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Rector Wampler, thank you for that very kind and generous introduction. Dr. Charles Owens;
Members of the Board of Visitors; Other Distinguished Platform Associates; Dedicated
Members of the University's Faculty and Staff; Members of the Graduating Class; Alumni and
Friends:
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for inviting me to address this convocation, and for
granting me the priviledge of sharing what is a very proud and memorable occasion for the
entire University Community, and especially for those fortunate enough to be in Radford
University's Class of 1995.
With all that happens on a Commencement Day, nothing is more basic than the extending of
congratulations to the candidates for graduation. And I want to do just that, for
congratulations are in order for all 1,280 of you.
But, while I applaud you on having attained this important milestone in life, I sympathize
with you as well. I say this because, not unlike you here today, several decades ago, I
sat in a long black robe and a strange little cap, listening impatiently to tired cliches
and vague platitudes, in a soon-to-be forgotten commencement address, delivered by a
college president from another era and, I thought at the time, from another planet.
Consequently, while I understand your dilemma, believing as I do in equal educational
opportunity, it's only fair that you should suffer as I did. It's the ultimate price all
graduates must pay!
Yet, today, I find myself in the very fortunate position of greeting you not only as your
speaker of the hour, but as one who eagerly anticipates the high honor of serving you as
your University's next president. Therefore, I hope that along with the accomplishment,
pride and excitement that accompanies graduation, this occasion marks the commencement of
a lasting relationship between you and me....... because our association with Radford
University, and with each other, will extend beyond my tenure as president and your
matriculation as students. It becomes the basis of a productive, rewarding partnership.
During your collegiate experiences here at Radford, you've come to know each other, and
yourself, better .... and together you've worked and played, laughed and cried, taught and
learned.... and in spite of it all, or perhaps because of it, life-long friendships were
born through sharing. I believe that, in most ways, you are all better for having been
associated with your classmates.
It's most appropriate that the progress of scholars, such as you, should be acknowledged
and formally certified before a multitude, and in the splendor of this breathtakingly
beautiful campus. The ceremony of this day represents more than the culmination of another
academic year. It celebrates your discipline and personal achievement. Furthermore, it
signifies a most important milestone for you as graduates, embarking upon a new and
exciting chapter in your lives. Let's pause for a moment and reflect on four concepts that
I consider fundamental to your future success: Self-esteem, Values, Diligence, and Human
Relations.
It is my observation that successful people tend to have a positive self concept .... that
quality should not be confused with conceit or arrogance. Rather, it refers to a feeling
of self-esteem, a sense of personal worth. It suggests that if one is burdened with a
preconceived conviction of inferiority, his chances for success are limited.
I recall a news reporter saying to Bill Russell, "You're a wealthy man, a former
college basketball All-America, a former superstar with the Boston Celtics team, a recent
Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, and now a prominent sports commentator on national TV.
How did you overcome poverty to achieve such success?" Bill Russell said, "Well,
you see, I've never been poor. I've been temporarily broke ... but that was an economic
obstacle that I encountered .... that was my financial status at the time, and I could
change that. But poverty, to me, is a personality trait..... an attitudinal condition, a
state of mind that leaves one psychologically disarmed. So I've never viewed myself as
being poor." And he said it with such assurance, and dignity, and conviction that 1,
along with the entire television audience, believed him.
Unfortunately, there are certain elements of our society that employ subtle, sometimes
blatant methods of depriving you of your dignity and self respect. This dilemma is
depicted in the satirical lyrics from The Gondoliers, by Gilbert and Sullivan: "I am
sure you will agree, that whomever you may be, if everybody is somebody, then nobody is
anybody." In life you must be prepared to encounter those who are compelled to make
others seem like "nobody" so that they feel like "somebody." Yes, we
all need to acquire a sense of "somebodiness"....but not at the expense of
others.
One's values are also paramount. As a teacher, I knew two very able students in the fields
of science and mathematics. Each majored in electrical engineering. One used his technical
knowledge to perfect a hearing aid for the deaf ... the other used his equally superior
ability to side-step a complex alarm system to rob a bank. Similar talents and aptitudes,
comparable social environments and educational backgrounds, equal scholastic and
employment opportunities, both highly motivated and ambitious ... but different values.
It's one's values that determine how he will apply his knowledge and skills.
If I could prescribe a formula for success, I would add diligence to the equation. There
is just no substitute for hard work. If you are to succeed in the work-a-day world, as in
the classroom, you must do your homework. Ability plus time and effort equal success ...
it's as simple as that. When you excel, some will dismiss it as "dumb luck." But
I've found truth in the old saying, "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
Remember the familiar verse by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The heights of great men
reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight; but they, while their companions
slept, were toiling upward in the night." A poet of lesser fame offered the same
insight in a more direct way: "You have two ends with a common link; with one you sit
and one you think. Success depends on which you use. Heads you win; tails you lose!, I
urge you to exercise due diligence toward developing your potential to its fullest
capacity; and strive toward becoming a self-actualized individual.
1 know that most of you are as grief-stricken as I by the tragic, devastating loss of over
140 lives in the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City on April 19th. Such senseless, heartless examples of man's inhumanity to man are
shocking, painful reminders of this simple fact: as we approach the millennium, we are in
the midst of a moral crisis. Alfred Lord Tennyson's words are still hauntingly relevant:
"In a boundless universe, let us this thought rehearse, we can be boundless better,
or we can be boundless worse."
Volumes have been written and spoken, with great eloquence, on the subject of human
relations. And we must surely continue doing all that we can to purge our society of
prejudice and violence. Not through a vicious cycle of hatred and hostility, but through
guidance and positive examples in the home, school and church. And yes, through a
sensitive and responsive legislative and judicial system. Yet, we must understand that
Brotherhood is more than an Act Of Congress. It's an act of humanity. Let's heed Dr.
Martin Luther King's urgent appeal to our humanity:
When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must
build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves
to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good
men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.
Culture shock is inevitable if we define diversity in narrow, parochial terms. But there
is also the danger of becoming so insulated that we view it impersonally, as a distant
abstract phenomenon which need not touch our lives directly. To the contrary, even the
immediate communities in which you reside and work will increasingly represent a microcosm
of the larger world. If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely
100, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this:
There would be 60 Asians; 14 Europeans; 14 from the Western Hemisphere (that is, North and
South America), and 12 Africans. Seventy (70) would be non-white, 30 white. Seventy (70)
would be non-Christian, 30 Christian. Fifty percent (50%) of the entire world's wealth
would be in the hands of only 6 people, and all 6 would be citizens of the United States.
Seventy (70) would be unable to read; 50 would suffer from malnutrition; and 80 would live
in sub-standard housing. Only one (1) would have a college education.
When one considers our world from such an incredibly compressed perspective, the need for
both tolerance and understanding comes sharply into focus. Radford is committed to a
curriculum which prepares its graduates to become self-sufficient, caring, contributing
members of the global community. Anything less would be inadequate and irrelevant.
That the University's reputation rests, in large measure, with you who are graduating is
an immutable fact. Those who welcomed you here, taught you, and who now bid you farewell
would have it no other way, for their confidence in you is complete. Radford asks that as
you have entered to learn, depart now to serve...... and remember that a life of service
isn't so much singing a solo, as it is learning to harmonize in that vast chorus of
humanity. We are confident that your service, in a variety of useful ways, will make us
all proud. I add my voice to that of the entire Radford University family in wishing you
God's speed.
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