Remarks from the Dean
June 11, 2005
Rev. Dr. Stuart C. Lord
Faculty, Staff, Graduates, Parents and Guests, Good afternoon. It is truly an honor and privilege to share some thoughts with the class of 2005 graduates.
To paraphrase Bishop Mandell Creighton, "The one real object of education is to have a person in the condition of continually asking questions."
As a College, we trust that through your learning in class, your internships, your collaborations with faculty members on research projects, your off-campus studies, and your participation in the many programs of the Tucker Foundation that you leave the College with more inquisitive minds than when you came. We trust that you will continue to ask questions and seek knowledge as you continue in life and commit to a life of serving others. I trust that you have learned that true happiness comes from helping others and that the definition of success must include a life of service.
Four years ago, as you began your career at Dartmouth College, the world was shocked and devastated by the tragic events of 9-11, and since that day this nation and world have never been the same. We have traded communism for terrorism and we continue to make decisions regarding the safety of our country based on our fear. However, what we so badly need in our country today are leaders who make decisions not from the weakness of our fear but who make decision based on the strength of our united efforts as a global community. There are many questions that still need to be answered regarding what it means to create a world where all human beings are interconnected. We do not build monuments of our rhetoric, but build communities on human compassion and understanding, and find the answer to live out the true meaning of the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who dreamed that one day his four little children will live in a world where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
There are three concepts I would encourage you to remember as you step forth into the world.
The first concept I would urge you to remember is: To whom much is given, much is expected. Your Dartmouth education will open up many doors for you, but your education also instills you with a sense of responsibility.
And will you, graduates of Dartmouth College, dream of a world and work toward creating a world where people will not be marginalized based on their nationality or their religious persuasion, but will be part of the human family, because we are all interconnected? What affects one of us affects all of us, and our fears should never create walls that isolate any one of us. What will it take to create a world where that dream is a reality? Will you, as graduates of this institution, continue to add to the rhetoric that alienates some of us, and elevates the rest of us to where we create a world of us and them of they and me?
You have a responsibility not to just be a good citizen, pay your taxes, and obey the law, but rather a responsibility to lead and to be a leader that helps to nurture and cultivate the best that is in all of us, to nurture the mind, the heart and the soul. And if you are not satisfied with something and if a problem in the world arises, don't spend a lot of time complaining about it; do something about it. Make a difference. Always be caught asking yourself the question, "What am I doing for others?"
The second concept I would urge you to remember is: Great leaders develop habits of the heart. Over the last four years, you have demonstrated that through your Dartmouth education, you have made a commitment to serve others and I believe that you have developed a habit of serving others. Not serving from the perspective of others being different than you, but the capacity to enter into another person's space and validate their existence as humans, as they, too, validate your human-ness. I believe that you have demonstrated habits of the heart through your involvement in local community service, the Summer Enrichment Program at Dartmouth, the Habitat house, the civic education program, the leave-term internships, fellowship, alternative spring break trips, various seminars and leadership opportunities. You have learned habits of the heart and have given many thousands of hours to make the community that we live in richer, to make the community that we live in healthier, because you have shared common destinies with the local people in Hanover, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bosnia, Miami, Mexico, New York, Lebanon, West Lebanon, the Upper Valley. You have demonstrated over the last four years that you know what it takes to create authentic communities and now we charge you to take those lessons with you and continue to create authentic communities, to be active members in a community, to analyze problems, and design solutions, build coalitions of support and motivate others to follow and who are driven by passion, because, ultimately, when you are driven by passions, you wake up in the morning and continue to fight for change, because you are motivated by passion. Find that thing that troubles you, that bothers you, become passionate about it and work and commit to a life of change. As you continue to lead and make a difference in your communities, remember the eight things that make a successful leader.
- Keep it fun.
- Be impeccable with your words.
- Don't be afraid to say, "Sorry."
- Don't take things personally.
- Do not make assumptions.
- Always do your best.
- Keep it simple. Don't use a big word, when you can use a small one.
- Smile, it will be contagious.
The third concept I would urge you to remember is this: Your generation can be the most successful ever. I believe that the story of your generation will be told, and one of you may even write the book. The title of that book will be, "The Greatest Generation." So I ask you today, what will you have to do to make sure that your generation is the greatest generation? What will have to change in our society for your generation to be the greatest generation? What will you have to give up to be sure that your generation is the greatest generation? What will you have to give, what passion will you have to follow to make your generation the greatest generation?
I speak on behalf of the Tucker Foundation and Dartmouth College when I say thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your talents. Thank you for your unending dedication for sometimes putting off your studies to serve others in the local and global community.
Indeed, we are all better human beings for knowing your example. Thank you.
And now I would ask that all of you repeat after me: I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I shall do, and with the help of another, I will do.
Congratulations. Keep in touch. And please, commit to making this world a better place for all of us to live, grow and develop as wonderful, caring, loving human beings. Thank you.
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