
We must forget the easy myth of yesterday, which holds that progress is inevitable and that it is attainable without sacrifice or commitment. The fact that these problems can be attacked by men means that the future contains challenges as well as threats and is therefore exhilarating as well as sobering.
I do not think that we, the Graduating Class of 1970 have a better guide to the future than what is offered in a Bob Dylan line... "The future is like a dark night into which we must proceed cautiously, but not softly."
Russell J. Getz
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