Ego quasi bonam orationem![i]
That time of year again, commencement time. Some call it graduation time,[ii] but it is not. Commencements can be held on verdant lawns, under huge tents, in school gyms transformed into halls of learning, or online, I suppose.
How many of us remember the admonitions of our own high school or college ceremonies? Who remembers who spoke those words of wisdom? Most do not, for good reasons. Too many were tenured professors getting in that last lecture, or movie stars trying to be funny or overly serious, well beyond their basic assignment. Few succeeded. Even more, went on too long. There were few nuggets.
Do not get me wrong. I like a good speech. YouTube makes it easy to listen to them as many times as you want, if you’re so inclined, except for those before talking films or TV.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a recording of Washington’s Farewell Address, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or Give me Death,” Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, or Douglas’ Debates?
Churchill couldn’t give a bad speech. Jon Meacham may have given the best eulogy of all time for the funeral of George H. W. Bush. Lyndon Johnson roused Congress and the nation to approve the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 with a speech that stirred the soul of America and reminded us of our reason for being.
Kennedy’s inaugural set the world on a new path. MLK’s “I Have a Dream” changed the way we see others. Reagan soothed the nation’s grief after the deaths of the Challenger crew, of whom he said they had “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.” Good speeches show us the truth, call us to be our better selves, and give us hope.
Commencement orations follow a well-honed pattern: thank the faculty for the invitation to speak, congratulate the graduating class, wonder aloud why they were chosen for such an important event, and give a couple of admonitions for success in the future. At the end of the address, the question “Why me?” proves the most prescient.
Each year, about this time, I listen to commencement speeches, searching for the nugget that propels us to new heights. I don’t know why I do it. I don’t tell many outside of my family; it’s a bit quirky. It’s not normal. There was a time when Time Magazine summarized the best college commencement speeches for you. Now, YouTube brings the world of words to you in a flash.
This year there was a theme for so many speeches. Whether in jest or in all seriousness, the failures of the past two or three generations were brought into focus. Speakers went on and on about how we and our compatriots had messed up the world; famine is widespread, the nation is divided, too many homeless, the haves and have-nots divide widens, and racial tensions expand. Simply said, we suck at what we do; we leave the kids a mess.
Tom Hanks spoke to the 2023 graduates at Harvard College.
Looking out at them he declared, “Help is on the way.” Let’s hope he is
right, or we will descend to depths that put our democracy at peril.
America is an experiment, still being tested. Survival rests on a tenuous devotion to its institutions. Tear down the institutions and you lose a free country. A small minority wants to turn the nation into a white nation, and blame their woes on immigrants; they don’t buy into “Et Pluribus Unum.” That is not a rant, it is fact. Let us hope that help is on the way.
We have cable TV organizations that pretend to be news organizations but are in fact mouthpieces for their favorite political party. Let’s hope that help is on the way.
The Supreme Court refuses to hold itself to the high ethical standards that the rest of the judiciary must embrace. Let’s hope that help is on the way.
State legislatures gerrymander election districts to prevent minorities or those of opposing parties and beliefs from proportional representation. Washington, when he left office, warned us that the worst enemy of government was loyalty to party rather than nation. Is help on the way?
We, the older generations haven’t grown backbone enough to say, “Enough is enough, stop with the destruction of our democracy, already.” Jon Meacham, in his talk at the 2022 commencement at Williams College, reminded the graduates that democracy requires us to see other people as neighbors, not as adversaries, if it is to survive. Meacham’s nugget was that success isn’t living the good life, but living a life well lived.
With luck, the commencement addresses of the next few years will be more upbeat, telling the world that America saved itself, and that help came in time. I look forward to hearing those speeches.
We need change. It’s the kids’ turn to rouse the nation and remind us what we stand for.
That is not a speech, it is our prayer.
Non est oratio. Est oratio nostra.[iii]
