A Few Memorable Words

A Few Memorable Words

by Stephanie Raha, Editor-in-Chief of The Christophers
May 3, 2010

(This essay is last week's "Light One Candle" column, written by Stephanie Raha, Editor-in-Chief of The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.)

Do you remember what the commencement speaker said at your graduation? Or, more recently perhaps, at the graduation of your son or daughter – or even grandkids? Few of us do. Sometimes, it’s even hard to remember who the speakers were.

Still, May is the traditional month for college commencements and thousands upon thousands of young people and their families will hear famous, successful people offering graduates all sorts of advice for their careers and for life in general. These suggestions are sincere and well-meant and may even be uplifting and useful, but that doesn’t make them memorable.

But there are always wonderful exceptions: meaningful words delivered by the right person at the right time. I’d like to share two of them with you.

The first was offered by Dr. Seuss himself, Theodore Geisel, the popular children’s writer. When he was offered an honorary degree from Lake Forest College in Illinois, in 1977, he made it clear that he was deeply honored to accept, but that he would not speak. The college president and others pressed him, by he continued to refuse. When commencement day came and the honorary degree had been conferred, Geisel reached into his academic gown and pulled out this poem which he read to his enthusiastic audience:

“My uncle ordered popovers / from the restaurant’s bill of fare. / And, when they were served, / he regarded them / with a penetrating stare. / Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom / as he sat there on that chair: / “To eat these things,” / said my uncle, / “you must exercise great care. / You may swallow down what’s solid / BUT / you must spit out the air!”

“And / as you partake of the world’s bill of fare, / that’s darned good advice to follow. / Do a lot of spitting out the hot air. / And be careful what you swallow.”

A second memorable address came from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and world renowned peace and human rights activist, who gave a commencement talk at Brandeis University in Massachusetts in 2000. He reminded the graduates that the people who earn our greatest admiration are not those who are merely wealthy or powerful; they are those who give the best of themselves for others. Archbishop Tutu mentioned such heroes as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Dalai Lama, and Nelson Mandela.

He concluded with this tale: “You know the story of the farmer who in his back yard had chickens, including one that was a little odd looking, but it behaved like a chicken, it pecked like the other chickens. Then someone who was knowledgeable came along and said to the farmer, ‘Hey, that’s no chicken. Give it to me, please.’

“And this man took this strange looking chicken and climbed the mountain and waited until sunrise. And then he turned this strange looking chicken towards the sun and said, ‘Eagle, fly, eagle.’  And it shook itself, spread out its pinions, and lifted off and soared and soared and flew away into the distance.

“And God says to all of us, ‘You are no chicken; you are an eagle. Fly, eagle, fly.’ And God wants us to shake ourselves, spread our pinions, and then lift off and soar and rise toward the confident and the good and the beautiful. Rise towards the compassionate and the gentle and the caring. Rise to become what God intends us to be – eagles, not chickens.”

So there you have it, two memorable pieces of advice: Don’t swallow everything you’re told. And don’t be chicken – just stretch your wings and soar. 

TJL Note: I do remember the speaker at my Providence College commencement - Art Buchwald, a humorist and syndicated columnist (whose column focused on political satire and commentary). Most of his talk resembled one of his columns, and he had us in stitches with his commentary. I still remember his closing comment - "You [probably won't remember most of what I talked about], but you will remember you laughed." And he was right - I don't remember his specifics, but we did laugh (and laugh and laugh). May he rest in peace.