Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Memorial Stadium [PAGE 11]

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better and higher ideals than they imply. Through the increasing association of men, the energy behind these instincts has promoted the growth of the finer feelings, charity, love, regard for others, service, obedience to law, and all those qualities that go to make what we call refinement, culture, civilization. Part of the cost of their attainment is the repression of the so-called primary, physical instincts that too many are lauding, whose unlicensed exercise they are urging. Our consecration of ourselves so to use this Stadium as to maintain the ideals of our dead, is an eternal rejection of that philosophy. It is a pledge that we will manifest in our academic work, in our sports, in all that we do, that fine spirit and idealism which implies the qualities—loyalty, self-sacrifice, and belief in our institution—of which the Stadium is a memorial. By our use of this great monument will it be determined from year to year whether we are keeping on the high plane of ethical aspiration and conduct that our beloved and honored dead raised for u s ; whether we are continuing to honor them by infusing into our life at the University the spirit, the purposes, the faith, the devotion to duty, which inspired them. According as we do this will the Illini spirit live and grow strong and we shall be able to stand, by and by, with unblushing faces, at the judgment bar of our fellow Illini whose memory we honor, and report to them that we have kept the faith; and that honor, truth, and loyalty are still the watchwords of all Illini. This dedication is a pledge that we, of the University of Illinois, shall forever serve men and honor God. We consecrate ourselves to the service of our country and pledge that we will give her our all in her day of need. We pledge ourselves to keep alive the spirit of democracy and the equality of opportunity to all, which is the essence of democracy. •{12}-