11-27-1963

Page 1

Nation Mourns Kennedy

A Man Died A m a n d i e d in D a l l a s F r i d a y .

OPE COLLEGE

anc or

H e died because early that a f t e r n o o n o n e of h i s f e l l o w h u m a n b e i n g s set d o w n his l u n c h of Tried c h i c k e n , saw h i m t h r o u g h a filth s t o r y w i n d o w , a n d s e n t a few o u n c e s of lead i n t o his neck a n d h e a d . H e died because a man

lost his h u -

manity and became an animal u n a b l e to

OLLAND, MICHIGAN

sec h u m a n i t y a b o u t h i m . He died because a man hated.

Hope College, Holland, Michigan

76th Year—12

M a n y h a v e d i e d b e f o r e b e c a u s e of ha-

November 27, 1963

t r e d . T h e y h a v e d i e d w i t h b u l l e t s in t h e i r backs, t h e y h a v e d i e d h a n g i n g f r o m l o n e l y

Pres. VanderWerf

trees, t h e y h a v e d i e d of b r o k e n h e a d s , t h e y h a v e d i e d in b o m b i n g s , they h a v e d i e d by steel, t h e y h a v e d i e d by fire, t h e y h a v e d i e d .

Expresses Grief

T h e y h a v e d i e d w i t h t h o s e w h o loved t h e m , t h e y h a v e d i e d in t h e m i d s t of t h o s e w h o

Of Hope College

mourned them. A n d t h e m a n w h o d i e d in D a l l a s d i e d

Hope College President, Dr. Cal-

because he represented America a n d Amer-

vin VanderWerf, expressed the feel-

icans a n d t h e r e w a s a n A m e r i c a n w h o h a t -

ings of the entire college community when he stated Saturday:

ed A m e r i c a n s e n o u g h t o be d r i v e n t o destroy.

He

died

because

we

were

a

part

of h i m a n d h e w a s a p a r t of us. A n d w h e n h e d i e d a p a r t of all of us d i e d .

"All the peoples of the world . ..... ...

F o r e a c h ol us is b o u n d by o u r h u m a n -

mmmmrnlm

have lost a heroic champion of

ity t o e v e r y h u m a n b e i n g . A n d w h e n a m a n

freedom and justice. To all,

a c c e p t s t h e t e r r i b l e r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of g u i d ing

he had become a living symbol

and

representing

all

of

us,

we

are

b o u n d t o g i v e of o u r s e l v e s as h e m u s t g i v e

of hope and peace.

of h i m s e l f . T h e m a n w h o d i e d in D a l l a s d i e d so

"May we, in this nation put

t h a t he w o u l d n o t be a b l e t o g i v e m o r e of aside

w i^Miiimifir"

Bsi®

our differences as we

h i m s e l f t o us.

humbly seek Divine guidance

A n d w e a r e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r his d e a t h .

in rededicating our lives to the

As l o n g as t h e r e is a society t h a t d o e s n o t love, t h e r e will b e s o m e w h o m u s t h a t e ,

principles for which President

a n d t h e r e will b e a f e w w h o m u s t d e s t r o y .

Kennedy lived and died."

So we a r e r e s p o n s i b l e lor t h a t d e s t r u c t ive h a t r e d , a m i we a r e t h e v i c t i m s of t h a t

:::

More than 900 students and faculty

spontaneously

gathered

hatred.

in

A n d J o h n F. K e n n e d y d i e d in D a l l a s .

Dimnent Memorial Chapel to pray *

I |n Im|h • ••

mm .•

I

j

THE LATE JOHN F. KENNEDY

F. K e n n e d y is d e a d b e c a u s e h e

on Friday after they learned of

was a g r e a t m a n , e l e c t e d to a g r e a t p o s i t i o n ,

President John F . Kennedy's as-

carrying out with vigor a n d d e t e r m i n a t i o n the responsibilities we asked h i m to accept.

sasination. mmm

John

Many

also

H e is d e a d b e c a u s e a l i t t l e m a n attended

memorial

t h a t t h e g r e a t m a n s t o o d in his way.

services held in the chapel on Monday, the day of Kennedy's funeral.

decided

And now the little m a n

is d e a d . H e

died because a n o t h e r little m a n m a d e one of t h e s a m e m i s t a k e s ; h e d i e d b e c a u s e ano t h e r l i t t l e m a n f a i l e d t o see t h a t , n o m a t t e r w h a t a m a n is a c c u s e d of, h e is still a h u m a n b e i n g , a n d m u s t b e p r o v e n g u i l t y by

Hatred Caused Death of John Kennedy by Robert Donia A great man was assassinated last Friday. The assassin was a communist sympathizer who was probably insane. We a r e tempted to dismiss him as an isolated case—just a crazy, frustrated fanatic. But it is disturbing to recount t h e recent incidents that have been instigated by such fanatics of both the left and the right: two persons died in riots at the University of Mississippi last y e a r ; four Negro children were killed when a church in Birmingham,- Alabama, was bombed: hearings of the House Committee on Un-American Activities have -been disrupted by rowdy demonstrators on several occasions; our ambassador to the UN- was jostled and attacked by pickets in Dallas a few weeks ago; and finally, our President was assassinated by a comunist sympathizer. Such a rash of events does not happen by pure coincidence and it has taken an assassination to wake the nation up to this fact. It is lime we examine the cause of such in.sanc acts. In all of these events, one elem e n t was always present: hatred. It is natural in every society to

have a few people who c a r r y hatred to extremes. But the truth is that our society is actually encouraging hatred and that hatred is even popular in our day. Extremists of both the left and the right a r e encouraged in their hate by the irresponsible deeds of public officials and supposedly responsible organizations. The governor-elect of Mississippi was elected to that office on the basis of his "hate Kennedy" campaign. A national magazine recently ran an article saying that Earl Warren should be hanged. Certain conservative clergymen, in advocating a return to more fundamentalist theology, have generated more hate for their Christian bretheren than they have love for Jesus Christ. Even some otherwise highly ethical leaders of the Negro movement have on occasion stooped to expressions of personal hatred for those who honestly disagree with them. J e s u s Christ c a m e 2,000 y e a r s ago to remove the hatred f r o m our hearts and replace it with love. It is a sad commentary on us as Christians that we tolerate and even support the bitter hatred present in our society today.

There a r e people on this campus who hold views that contribute to this public hatred; these people had better re-examine their consciences, for that hatred is largely responsible for the death of our President. It is time that we stop encouraging this bitterness and hatred from both the right and left and elevate American public life above the level of personal attacks— whether physical or verbal—upon our leaders. There is an important place for criticism in democracy, but there is no need to attack personally the person being criticized. Our Democratic Creed demands that we respect those with whom we disagree. Christ even demands that we love our opponents. Any person who cannot stick to the issues, instead of reverting to expressions of hatred, does not deserve to be in public office. We need to throw out those leaders who preach hatred and we need to take personal responsibility for sending them into retirement. Until this is done, America can expect to continue reaping the bitter harvest of hatred's current popularity.

t h e law a n d t h e p e o p l e b e f o r e t h e law a n d the people execute him. W e will n o t l e a r n , even w h e n we a r e faced w i t h

t h e worst a n d

most unbeliev-

a b l e of t r a g e d i e s . W e will c o n t i n u e o n l y t o strike out

against

those

who

have d o n e

w r o n g , w e will n o t feel satisfied u n t i l w e feel c l e a n s e d by m e n t a l l y o r a c t u a l l y des t r o y i n g a c o n c r e t e o b j e c t of

our

wrath.

W e will c o n t i n u e t o fail t o s e a r c h o u r o w n s o u l s f o r t h e m e a n i n g of w h a t h a s h a p p e n ed. T h e law m u s t h a v e its w a y , as is r i g h t . R u b y will d i e a t t h e h a n d s of us, t h e p e o p l e . B u t we, t h e p e o p l e , w i l l n o t b e m a d e a n y p u r e r or cleaner by his d e a t h . On

Monday

throughout

the

nation

the c h u r c h steeples r a n g o u t the m o u r n i n g of t h e p e o p l e o v e r t h e d e a t h of t h e P r e s i d e n t . B u t h a v e w e l e a r n e d t h e t r u t h of t h e w o r d s of J o h n D o n n e : " N o m a n is a n i s l a n d , e n t i r e of itself; e v e r y m a n is a p i e c e of t h e c o n t i n e n t , a p a r t of t h e m a i n . A n y m a n ' s d e a t h d i m i n i s h e s me, because I a m And

therefore

involved in M a n k i n d .

never

send

to

know

w h o m t h e b e l l tolls; it t o l l s f o r t h e e . "

for


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