“Future Hopes: A Legacy to Live”
May 13, 2007
Good morning. It is a great privilege to be a part of this commencement ceremony. Congratulations to the class of 2007, your families and friends, and my fellow honorary degree recipient Mr. Emmet Delay.
Two weeks ago this event was already going to be a special day for me in that I would be in the renovated Rock Bowl for the first time and I would be speaking to the class of 2007; never did I expect to be linked to this class in perpetuity as an honorary degree recipient.
President Collins, colleagues on the board, and members of the Faculty Council, thank you for this august honor. Interestingly, when I attended Loras in 1962, I was planning on becoming a lawyer—so today you filled two voids in my life—I am a Loras alumnus with a law degree, at least an honorary one. I am very grateful to Loras College, which was my launching pad some forty-four years ago. My family and friends know the affection with which I have always held this college. I suspect, however, I will now be put on the “active” donor mailing list!
Amidst this festivity, I would be remiss if I did not wish all of the mothers here, including mine, a very happy Mother’s Day!
Graduates, your families are extremely proud of you. You cannot imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be an opportune time to ask for a loan!
That reminds me of something I saw as I walked across campus this morning. A proud mom was trying to take a picture of her son in a cap and gown, posed with his father. Mom asked the boy to make it look natural and to put his arm around his father’s shoulders. To which the father replied: "If you want it to look natural, why not have him take out my wallet?"
Graduation day is tough for parents. They go to the ceremony as parents. They go home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are out of a job!
President Collins asked some of today’s graduates for suggestions about the focus of these remarks; I will try to incorporate their ideas in the comments that follow.
All of you want to succeed. I simply remind you that “all that stands between you and the top of the ladder is the ladder.” And as a pragmatic Jesuit, I add: “You cannot get to the top (of the ladder) by sitting on your bottom.” So some challenges will follow.
On this beautiful Iowa morning, I want to set the context for you as you meet the realities of the world opening before you.
In the 21st century, the world itself is setting very high expectations for knowledge and skills as we all address global challenges at home (Iowa/Illinois/Wisconsin) and abroad.
“In recent years, the ground has shifted for Americans in virtually every important sphere of life — economic, global, cross-cultural, environmental, civic and religious.
“The world is being dramatically reshaped by scientific and technological innovations, global interdependence, cross-cultural encounters, the migration of peoples, and change in the balance of economic and political power.
“Only a few years ago, Americans envisioned a future in which this nation would be the world’s only superpower. Today, it is clear that the United States — and individual Americans — will be challenged to engage in unprecedented ways with the global community, collaboratively and competitively.
“These waves of dislocating change will only intensify. The world in which today’s graduates will make choices and compose lives is one of disruption rather than certainty, of interdependence rather than insularity. This volatility also applies to careers. Studies show that Americans already change jobs ten times in the two decades after turning eighteen.”1 How will this changing global environment affect your choices in the years ahead?
Good question! The answer is largely up to you. I would opine that because of your Loras education, you have two significant things going for you: a liberal arts education delivered in a Catholic, values- centered institution.
Liberal education expands horizons, builds understanding of the wider world, hones analytical and communications skills and fosters responsibility beyond self. Today, in an economy that is dependent on innovation and global savvy, these outcomes are the keys to economic viability and individual opportunity. They are the foundations for success in all fields — from technology and the sciences to communications, business and the creative arts.2
To have this liberal, liberating, education take place in a setting that is rooted in faith and committed to values formation and the living out of the gospel, is a second and unifying benefit of your time at Loras.
Your years at a Catholic college, regardless of your personal faith tradition, should have prepared you for the world beyond this campus. From theology classes, to liturgies, to retreats, to community service, you have been engaged in living the tenets of the Christian gospels. On this graduation day, in the spirit of Jesus, I exhort you not to hide your light under a bushel basket, but let it shine forth, giving light to the darker corners of your community and the world. You are equipped and, hopefully, inclined to be bearers of light.
With that as prelude, you might ask, what do I hope for you as you leave this place? I have four aspirations that hopefully will intersect with some of your expectations. I hope that you will be:
- comfortable with change;
- ethical in your personal and professional life;
- engaged in the life of your community;
- and be successful.
First, to be comfortable in a world of change — technically and humanly. As students you have been encouraged to explore new ideas, new approaches and cultures not your own. You were educated to think critically, to be reflective and evaluative. Your faculty urged you to determine non-negotiable principles and values that will allow you to adapt with confidence. Those same principles allow you to be functional in a world of diverse beliefs and ideas, origins and backgrounds.
It has been noted that, “If nothing students hear in their college careers makes them uncomfortable, the faculty is not doing its job right. Learning requires a willingness to engage other points of view.”
For the truth is, as Martin Luther King Jr. noted: “All of life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”3
Because of this mutuality, because we interact with one another as individuals, nations, economies or religious traditions, change is inevitable. Jobs shift to South Asia, the Chinese economy is closing in on America’s, Islam is suddenly a household word and part of our consciousness, and global warming is altering our growing seasons — all invoke change that directly or indirectly affect us.
Who would have thought that we would see the day where the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii is not only enjoyed by children and college students but also by grandparents in assisted living environments. Adapting to change is a must. I did not grow up with a computer or an iPod. Yet today I create pod casts and video blogs to keep my campus community informed. Instantaneous access is the standard and text messaging is a communication art; by the way, I can only hope that none of you is practicing that art at this particular moment!
You will be constantly challenged by instantaneous access and information overload and the ethical dilemmas brought about by our changing technological landscape. Take time to ruminate, google your own mind, you will find that your Loras experience has provided you with the tool sets to master these and many other challenges emanating from your changing circumstance and environment.
Second, to lead an ethical life both personally and professionally. This is an appeal to help build a more just society rooted in your core beliefs and values, formed in family, church and college.
In the bleak aftermath of the first World War, W.B. Yeats wrote: “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold….the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
Our own era might seem similarly bleak-- from 9/11, to Iraq, to Virginia Tech. I nonetheless believe our nation hungers for a renewal of ethics and values in public and private life. The fallout from corporate corruption clutters the business and legal landscape.
America’s foreign policy is adrift, as evidenced by the cost of gas and the protracted wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan; cloning, fetal stem cell research and the increasingly important “end of life” issues are questions that beg significant ethical and moral reflection. Add to this our growing concern for the uninsured and immigration issues, and you see why I have this hope for your generation. As I note frequently at Creighton: “Ethics is majoring in one’s life as a whole, not just in one’s studies or career.”
My third challenge is that you become involved, that you get connected; that you be responsible actors and effective leaders in your professions and communities. You must learn to make connections between academic learning, professional practice and important public questions. This is an appeal to civic engagement.
Civic engagement means promoting the quality of life in a community through both political and nonpolitical processes. Morally and civically responsible individuals view themselves as members of a larger social fabric and consider the issues of the community to be partially theirs, and they are willing to act accordingly.
We cannot realize our fullest potential as human beings except in association and cooperation with others. We have a broad range of needs that can only be met by a rightly constituted community that contains all that is necessary for the life of the good, the true and the beautiful. That is what resides at the heart of civic engagement. That is what is at risk when we ignore our civic responsibilities.
Although surveys indicate increasing numbers of students are involved with volunteer and service activities, surveys also show voting among college students and young professionals has steadily declined since 1972, along with interest and participation in the political process. Your generation believes less and less in the integrity and relevance of our political institutions and our traditions of freedom and democracy. This is a significant concern; it should be a concern for you as well.
Finally, I wish you every success — personal and professional. Your Loras education has prepared you to do well for yourself and good for others. Thoreau noted that “We are born to succeed, not to fail.”
The dictionary, predictably, defines success as the accumulation of material possessions or the attainment of a position of power, prestige or fame. I certainly think those things are indicative of success and the by-products of success, but they are not necessarily success in themselves.
I know many eminently successful people who never made a lot of money and never gained high positions or recognition. They simply and quietly raised a family, worked hard, and had a job that allowed the resources to take care of their family. These people are very successful on my quality of life calculus.
This interpretation of success echoes my earlier point of living an ethical and moral life worthy of your Loras education.
Legendary basketball coach John Wooden coined this definition of success: “Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”4
I happen to agree with Wooden’s definition of success. That is the kind of success I hope for each of today’s graduates. Anything stemming from that success of a life well lived is simply a by-product, whether it is fame or fortune. “Such results can be indicators that you succeeded in the more important contest of life.”5 At the same time, I certainly wish you material success as well as a successful life.
The real contest, of course, is striving to reach your personal best—as individual, couple, family, or business—and that is totally under your control. When you have achieved that you have achieved success.
Plato observed that “The direction in which education starts a person will determine that person’s future.” Your Loras education has provided you a far better compass for your newest journey, than directions from Mapquest or GPS. A successful journey becomes your destination and that is where the real accomplishment lies.
It is my prayer today that you succeed in carrying the values of Loras College into each of your distinctive places in the future. Remain dedicated to the pursuit and communication of truth. Respect your fellows. Take true responsibility for your lives. Always strive for excellence, in your families and in your work. And continue to serve others in the extraordinary manner in which the Loras community has served you.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being a part of the Loras class of 2007. And remember: “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you dream it, you can become it.”
Congratulations; good day; and God bless you and yours!
John P. Schlegel, S.J.
1. College Learning for the New Global Century, AAC&U, 2007.
2. ibid. p. 4.
3. Myers and Barber, The Independence Handbook 2004, pp. 38-39.
4. Wooden J.R., Wooden, McGraw Hill, 1997, p. 170.
5. ibid., p. 172.