Mr. Chase, in his 93rd year, was for many years vice-president of the Chilton Company and directing editor of its automotive division.
Rebellious Youth with anger burdened,
Cease awhile from protestations.
Halt dissents and demonstrations.
Stop and think.
Ponder on the fact that you,
Like all your mentors, first to last,
Are but an echo of the past
And little more.
A heritage from Fate, you are
A complex of regeneration,
The old made new through reclamation.
The fruit of salvage.
Your growing bones, and flesh, and brain
Were all controlled by DNA
With guiding genes that got away
From predecessors.
All you’ve learned was known before you.
All you know is what was taught you
By your elders who have brought you
Where you are.
To the stern world of Experience
Where convictions are diluted
And raw knowledge is transmuted
Into wisdom.
Where absolutes are stuff for dreams
And almost never are attained
While worthy ends are quickest gained
Through compromise.
All you’ve angrily condemned
All the grievances bewailed
Have persistently prevailed
Throughout the ages.
The System or Establishment,
To you, a faceless monster who
Forever stalls long over due
Utopia.
Assaying the Establishment,
The seeker for the truth will find
A fair cross-section of
Mankind Like you and me.
Just Man with all his weaknesses,
His greed, his fears, his self-concern,
His strivings, with good deeds, to earn
Some commendation.
So, Rebel Youth, when you commence
Your crusade for the right and good,
It seems the reformation should
Begin with
So may it be.
JULIAN CHASE
