May 13, 2007
Fr. Harrington, fellow nominees, fellow graduates of the Class
of 2007, you have no idea how much I owe you. About 25 years ago I
promised my parents that I would go to law school and I never made
it, but today I finally got the degree, so, thank you very
much!
It’s really hard for me to believe that it’s been 25 years since
my own college graduation. The fact that I’m the old guy up here
doing my best to give advice rather than one of you down there
doing my best to ignore it.
It’s also humbling for me to stand before a class filled with so
many people who have struggled against the odds; without the
resources that so many others take for granted, to be here today.
And I’m so happy to join all of you who have now become the first
members in your families to get a college degree. What an
achievement! You’ve done yourselves and your families proud.
It’s also a special honor to join my father here today and share
my honor with him. And, to see him rewarded by the University that
he’s loved and served so well. All of you who have taken his class
know how much he cares and you’ve seen his wit and the wisdom that
he can’t wait to share. And, if you made it here today, you’ve also
survived his class! In preparing for this, I had the opportunity to
read some comments from students who took my dad’s class and it
gave me a little bit of pleasure and I know exactly what you’re
going through. His final is tough – it’s like the SAT for
priests!
‘Father Stephanopoulos is really kind, but he is tough,
especially if you’re Greek Orthodox!’ Tell me about it! That sums
up my dad. He’s kind, but tough in the best possible way. He taught
me the importance of faith and family and community, inspired me to
serve, insisted on excellence. For all of that and the love he
never spared, I am grateful and proud and, as Father Harrington
said, he’s here today with my mother Nikki. And on this Mother’s
Day let me thank both of them for what they did for me and invite
all of you to show how grateful you are to your parents, especially
your moms for all they’ve done for you.
One gift I received from both of my parents is the love of
politics. I know that does seem like a big leap from the
priesthood, as Father Harrington said I didn’t follow in my
father’s footsteps, but we are Greek and we Greek’s like to think
we invented politics. I hear all the Greek’s laughing! In fact the
very word, politics, as you know is Greek. From the Greek root
‘poli,’ which means many and ‘ticks,’ which are blood sucking
insects! Anybody who’s been to Washington knows exactly what that’s
about!
But really the definition of politics I prefer comes from the
Czech playwright and president Vaclav Havel, who in 1989 after the
fall of the Berlin Wall, when he left prison to become the first
elected president of a Democratic Czech Republic, he said in his
inaugural address said: ‘Politics can’t just be the art of the
possible, it must also be the art of the impossible.’ Try to change
people’s lives for the better.
Most of you will not choose politics as a profession, but I know
that St. John’s has prepared you to dedicate at least part of your
life to practicing that art of the impossible. You’ve been taught
that service, trying to change people’s lives for the better; it’s
what we’re called to do. Not to create a perfect world in a world
of imperfect people, it’s just not possible. But a better
world.
As Pope Benedict said this week on his mission to Brazil, ‘when
people are living in need we must help them, as the first Christian
communities did, by practicing solidarity and making them feel
truly loved.’
Solidarity and love are needed more than ever in a world that
confounds us with contradictions and confronts us with the
challenge of living with its paradoxes.
We live in the strongest military power the world has ever
known. No country in the world can match that arsenal, but years of
war have taught us the painful limits of military force. And we all
have been marked by the day when 19 men armed only with box cutters
and a death wish struck at the heart of our culture and
consciousness.
You are about to enter one of the biggest economies the world
has ever known. We are creating more billionaires and millionaires
than ever before, but the gap between our richest and our poorest
is bigger than ever before. One out of every eight Americans is
living in poverty, with millions more struggling to get by. You’ll
be shaping a culture that for better or worse, is copied all over
the world. The liberties and opportunities we take for granted make
us a magnet for people from all over the world. But the power we
project also makes us a target. A country with the reach of an
empire can not avoid the envy of those who have less, or the duty
to help care for them.
One of your duties is to make sense of these confusing times. To
make your world better as you make your way in it; to practice the
human art of the impossible.
My final duty as commencement speaker is to get off this stage
so you can get your diplomas. I really can’t remember the advice
that I got at my college graduation, perhaps you won’t either. But
let me close with the three reminders that have meant so much to
me.
The first was from my dad on the day President Clinton won back
in 1992. My dad called me down in Little Rock with congratulations
and words to remember amidst the thrill of success. All he said was
‘keep your balance.’ Enjoy your success, learn from your mistakes.
If you keep your balance, you’ll be able to both.
On the day I was married and began a family of my own, my
Godfather reminded my wife and I to always forgive the people we
love. Especially when we’re sure they don’t deserve it. That
forgiveness is the heart of love and the beginning of
happiness.
Finally, I’ll never forget the first time I read the words
Robert Kennedy spoke more than 40 years ago. In Capetown, South
Africa, he said that ‘each time a man stands up for an ideal, or
acts to improve others or strikes out against injustice, he sends
forth a tiny ripple of hope, that crossing each other from a
million different sectors of energy. Those ripples build a current
which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and
resistance.
Stand for ideal. Act against injustice. Make this your world.
Make it better. Good luck.