COMMENCEMENT 1983 ADDRESSES and CITATIONS

Vox Clamantis In Deserto: Parate Viam Domini

A man was running down the street for dear life pursued by a lion. As he glanced over his shoulder, it was clear that he was losing the race. In desperation, he fell to the ground on his knees, folded his hands, and shut his eyes. "0 Lord," he said, "please make this lion a Christian." Pausing for a moment he realized he no longer felt the beast's hot breath on his heels. He opened one eye and saw the lion, too, kneeling beside him, its paws folded, its eyes raised to heaven and its lips moving. Listening closely, the man heard the lion say, "Bless, O Lord, this food which we are about to receive and make us truly thankful."

When I first told you that joke four years ago, I said its moral for your college education was that you'd better know what you really wanted, because you were likely to get it. I spoke-on that occasion about your options, the academic enterprise and the developmental tasks that lay before you. We talked of values and commitment, of getting to know others and of risking self.

—e>. All that was four years ago. When I spoke to you then, I knew the context in which you would operate and the resources available to help you. I knew the lay of the land and where the lions had their lairs.

Shortly, however, both you and I will leave this institution and its shelter for another world. The lions and the contexts will be manyfold. What can I say to my fellow travel- lers on this journey?

Well, perhaps first, that beneath the eupho- ria of Senior Week, I have detected in many, a disquiet, if not a fear. It exists at several levels. Most of you came here as adolescents, directly, or indirectly, under the tutelage of parents or guardians. While you had enjoyed a degree of independence, for most that took a quantum leap when you entered Dartmouth. Yet the longer you stayed, the more "you realized that while you enjoyed more freedom, it was still circumscribed.

r Now suddenly, the bird is out of the nest, are responsible for yourselves, for your survival and your integrity. Suddenly, you've got to ask yourself if you've got it. If, in the course of the preceding twenty some years, you ave tnade yourself the kind of person you can ,IYe w'th, whether you have put together the mds of skills, developed the kind of courage, ound the beliefs that will help you be who you c mk you want and ought to be. Facing you is a ieSC raore significant and problematic than any you have taken so far, and the response of a lot 0 seniors is uncertainty or fear.

Beyond this concern is another. For society is in flux. The national economy is in a strange state, and while things appear to be improv- ing, there is certainly no cause yet for jubila- tion in the job market, and economic disloca- tion always brings societal conflict.

Half the old social and moral signposts seem down, and the other half askew. Some rejoice in a new liberation, and others are terrified by the threat of change. Male and female roles are in flux. Race and class are issues in the market- place again, not just in law. Crime increases as standards shift. Language itself is caught up in the onslaught of change. Once it was possible to embark upon life pretty certain ©f where you were and where everybody else was. Few deci- sions were required. Now an incredible num- ber of things require decision. And beyond all this is the palpable threat of nuclear annihila- tion.

Finally, if this were not cause enough for fear there is, I think, another that these two partake of.

I have a theory. It is that persons at your age have historically been less interested in religion because you do not believe you will die. Not that religion is merely about death it is about meaning, for which death is the ultimate challenge. Functionally, you assume things will go on forever, getting better and better. Physically you are still getting stronger, while your elders watch their body's power decline. You look forward to a family, an income, to greater freedom and accomplishment. Yours is a rising star. You want your first paycheck, not an IRA account. But you are approaching the gates of the unknown. Questions arise for which there are no simple answers. Your time will be consumed by work. You will become hostage to the generation of income, to the maintenance of a family and the claims of soci- ety. Life is a vortex— it sucks you in. You have seen enough of its problems to know what you don't want to get caught in. The question is Do you know how to escape the undertow?

The world I have described will soon be your responsibility. The problems you studied in class will be yours to struggle with. The threat of annihilation or annihilation itself will be- come your destiny.

You fear not only that you may not be able to master the tasks on which your survival depends —— some of you at least fear it may not matter. That is the fear of death. The universe's blank grin. The dumb echo which, when we cry out in anguish in the night, bounces back in our ears and tells us nothing listens, nothing matters all is in vain.

Clearly, there would be no point in my tell- ing you that you have left the lions behind. As a matter of fact, so far, most of you have only had to deal with the cubs.

But in the face of these concerns, there are some things to say. Recently, I picked up a book entitled The Road Less Travelled. You will recognize the title's source. It began in a most intriguing way. The first sentence said baldly, "Life is difficult." The author argued that this was a great truth which, once understood, could be transcended. Once we understand that life is difficult and accept the fact, its difficulty no longer matters. A lot of people groan through life, the author goes on to observe, because they think it should be easy, but they feel they have somehow been singled out to be dumped on. Life, he argues, is a series of prob- lems we can either moan about them or attempt to solve them the problems don't stop coming. No. Life is not easy the lions still roam free.

What can I offer you then to take with you from this place? I have no set of solutions, not even a collection of jokes suitably exegeted to get you through bad times. I offer you, instead, a goal, one under the aegis of which you have labored these four years though you may not have known it. I offer you a goal be- cause ends do justify means they make some means appropriate and possible and some not. And beause it has been the experience of the reflective members of the human race that the things we think we want happiness, com- fort, success cannot be possessed as goals but pursued, vanish like the mist or ap- proached, move like the horizon ever beyond our reach. These things are, in fact by- products of a passion, an offering of self— the acknowledgement of a claim that takes us out of ourselves in service to something greater. In service to such a claim we discover the reality and the meaning of human life as well.

I offer you such a claim, the goal found in our first lesson which contains this institution's motto: "Vox Clamantis in Deserto." I expect old Eleazar chose these words because he set out to found a school for missionaries in the wilder- ness. Everyone in that scripture-soaked age would have known what the voice cried and gotten the point. It is not the voice, therefore, that I commend to you, but the charge: "parate viam Domini." Prepare the way of the Lord. Make the road ready to accommodate God's coming.

Israel is in exile in Babylon when Isaiah hears these words which promise a return for his people. They are spoken in the heavenly coun- cil and the charge is not to the Israelites in the first instance, but to some celestial agents whose marching orders the prophet overhears. One commentator observes that there are no mountains between Babylon and Jerusalem. The mountains and valleys are metaphorical. They represent the political and psychological obstacles between bondage and restoration. Against these barriers, the landmovers of the spirit are called out shearing off the tops of the hills of pride and power, duping them into the crevices of despair, literally altering the face of history, accomplishing the purposes of God. The image is one with which our automotive society is well acquainted.

The metaphor means the flux of life is oppor- tunity. For the will of God to be done, things must change old ways re-routed, hills lev- elled. There is the roar of engines, the thunder of explosives, the swirl of dust in order that a new way, a more just and compassionate way, may come into being.

I suggest we hear these words both as the prophet and as Eleazar heard them as a declaration of God's intent, to level and exalt in the process of making things right and as an invitation to us to join in this work to prepare a way for the will of God in our lives and i-n the world.

Parate viam domini as a celestial charge, it means that something is happening in the world. That the structure of things stands on the side of good. That in the engagement of good with evil, God expects to win. Alas, it is often the forces of evil that seem most real to us. Mark Twain put things in their proper perspective. "Of course Satan has some kind of case," he wrote, "it goes without saying. It may be a poor one, but that is nothing; that can be said about anyone of us we .'-may not pay him reverence, for that would be indiscreet; but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has for untold centuries maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four- fifths of the human race and political head of the whole of it must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order.

. . ." So he must, and it is only the fool who will not respect the possibilities that pain, and misery, injustice and viciousness bring into the field.

But, there is the other side. The regularity of nature, the fruitfulness of the earth, the human mind, the willingness of people to live and sometimes die for the good or for one another.

The Prophet Elisha, shut up in Dothan by the Syrian hosts, prays that the eyes of his terrified servant may be opened to the cause of the prophet's confidence. His prayer is grant- ed, and the servant stood amazed to see horses and chariots of fire, all around Elisha. And the prophet said, "Do not fear, those who are with us a.re more than those who are with them."

I invite you to make or to re-affirm your part in this, the greatest labor you can undertake, "to prepare for the coming of the Lord." Four years ago I reminded you that the tasks you had to complete were to advance you on the way to becoming fuller, more complete people. Men and women with enough self to commit to the cause of right, secure enough to seek truth, even if it turned out to differ from your precon- ceived notions.

I commended to you the willingness to reach out to others different from yourselves. Not to say, that's their responsibility but to leap over the wall, to make acquaintances and friends of those who are different from you and not excuses. I implied that in growing and changing yourself, God's coming might be- come possible and evident in you. And that you might begin to discover that you have a role to play in this preparation. It is not true that one person cannot change the world. The great transformations in science and society began with one person's idea or vision. Who else is there to change it?

I do not know how far you have advanced in the realization of these goals. I'll let you in on a secret now. The rest of us are still working on them. But they are the things on which to work.

Life is not about getting by with the mini- mum of hassle. You will not lay the founda- tions of God's coming in that way. If you are to be of any use in this regard, you must make the interests of others your interests. You must be prepared to spend yourself for the good that might be, for the need that cries out in the night.

For the presence of God comes whenever one person cares for another, whenever one person rises when he or she could have sat still in order to do good. Whenever one bears another's bur- den or gives a cup of cold water to a thirsty soul the way is prepared.

I speak not just of deeds of service but of an attitude toward living. Life is a gift. It is given in a context and for a purpose. We did not create the gift, and, therefore, we are beholden to the giver. All that we possess we have re- ceived. The giver is in need of nothing we possess. Nothing that is, except our willing alliance with the forces of good in a world of conflict. We may express our thanks only by giving as we have received. Only by using our minds and wills to make the lives of others richer, deeper, more fulfilling.

This is the goal I commend. This is what I understand to be preparing God's way. And this can be done, whatever your station in life or your line of work. It was Eldredge Cleaver who described the situation best. "If you are not part of the solution," he said, "you are part of the problem." There are no sidelines in the game of life. Only the lions get to play the field.

There will be times in the coming years when you will feel like you've been thrown to the lions. When, for one reason or another, the race seems in doubt. Just remember what.you want. Don't just be smarter when you finish,, be wiser learn not only to analyze and evalu- ate learn to value, to understand, and to care.

With such a commitment, you'll know what to ask of the future. You'll be less likely to seek safety when what you want is courage, to pur- sue comfort when it is integrity that is re- quired, to ask to be left alone when what you really need is to learn how to share yourself with others.

Then you need fear neither the lions nor the Christians because you'll know what you want and, with any luck at all, you'll get it.

"A voice cries, 'ln the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert place a highway for our God.'

Valedictory Postscript

Now, if you will indulge me a moment more, I shall speak briefly by way of valedic- tory, as one departing, to colleagues I leave behind.

Dartmouth is placed in an idyllic setting. Resist the all-too-natural urge to retreat from the issues that vex the larger world. Provide means to encourage students to get in touch what those issues and the people they effect, so that they can see their education with more informed eyes and make more perceptive de- mands upon it.

I do not doubt that the College's academic stature will grow not because it does not require attention, but because it is a commit- ment so deeply founded. I hope its commit- ment to "the other America" will become so profound. I hope to see it expressed in its facul- ty and administration. I hope so rich a place will restore its policy of guaranteeing financial aid to any who are admitted and in need of it; that in terms of class and ethnic groups, it will determine to become more representative of the diversity of America than it is so far.

Do not forget that the success of a college depends, in the end, not on the buildings it raises or the equipment it possesses but on the people it produces. On the quality of life in its community the struggle with how to live and work together so that together it can make some contribution to the world.

I hope that a spirit of candor and openness may characterize this place. That goals may be debated and that all may feel free to speak their peace. I hope students may be part of a lively social and intellectual exchange characterized by seriousness and respect. That those who work here may find it a fulfilling, secure, and collegial environment, engaging their talents and drawing forth their best efforts.

I trust that the College will remain hospita- ble to the quest of the human spirit, that reli- gious ministry will grow and that men and women may find it a place where their human- ity is honored and sensitive to those urgings that lie deepest in us.

Finally, I hope that the Foundation and the College's commitment to it will strengthen and flourish. It will not cease to be questioned or attacked, but leave it free to be an advocate of compassion, a lifter of sights, a voice crying in whatever wilderness happens at the moment to prevail calling the College to its better self. Controversy is its milieu as it was the prophets. Criticize it, challenge it, but keep it. and keep it strong. r 11 J rP-

My nine years here have been full and re warding ones, for that I give thanks. Now, a 5 others over the years have said, I say to you, Ave atque vale. Hail and farewell.