“By ancient and curious custom,” President Drew Faust told the graduating class of 2010 in her May 25 Baccalaureate address, “it falls to me to offer you a final sermon before you go.” Speaking from experience shared with the class—of grand plans rethought in the aftermath of “the biggest meltdown of world financial systems since the Great Depression”—Faust recounted the lesson learned: “Life never follows a script.” (Read the text of Faust’s address here.)
“We didn’t have to melt down the roof of Harvard Hall into bullets—as we did in 1775; but we did curtail plans,” Faust told the class, suggesting that the crisis is part of their education, that upheavals teach lessons.
“The first is about humility,” she said. “We have been forcefully reminded that we cannot control or even predict the future or what it will require of us…. The unforeseen events of the past two years have forced us to imagine the world differently; they have demanded that we adapt, and throw away the script we thought we were following. And they have reminded us once again of the value of the liberal arts, which are designed to prepare us for life without a script—for a life with any script.” The second lesson? “Embrace risk…Don’t settle for plan B until you have tried plan A,” Faust urged. Then, echoing a message that Bill Gates delivered on a visit a few weeks earlier, Faust said the third lesson is that “The world really needs you”—a lesson the class seems already to have absorbed, she added: “Nearly 20 percent of you applied for Teach for America—far more than at our peer institutions, and the largest percentage of any school class in the history of the organization.” And finally, Faust told her audience, the fourth lesson is that “living in a world without a script demands and rewards creativity.”
The address was full of historical references, but also touched with humor on current events. As freshmen, “Your accomplishments were legion….At least you said they were,” Faust joked, alluding to the widely reported story of a student admitted under false pretenses.
Faust went on to recount a few of the class’s notable accomplishments: the startup of an NGO that built a school for girls in Afghanistan; the creation of a senior-thesis film selected for screening at Cannes; the establishment of a sustainable water-supply system for a rural community in Ghana.
The service, a Harvard tradition since the seventeenth century, also included remarks from the Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer professor of Christian morals and Pusey minister in the Memorial Church. It included readings from the Analects of Confucius, the Hebrew Bible, Hindu Scripture, the Holy Quran, and the New Testament.
As Gomes’s message in the program said, “The occasion is both joyful and solemn, intimate and public, filled with the exuberance of youth and sustained by venerable and weighty tradition.”
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Choices about Afghanistan
Hearing the positions as the government debates strategy for Afhanistan, I am
Sad that we are in a position of deciding how much war to carry out in someone else's country, spending tax dollars that are needed to rebuild our economy and social safety nets.
Sad that it will likely be perceived as invasion and occupation rather than assistance by most of the people who did not request help to become a democracy - and have fought off outsiders many times.
Concerned that, as Rep. Barbara Lee points out, Congress has transferred the power of declaring war to the White House.
And distantly hoping that our efforts will actually support a regime that affords women education and full participation.
Sad that we are in a position of deciding how much war to carry out in someone else's country, spending tax dollars that are needed to rebuild our economy and social safety nets.
Sad that it will likely be perceived as invasion and occupation rather than assistance by most of the people who did not request help to become a democracy - and have fought off outsiders many times.
Concerned that, as Rep. Barbara Lee points out, Congress has transferred the power of declaring war to the White House.
And distantly hoping that our efforts will actually support a regime that affords women education and full participation.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What the Years Get You
I'm staying with a friend at her apartment while on a business assignment away from home. She has two cats and a dog that I have come to know and look forward to petting when I get here. The guest room is familiar and inviting. She always has a few things on hand because she knows I enjoy them... like late night chocolate and seasonal berries for breakfast.
What I love about a friendship that has grown over years has been described by a poet in a line I vaguely recall as 'the unexpressible comfort'. We know how to say, Do you want some of this, are you done with your plate, what else do you need, without having to wonder whether we are overly imposing or being a 'good host.'
Both are committed to each other's happiness and comfort, and both are empathetic about life's imperfections and our own rambling paths.
We can have a light conversation or a deeper one. We can create separate apace in the apartment so she can get rest while I am on an earlier time zone. She can tell me what's important about locking the door or turning off lights so I can come and go. We can share understanding about the people and situations in our lives. We look forward to seeing each other and have a good time.
This is not rocket science, this is not fireworks or life-changing like falling in love. It is also not the same comfort I had with many friends when there were many friends around in the full press of adulthood. It is knowing who has stuck, who will accept me because they have done so, who holds a similar loyalty to me that I hold to them. It's not many people, it's not acquaintances. In addition to the friend I am visiting now, it's the few people with whom I will make plans and go visit or enthusiastically host.
It is a little bit of a surprise who my close friends are now, compared to the people with whom I spent many hours and passages assuming it would continue indefinitely. A few have stayed and we're easy.
This is what long term friendship turns out to be. A treasure that cannot be found except through the span of time.
What I love about a friendship that has grown over years has been described by a poet in a line I vaguely recall as 'the unexpressible comfort'. We know how to say, Do you want some of this, are you done with your plate, what else do you need, without having to wonder whether we are overly imposing or being a 'good host.'
Both are committed to each other's happiness and comfort, and both are empathetic about life's imperfections and our own rambling paths.
We can have a light conversation or a deeper one. We can create separate apace in the apartment so she can get rest while I am on an earlier time zone. She can tell me what's important about locking the door or turning off lights so I can come and go. We can share understanding about the people and situations in our lives. We look forward to seeing each other and have a good time.
This is not rocket science, this is not fireworks or life-changing like falling in love. It is also not the same comfort I had with many friends when there were many friends around in the full press of adulthood. It is knowing who has stuck, who will accept me because they have done so, who holds a similar loyalty to me that I hold to them. It's not many people, it's not acquaintances. In addition to the friend I am visiting now, it's the few people with whom I will make plans and go visit or enthusiastically host.
It is a little bit of a surprise who my close friends are now, compared to the people with whom I spent many hours and passages assuming it would continue indefinitely. A few have stayed and we're easy.
This is what long term friendship turns out to be. A treasure that cannot be found except through the span of time.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Former Majority Attempts to Define Objectivity
As I listen to the opening statements by US Senators in the hearing to confirm Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, I am taken aback by the premises expressed most strikingly by Republicans. They continue to assert that the Constitution is totally clear and can be interpreted objectively based on the text only and no personal opinion, and most amazingly, that the justices who agree with them are all completely objective. That 106 of 110 justices in the history of the court having been white and male would have had no impact on the decisions they made.
More than overt oppressive tactics such as arrests and censorship, the subtle and probably unconscious bias of thinking one's own opinions are objective is dangerous because of the inertia of the majority mindset.
Even though our population has shifted and the majority is on its way to minority status, our ruling bodies and our common thinking and beliefs still unconsciously hold that there is objective reality which happens to correspond to what we think. And to unconsciously support an economic system that slants toward greed and war.
This observation motivates me to promote a) thinking about thinking, i.e. self-reflection without being self-confirming, or closed, and b) interaction with people in the world as equals in importance though not in talents or privileges.
I believe that intelligence is self-questioning, without being doubtful, and that it grows through contact with the many ways of living on this planet.
If we are to be ready for interaction with anyone from another galaxy, let's think ahead and practice welcoming behaviors here where we reside. And one of them would be understanding the spectrum of possible belief systems and ways to live.
Please, Senators who hold great legislative and social-political power, recognize that RIGHT is not a functional place to stand if you are to do your job in this system. Reflect on the hypocrisy and scandal that plagues people who take the righteous ownership of reality. Find a path to the humility that does not bow or scrape but does think beyond slogans and expands understanding of what it means to be human.
More than overt oppressive tactics such as arrests and censorship, the subtle and probably unconscious bias of thinking one's own opinions are objective is dangerous because of the inertia of the majority mindset.
Even though our population has shifted and the majority is on its way to minority status, our ruling bodies and our common thinking and beliefs still unconsciously hold that there is objective reality which happens to correspond to what we think. And to unconsciously support an economic system that slants toward greed and war.
This observation motivates me to promote a) thinking about thinking, i.e. self-reflection without being self-confirming, or closed, and b) interaction with people in the world as equals in importance though not in talents or privileges.
I believe that intelligence is self-questioning, without being doubtful, and that it grows through contact with the many ways of living on this planet.
If we are to be ready for interaction with anyone from another galaxy, let's think ahead and practice welcoming behaviors here where we reside. And one of them would be understanding the spectrum of possible belief systems and ways to live.
Please, Senators who hold great legislative and social-political power, recognize that RIGHT is not a functional place to stand if you are to do your job in this system. Reflect on the hypocrisy and scandal that plagues people who take the righteous ownership of reality. Find a path to the humility that does not bow or scrape but does think beyond slogans and expands understanding of what it means to be human.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
59 years, 364 days so far
Having been here for just shy of 60 years, I have learned a couple of things.
What goes around truly does come around. Just because it feels good to do good.
Friends and gratitude bring you everything else.
No one else can answer your questions.
Traveling to distant places is worth it.
Be still and breathe. Spend time with yourself.
Don't believe the naysayers.
You are loved more than you know.
What goes around truly does come around. Just because it feels good to do good.
Friends and gratitude bring you everything else.
No one else can answer your questions.
Traveling to distant places is worth it.
Be still and breathe. Spend time with yourself.
Don't believe the naysayers.
You are loved more than you know.
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