/ c \ K6AH^>NEy COLCEGE '\J) ? ~t^ ill-? n' vi I. V'f ^ yST: S. •» //M EPOCH EDITORIAL It is difficult to escape the conclusion that we live at the end ot an age. The editor of JANE'S ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFT fears that 1977 will be marked as the year the West sowed the seeds of its own destruction. At various times during the year THE END OF AN different NATO commanders have tried to draw attention to the lamentable weakness of every aspect of their organisation. They have warned also of the increasing power of the Warsaw Pact, which has in recent years been transformed from a defensive to an offensive alliance, and one with the capability of overrunning Western Europe in a matter of days. In Africa, Russia and her Cuban comrades have become deeply involved in the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia, while the United States, in a remarkable feat of Orwellian casuity, declined to supply arms on the grounds that there was a war on. Further south, the terrorist wars in Rhodesia and South West Africa have intensified, while on the political front determined efforts have been made to ensure that moves towards peaceful settlement were blocked. And in South Africa itself heavy Western pressure for change has come at a time when the material benefits of Western tech nology have largely been negated by economic recession and political disturbance has continually been near the surface. It was not surprising, therefore, that the President of the Methodist Conference,on the evening of his induction, opened his address with the words,"We meet at a time when men's hearts fail them for fear." How these words of Jesus Christ on Olivet ring true today. Western civilisation as we know it is in danger and what can we do at a time when the future is more than usually uncertain? Surely, we as members of a community whose whole raison d'etre is preparation for the future, must give serious thought to our role in society. We must do our best to provide stability in a time of increasing instabil ity, to provide hope in a time of increasing hopelessness. In our endeavour to provide stability and hope we shall be led inevitably to the teaching of the Bible because there is no question that the best characteristics of Western civilisation have their origins in Biblical principles. And it is back to these fundamental principles that we shall increasingly be driven in the hard and tempestuous years ahead. In a Christian school such as ours we are constantly reminded of the teaching of our Lord.His lessons are of paramount importance if our leavers are to take their rightful place in bringing peace to the world. Our aim and our hope is that these lessons have been well learned at Kearsney.
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