May 27, 2017

Gentlemen, Chaplain, Faculty, Friends and Family.

Here is the plan, fellas. I am going to tell you a few important things that I think you should keep in mind for the rest of your lives, clear up a bit of confusion, throw in a little college advice, wrap it up with a few lines of poetry, and then I have a gift for you, all that in less than 90 minutes.

Before we get started let me thank you again for the prestigious GOAT award and the faculty award and for the honor of being able to speak to you this morning.

Gentlemen, there are two themes that have guided Blue Ridge over the course of the last two school years, and will continue to guide us for the foreseeable future. One is poverty and the other is sustainability. Sustainability is a somewhat ambiguous term that can mean different things to different people. After all, there are many things that need to be sustained.

The Oxford dictionary defines sustainability as the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long term ecological balance.

Given that definition, concerns about sustainability are certainly worthwhile, but they are concerns limited to the wealthy, industrial countries. The poorer nations of the world simply cannot afford that luxury.

So I wonder, what is the long-term advantage of being kind to the environment, conserving resources and supporting ecological balance, if there are still one billion people whose primary concerns are not about sustainability, but are basic concerns about food and shelter and who will care for my children if I die tomorrow?

So when we are thinking in terms of sustainability, we should consider it as part a bigger picture, and envision a sustainable world – one that provides at least a respectable standard of living for all its human inhabitants.

That brings me to the second theme that has garnered our attention during the last two years and that is poverty. It would not be hard to make the case that poverty is at the root of all evil. Poverty spawns terrorism, disease, crime, mass immigration and refugee camps. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” You cannot achieve a sustainable world without alleviating abject poverty.

So how does one work to achieve a sustainable world? It is easy to say what needs to be done, but it is another thing all together to say how best to do it. Unfortunately, it is a discussion that could last the rest of the day; however I can offer two suggestions.

As a source of information, I referred to The Book of Joy, a book co-authored by Douglas Abrams about the meeting of two of the most well respected men in the world, his Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I had the opportunity to hear Archbishop Tutu speak at an educational conference in South Africa, and it was truly an awe inspiring experience.

In this book it says that one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today is not building walls, but removing the barriers between who we see as us and who we see as others, being able to tolerate differences. And I would add removing barriers that also exist between men and the women who are often mistreated and abused. One of the greatest advantages you have had attending Blue Ridge is living in this wonderfully diverse community as a brotherhood without barriers.

The second suggestion is our responsibility as educators. The Dalai Lama, a devoutly religious man, says that it is clear that the only way to change the world is not through prayer, not through religion, but through teaching compassion, because teaching is universal, and that the ultimate source of happiness comes from within us. Not machine. Not money. Not power. Not technology.

Let me digress for a moment to address a complaint that I have often heard from the seniors, and it is that, since we do not allow you the freedoms here that you will enjoy next year, we are not adequately preparing you for college. Perhaps you’re right, but I think the confusion lies in our choice of words. Perhaps we do not prepare you for college as much as we provide for you an opportunity to be prepared for college.

So we structure your lives. We tell you when to sleep, when to wake up, when to eat, and we require your attendance in class because one of the most important keys to your success next year will be establishing a routine, and you must have the discipline to follow that routine, and that routine must include going to every class every day no matter how tired, or hungry or hung-over or how boring the class is. Because, if you get away with skipping one class, then you could probably skip two or three and then it all starts to fall apart. The next thing you know you’re selling your text books for beer money like a friend of mine did at the U of M.

We also impose upon you an honor code and a code of conduct. We put you face to face with the poor and the homeless in West Virginia, and DC, and Haiti. We arrange for the lacrosse team to help children with special needs in Charlottesville. We ask you to volunteer to distribute food from our food pantry as Felipe has done nearly every Saturday morning. Why we do this is because we are teaching you compassion.

Now, we understand that it is unlikely that anyone will be requiring you to do any of these things next year, but, it is our hope and our expectation that, by having these experiences here, you have come to appreciate the value in them, the value in being trustworthy men of good character who have compassion for the less fortunate, the value of having a set of principles like our honor code to guide you through the tough decisions, the value in being men who have the discipline and determination to budget their time and to structure their lives to accomplish great things. Great things like treating other people with kindness, being tolerant of differences, treating women with respect, and working hard to earn your college degree.

If you believe in these values then you have been prepared not only for college but for your life beyond college, and, gentlemen, the world needs you, because a world without tolerant, highly principled, compassionate and disciplined men is not a sustainable world.

So, if you remember nothing else, remember these four words:

COMPASSION
PRINCIPLES
DISCIPLINE
TOLERANCE

Now I need a phrase with words that begin with C, P, D, T. (Pablo responds: Can Pablo Drink Tequila?)

Let me close with some poetry that I heard in chapel the other day.

There is only ourselves; half-wise, attracted to justice, trying to be good,
Only ourselves and ideals that burn like fire in our hearts.
What will open our eyes?
What will soften our greed?
What will give us passion for justice,
Only the voice that lifts our spirits and makes us sing.

Gentlemen, it is our hope that we have strengthened that voice in you.

And my gift to you is a song.

I have asked my daughter, Natalie, to help me with this. Her education in voice and theater began right here on the DeAngelis stage about twenty-five years ago, and I think it’s appropriate that we share this moment because you’re leaving your home at Blue Ridge, and after twenty-eight years, so are we.

The song was written by Dave Mallett, and it is about recognizing the beauty in our world.

BEAUTIFUL ROSE
(David Mallett)

God within me is talking, I hear with my ear and my eye;
God within me is talking real low, and he says don’t cry, don’t cry,
And he says, don’t cry, don’t cry.
The world is a faulty creation, but it works in its own little way;
No room for much intervention, and I’d probably get in the way.
But here in this garden where nobody knows,
And here on the north side where nothing else grows,
Oh what a beautiful, oh what a beautiful rose.

God within me is laughing, I hear with my ear and my eye;
God within me is laughing real low, and he says don’t cry, don’t cry,
And he says, don’t cry, don’t cry.
The world is a place of confusion, things always get out of hand;
I’m not into intrusion too much in the matters of man.
But see how it moves when the birds start to fly,
See how the sun puts the gleam in your eye,
And oh what a beautiful, oh what beautiful sky.

God within me is singing, I hear with my ear and my eye;
God within me is singing real low, and he says don’t cry, don’t cry,
And he says, don’t cry, don’t cry.
The world is a work still in progress, sometimes things get out of line;
There’s bigger things I should be doing, I guess,
But right now I’m working on rhyme, right now I’m working on rhyme.
But see how the whole world is covered in lace,
And the green and the blue give it just enough grace,
And oh what a beautiful, oh what a beautiful place.