December 16th, 2011, in San Francisco, CA, in the second decade of the 21st Century of our nation. My, my, oh my, what a special day for you.
In 1620, the English philosopher Francis Bacon commented that there were three inventions that shaped the world as he knew it: printing, gunpowder and the magnet.
- Printing enabled ideas to transcend distance and barriers "erected by anxious monarchs and bishops to safeguard familiar and comfortable ways;
- Gunpowder irreversibly altered the art of warfare; and
- The magnet in a mariner's compass "allowed navigation to proceed even when the sun and stars could not be seen."
Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, in his excellent work In The Beginning -- The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, A Language, and a Culture writes about this.
The two greatest influences on the shaping of the English language are the works of William Shakespeare and the English translation of the Bible that appeared in 1611. The King James Bible -- named for the British king who ordered the production of a fresh translation in 1604 -- is both a religious and literary classic... Nineteenth-century writers and literary critics acclaimed it as the 'noblest monument of English prose.
Subsequent iterations of the printing press enable us to read and think about the ideas of men and women who have lived before us. For example, we have the wisdom of George Bernard Shaw who wrote that some men see things and say "Why? But, I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not?'" and the words of Aeschylus who counseled:
He who learns must suffer, and, even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
Over the course of eight decades I have come to agree with Socrates and Abraham Lincoln: Socrates who said "An unexamined life is not worth living" and Lincoln who reminded us that "in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Without the technology of printing today, we would not have easy access to the wisdom of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica defining the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude.
On this special day of your graduation I also recommend to you the wisdom of Robert Browning "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp -- or what's a heaven for?" Important journeys in life always start with a first step. A single candle illuminates the darkness; a single spark can start a prairie fire.
My beloved friend Martin Luther King, Jr. would tell you that "Goodness" rarely rides in on the wheels of inevitably. It takes caring concerned committed people fighting evil and injustice to "jump start" the rolling of the wheels of justice."
The academic education you have received here at the University of San Francisco should supplement not override or suspend your common sense. Whether the issue is Occupy Wall Street, the efficacy of non-violent protest to achieve social economic or racial justice, the "legalized bribery" of special interests' money in Congress, or the current relevance of the virtues of St. Aquinas, trust your instincts for decency, fairness and morality. Never forget "More powerful than the march of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come."
"The fierce urgency of now," is how will YOU inspire a younger generation to understand the personal gratification and self-empowerment that can come from the pursuit of excellence? A commitment to the pursuit of excellence requires that we seek to be the best that we can be.
Again, Dr. King would say, "A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.'"
To encourage "the pursuit of excellence;" I suggest you consider the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson. "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
Finally, in the tradition my early Catholic education, I commend to you the wisdom of St. Augustine of Hippo who said that "Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are 'Anger' and 'Courage;' anger at the ways things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are."
We are all trustees for our children "Anger" and "Hope." Our fiduciary duty requires us to protect and safeguard our children.
In remembrance of St. Augustine, then, I ask that you join me in encouraging the eternal longevity of "Anger "and "Hope" and to never forget the redeeming POWER of love.
Proverbs 10:12 tells us "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses."
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8: says it all:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never ends. Prophecies will pass away; tongues will cease; and knowledge, will pass away.
In addition to the pursuit of excellence, the greatest commitment you can make to one another and to your respective families on this day of your graduation is to always remember that the power of love endures. Only love can enable forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation; all indispensable for your long term survival.
If some of your friends, who are not here, inquire as to what I said to you today; and, they, or maybe even you, dismiss my remarks as the musings of some old "dreamer." I happily plead guilty and ask that you also become "dreamers."
In the words of Oscar Wilde, I respectfully suggest to you that "A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world."
God Bless You and thank you for permitting me to participate in this glorious day of your Graduation.
Excerpts From Commencement Address to the College of Arts Sciences, University of SF