Thomas R. Morris, Emory & Henry College
August 29, 2002
Each year we gather at our Opening Convocation to welcome new members
of our academic community and to congratulate seniors and encourage them
in their last months at Emory & Henry (you note I said months, not
years). We also gather to reflect on the traditions and mission of Emory
& Henry College, Emory, Virginia, the United States of America. Often
we also reflect on our place in this country and in the world.
Those of us who teach and serve in higher education are privileged to
be part of this high calling; those of you who are students are fortunate
to have an opportunity to learn in such an academic community as this
one.
Many of the first-year students here this evening were born in 1984.
(May I see a show of hands for those who were.) For those who do not order
American history according to presidential elections, permit me to point
out 1984 was the year Ronald Reagan was reelected. So, here’s the
lowdown on the young adults gathered here constituting the classes of
2003 through 2006:
—-Although Ronald Reagan was president when many of you here were
born, you barely remember the Reagan era, don’t necessarily understand
the -ism of Reaganism, probably don’t remember his imagery of the
U.S. as "a shining city on a hill" or his denunciation of the
former Soviet Union as an "evil empire."
—-You were in elementary or middle school when the Soviet Union
dissolved and do not remember the Cold War.
—The Vietnam War is as much ancient history to you as WWI or WWII
or the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens.
—Tragically, AIDS has existed your entire life span.
—-You have never had a polio or small pox vaccine.
—You most probably have never used a typewriter.
—-Hearing your parents say, "You sound like a broken record"
probably means nothing to you because the compact disc has been around
your whole life.
—-From your perspective, there have always been red M&Ms, remote
controls, answering machines, cable television, and many choices of "fast
food."
—-For as long as you can remember, Jay Leno has hosted The Tonight
Show.
—-Believe it or not, when you were born there were NO super Wal-Marts
anywhere. Wal-Mart of any size first entered Virginia in 1984. Tennesseans
may or may not take pride in having a Wal-Mart 10 years before Virginia!
—Presidents, prime ministers, and dictators have come and gone
in your lifespan, but one figure has been in the news your whole life.
His name? Think for a minute. I’m tempted to have you guess. I’m
not thinking of Elvis. I have Yasir Arafat in mind. In 1984 he and his
4,000-band of loyal guerillas were evacuated from Tripoli after Israel
ended 10 days of bombardment. One headline in November of 1984 read, "Is
it Arafat’s Last Battle?" [For Print Copy—Adapted from
"A Perspective on Today’s Youth" by Lisa P. of iVillage.]
When I sat where you are, I did so in the grave, dark ages of the 1960s,
and we were required to read a book by Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950) [copy
print only]. I bet few of you have ever heard of that British author,
except, of course, the English professors gathered here. He used the pen
name George Orwell and wrote two brilliant satires: Animal Farm and his
last work entitled 1984.
Some argue he was one of the most important and influential voices of
the last century. The novel 1984 has most often been described as a futuristic
allegory. (It was written in 1944—the year of my birth, by the way.
I see you computing on your fingers—you don’t have enough!)
1984 warned or prophesized about the totalitarian government. The phrase
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU became a part of my daily lexicon.
During my first year of college, I had a professor who was the most intelligent,
articulate person I had ever met. I was convinced he knew everything worth
knowing and had the answer to all relevant questions. You will encounter
such faculty members here. They will lead you to discover, as mine did,
that the search for truth is yours to pursue, not theirs to dictate. Granted,
my brilliant professor helped move me down the path of intellectual inquiry.
He stimulated my curiosity, but I was left to expand it and seek what
was the truth for me.
In my college classes, I became more and more interested in ideas and
issues. Eventually, I differed in my interpretations from those of my
professors and friends. Now, I know that was the professors’ greatest
joy. The life-long learning journey was well underway. Little did I realize
then that life-long learning is the essential condition of the good life.
Today, I love to talk about civil and religious issues, about politics,
and about public policies. In fact, any time of the day, any day, any
month is a good time.
In the last few months, several editorialists have suggested that George
Orwell missed the mark by 18-20 years. They attest to the theory that
the scary fiction of Orwell’s 1984 is more descriptive of 2002 or
3 or 2006 than of the 1980s. In the novel 1984, you recall neighbors spy
on neighbors and children spy on parents. Such commentary in these recent
editorials was precipitated by the Bush administration’s proposal
called TIPS—Terrorism Information and Prevention System.
When I sat where you are, the new concept had another acronym: M.A.D
(that’s not Mad Magazine). It stood (and still does) for Mutually
Assured Destruction. "It means that if either side initiates an attack,
the other side guarantees it will respond in kind and in toto. . .so if
we bomb them, they have to bomb us back, even though that means the end
of everything and there’s no winning."
Another way of describing M.A.D. goes like this: "It’s like
two guys standing up to their knees in kerosene, aiming flare guns at
each other. No matter who fires first, they both go." [p. 211 The
Translator by John Crowley] TIPS or MAD, totalitarianism or terrorism,
the challenge and lunacy remain the same.
Most certainly the lives of many changed tragically as a result of the
horrific events of September 11, 2001, and the lives of all of us have
been affected—in ways, I humbly suggest, that are evolving and will
be for the course of our lives.
Commentators were quick to say post-9/11, "We will never be the
same. The world will never be the same." I suggest we say, "As
always, we will never be the same." (ibid, p. 5) The question we
must ask is, "In what ways might our never being the same be for
good and not for evil, for freedom and not for slavery?"
We are not the first to face cataclysmic change. Your grandparents had
to ask or should have asked that question following the attack on Pearl
Harbor and Hiroshima. Your parents’ opportunity to ask, "How
can this be for good instead of evil?" followed the senseless assassinations
of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. The
sages of old asked with Abraham, the father of three faiths—Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, "How do we grow and love in the fundamental
belief that there is one God?" The belief in one God changed the
world forever.
Some see us as being in a war for civilization. A former professor of
mine at Princeton Theological Seminary reminds us "we are much closer
to Cain than to Adam than we are ready to admit." Fear and coercion
continue to compete with our ideals of reason and consent. The spectacle
of power without responsibility is the antithesis of free government.
Another professor of mine, the late distinguished professor of jurisprudence
at Princeton University and the University of Virginia, Alpheus T. Mason,
argued that the challenge of free government is to fuse the opposite elements
of liberty and restraint. He acknowledged that "free speech, like
other basic rights, is not an absolute." He warned us, nevertheless,
"there is danger lest we become enamored of the totalitarian notion
that security can be found in coercion, that order means the absence of
change." I think of Professor Mason often these days. He was the
single most influential person on my intellectual life. I wish I could
talk with him about our times when free government is once again put to
the test.
We are all familiar with the words of President John Kennedy in his inaugural
address: "Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what
you can do for your country." We are perhaps not as familiar with
the words that followed: "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not
what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom
of man." Indeed, one of our nation’s major accomplishments
was its leadership in the containment of totalitarianism during the Cold
War. The United States has carried most of the heavy burden of freedom
since September 11. Freedom is surely not free. Talk of the need for a
regime change in Iraq has stoked the fires of anti-Americanism as well
as extensive discussion in this country. Pakistanis in Karachi protest
the war in Afghanistan by burning the American flag. Protestors in London
label the U.S. the "#1 Rogue Nation." Leadership in world affairs
is not popular, especially when the use of military force is required.
It’s customary to start a new academic year with discussion of
summer reading. My reading this summer included a book by the Dean of
the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University published a few
months after 9/11: The Paradox of American Power: Why the World’s
Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone by Joseph S. Nye, Jr. The message
is in the title. "Not since Rome," writes Nye, "has one
nation loomed so large above the others." And yet, the paradox is
that the Superpower cannot go it alone. You, and other world citizens,
must ask and answer, "What is American about America?"
In answering that question, I invite you to examine Nye’s framework
for viewing the role of the U.S. of A. in the 21st century. Nye categorizes
American power in two ways: hard and soft power. Hard power refers to
military and economic power. America’s dominance in the military
and economic realms is obvious. However, according to Nye, our most lasting
strength lies in our soft power, which arises from our values, our principles,
our culture. In Nye’s words: "If the U.S. represents values
that others want to follow, it will cost us less to lead." I’m
afraid, young friends, that we may have assumed the soft power of a culture
of fast food. But there is so much more to our soft power. Isn’t
there? I ask you. Isn’t there more to America than McDonald’s
and a "Happy Meal"? I answer by suggesting our soft power is
in the ideal and reality of freedom. If we do not undermine our soft power
by irresponsible use of our hard power, the U.S. will remain the most
influential nation in the world well into this new century.
What is American about America? What is our soft power? America’s
soft power remains enormous. It entices and attracts. The world watches
and responds. However, in the information age, world politics is enormously
complex. Governments have less control over the major sources of information.
The spread of technologies of mass destruction via mass communication
provides opportunities for terrorists and totalitarian states. It has
been said we will never again be as free as we were on September 10, 2001.
Time and the actions of you and every new generation will determine whether
that statement is true.
Classes first convened at Emory & Henry in 1838; also in that year,
a young state legislator from Illinois, Abe Lincoln, delivered a speech
denouncing lawlessness and mob rule. Less than three months earlier, an
abolitionist editor had been lynched in his state. Moreover, earlier in
the decade, the final surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence
died. (I’ll leave his name to trivial pursuit.) With the end of
direct human links with the founding generation — "the pillars
of the temple of liberty" he called them — how would America
maintain the basic principles of individual liberty, justice, and adherence
to law? The passing of the founding generation raised anew the question
of what is American about America?
Such was the conflict of the time when Emory & Henry was founded
on what was then America’s first frontier. Today we stand on the
frontier of a new century with powerful traditions as our guide. Bishop
John Emory represents the soft power of religious freedom and Governor
Patrick Henry represents both the hard power of military engagement and
the soft power of remaining engaged in civil life all one’s earthly
life.
Throughout its history, this College has demonstrated itself to be part
of the answer to Lincoln’s concern. "Men and women may be born
free," writes political scientist, Benjamin Barber, "but they
are not born citizens—which is why the liberal arts (the ‘arts
of liberty’) were conceived as the instrumentalities of a democratic
and civilized society." We here at E&H are serious about the
education of citizens with a moral compass. By continuing along this well-marked
path, Emory & Henry will offer not only one of the finest educations
in the country, but also the ability to translate that education into
a high level of influence — through our graduates’ success,
outreach to the larger community and expanded participation in the national
dialogue about critical issues of this century.
In perhaps one of the most influential political speeches in America’s
founding era, by one of the illustrious founders of the nation, our own
Patrick Henry, said (No, I’m not referring to "Give me liberty
or give me death"), but in that same speech he said, "The battle,
sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the
brave." In other words, "The battle, ladies and gentlemen, is
not to the hard power of militaries and economies alone; it is to the
soft power of values, of vigilance, of community action, and bravery in
the face of evil and confusion."
With freedom under attack from many sides, a reenergized citizenship
is what we need. "Citizenship," in Pete Black’s words,
"is our capacity to create for ourselves what we had sought from
our leaders." We talk about rights almost to the exclusion of responsibilities.
Scott Peck has suggested we balance the statue of liberty on the east
coast with a statue of responsibility on the west coast. Citizenship combined
with self-management and engagement are the lynchpins of a democratic
society. Citizenship is taking responsibility for one’s life, community,
and society. It is an act of free will.
Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of
American Community documents how people no longer bowl in leagues, but
rather as individuals or in pairs. His metaphor symbolizes the decline
of social investment in each other and the waning of civic engagement.
The ways in which people connect with one another determines in large
part the economic, political, and moral viability of a community. Remember
the subtitle of Putnam’s book — "The collapse and revival
of American community." (I choose to put the emphasis on "revival.")
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the collapse of American influence
are greatly exaggerated.
I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, "My Child is a Good Citizen."
I could not help but wonder what the bumper sticker said on the cars of
the parents of the Enron corporate executives and their accountants. Did
they value good citizenship as much as how to make more money or how to
cook the books to look as if all were making more money?
We need children and adults who are first and foremost good citizens.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "The most important
office in our democracy is that of private citizen." We all need
to remember the basic lessons of kindergarten about how to disagree respectfully
and how to trade race cars and stickers fairly. We need engaged citizens
with a breath of knowledge, moral sensitivity, intellectual curiosity,
and the capacity to distinguish between the important and the unimportant.
In short, we all need what you are here to get—the liberal arts.
Let us go forth from this place believing politics is relevant to the
life of a good citizen. The issues of corporate accountability, social
security, health care, biogenetics, education, environmental protection,
international affairs, and social justice are complex. The elusive menace
of terrorism and the threat of biological and chemical weapons are even
more complex.
The challenges of freedom here and abroad as well as America’s
place in the world community are important. Government is more important
than ever as is civic engagement. Emory & Henry is committed to work
with you to develop and cultivate those habits of civic virtue. We do
so as a community that knows no bounds of place or ideology.
A movie that is regularly rerun on TV is The American President. Michael
Douglas, speaking as the fictitious president says: "America isn’t
easy... America is advanced citizenship." That sentiment is real.
The political experiment of free government epitomized by the USA is alive
and well.
Education in the "arts of liberty" is more important than ever.
Good citizenship remains a free choice. Freedom and responsibility are
what are American about America.
What else, I ask you, is American about America? May that question engage
us seriously for weeks and months to come and especially as we remember
September 11, 2001. Let’s get on with the activities and disciplines
of citizenship.
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