Deirdra Harris Glover
Managing Editor
This is the beginning.
Many people think of graduation as an end goal, but it’s a waypoint. It’s certainly worth celebrating, because it is a major accomplishment, but I am less interested in the ritual of tassel and mortarboard than I am in what you will do after the caps and gowns are returned.
We crack a new chapter in our lives as the United States departs drastically from the legacy of our first black president, as the west doubles-down on white supremacy and nationalism. Gatlinburg and Aleppo are burning. The world’s indigenous peoples are facing violence and treaty violations at the hands of the U.S. government. Climate change, increasing government surveillance, poverty and homelessness, disease, systemic oppression and marginalization are just a few of the problems our world faces at this pivotal time.
So what are you going to do about it?
Community service isn’t an arbitrary requirement for graduation clearance: it is the very soul of a life of purpose and engagement. We belong in board rooms and corner offices, on the big screen, in world-class laboratories, and we even belong in space. What drew you to your field of study, and how are you going to use it to help mankind? It’s a question each of us should meet with equal parts dread and awe. Living up to your potential is a sobering prospect.
The world needs our talents and skills at work for its betterment—that doesn’t always mean turning out for protest, but it does mean showing up with your whole, complicated selves in your work of the day. Even if you never want to run for office, register to vote and commit to voting in local elections as well as presidential elections. Build systems of support for the marginalized, even if it’s as small as speaking up in the face of hate speech. If you have great success in your career, consider donating money from public appearances to charities that befit your worldview.
Recycle. Save Water. Immunize. Remember that you can engage your legislators on the problems you see in approximately the same amount of time it would take you to fire off an angry text.
We will forget these things. There will be times when we do not engage because it’s scary, because it doesn’t involve us, because we’re tired and the baby won’t take a nap. Sometimes, the world will be too much and you will need someone to intercede on your behalf. That’s why we must make a compact between us to build a better world.
Finally, nearly everyone will take a job, or five, that will be a means to an end—a way to pay the bills. You will likely feel restless, and that’s when I hope you’ll take my advice to turn back to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Life’s most persistent question is, ‘What are you doing to serve others?’”
Commencement is a beginning, the starting line. Use this momentum to make a difference in your corner of the world.
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