An Optimistic Fare-Thee-Well at 60th Commencement
Mike Lovett
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| David Brooks |
friends. The daily activity that detracts most from happiness is commuting.”
On a more serious note, the keynote speaker added, “It’s a mistake to ask yourself, ‘What career do I want to have?’ It’s better to ask, ‘What problem is life summoning me to tackle?’ The value of your life will derive from how fully you tie yourself down to your problem. … Do you have the courage to throw yourself into the commitment hunt?”
President Frederick M. Lawrence, presiding over his first Brandeis commencement, acknowledged that “we face an economy and a world that have been greatly shaken” over the course of the graduates’ time at Brandeis, but asserted, “You have every reason to be optimistic as you face the future.”
He stressed that Brandeis had trained its new alumni to communicate, to analyze problems and to turn information into knowledge — skills that will serve them well in the as-yet-unimagined future. To the pleasure of his listeners, he told an anecdote about basketball great Julius Erving, whom he called “a modern philosopher of sorts.”
A college coach, after watching “Dr. J” execute a string of incredible moves, reportedly summoned the young star over and said, “Son, never [take your feet off the floor] without knowing where you’re going to come down.” To this, Erving is said to have replied, “Sir, I can’t play basketball that way.”
“Nor,” Lawrence told the new alumni, “can you live life that way. You have learned that well at Brandeis.”
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| Yo Yo Ma |
For full Commencement weekend coverage, go to www.brandeis.edu/commencement/ index.html.
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