“You win some, you lose some, and then there’s that little know third category.”[i]
Mr. Gordon Sharafinski, Mr. John Linehan, Mr. Anthony Farrell, fellow colleagues, parents and friends, alumni of the Hall, and finally the seventh graduating class in this tenth anniversary year of Stuart Hall High School’s vibrant and continuing history. Good morning. Thank you class of 2010 for presenting me this opportunity to address you on a day that celebrates such a remarkable and personal accomplishment. Congratulations gentlemen and know that your place upon this stage is well earned.
I mentioned this to you before and I believe it more with each passing year. Stuart Hall High School is your home. It is home to every graduate that sat where you are sitting now. I am sure all of us who taught, guided, or supported you these past four years would like you to see Stuart Hall as a home – a place where you are always welcome, a place where you find support and friends, a place where you come to rest and reminisce. A home, however nice, is not prefect. Not everything works out well, there are challenges and conflicts; disappointments and struggles, but the familiarity, the good memories, and the comfort of a home endures. And when we see you walk through those familiar green gates again, we’ll welcome you home. But today we walk with you through those gates and let you go, well prepared, to continue your studies in some rather impressive institutions of learning. Now, before you go, you have to listen to me just one more time. I’ll be brief, I think, but I hope relevant.
A recent study tells us, that since the year 2000 college students are less empathic, some 40% lower when compared to college students 20-30 years ago.[ii] University of Michigan social psychologist, Sarah Konrath, who conducted the study, suggests a reason for this. She states:
The increase in exposure to media during this time period could be one factor. Compared to 30 years ago, the average American now is exposed to three times as much nonwork-related information. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games, and a growing body of research . . . is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others.[iii]
Now I am sure none of you play such video games like Call of Duty or Halo with their game modes of “Death Match” and “Search and Destroy.” Because you know that violent media compromises your ability to feel the pain of others. Right? This new study can be pretty challenging given the goals of a Sacred Heart Education, one of which is to clearly develop empathy so that you, our graduates, become socially aware to actively create a better society and world.
Forgive my quoting this but I can’t resist. I hope you remember it:
The business of us who are the founders of the State will be to compel the best minds to attain that knowledge which we have already shown to be the greatest of all — they must continue to ascend until they arrive at the good; but when they have ascended and seen enough we must not allow them to do as they do now . . . I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labours and honours, whether they are worth having or not.[iv]
Well, Do you know remember it? It is Plato, The Republic, Book VII. Possibly one of the greatest allegories every penned. It pushes the enlightened, the educated back down into the business of binding up the state, to make it a better place for everyone. Plato may well be the great precursor of Goal Three – a social awareness that impels to action. He longed for the well-governed state, which cannot happen in ivory towers absorbed in lofty ideas. It happens among “the prisoners in the den,” – the ordinary, the mundane – among the many of us who so ardently desire something better than what is.
So, this recent study finds you 40% less empathic than your equivalents 20-30 years ago. Additionally, you are called “Generation Me,” and described as “one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic [generations] in recent history.”[v] How does that make you feel? I can’t imagine that you would feel comfortable with this assessment. Conversely, I, and many of us here, experience you as altruistic, selfless, supportive, and cooperative. Perhaps you are the exception.
You are the seventh class to graduate from Stuart Hall High School. Biblically, that’s a fairly significant number and for seven years senior students have with open hearts ventured into the local community to serve the young, the old, the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the environment. Throughout this year you accomplished some commendable and amazing service. Your reflections on your service are deeply inspirational and display remarkable empathy. I will directly quote from just two of those journal entries but I would really like to quote from all of them.
“Visiting Redding Elementary every Tuesday has allowed me to learn something new about myself. For as long as I could remember, I’ve never wanted children . . . I always thought they were annoying. Yet reading to the kindergartners, supervising them as they play, and teaching them how to read and write has allowed me to discover that I really enjoy being around these kids, and eventually one day, I do wish to have kids of my own . . . I wish I didn’t need to leave. I wish I didn’t need to go off to college. I wish I could supervise these kids until they graduate elementary school to help them with any troubles they have or to make sure they stay on the right path.” Josh Forman-Ortiz, it sounds like you have the makings of a teacher in you! I wish you could stay around, too, but there are others who need you as much as those children you served.
Does that sound lacking in empathy?
And this one about working with the National Park Service: “On one cold, windy, Thursday morning, Alfred, Kristion, and I had to continue clearing a drainage ditch up on a slop by building 988. My job was to rake all the debris into a pile while Alfred and Kristion trimmed the bushes. As I was raking, I heard something in the trees above me, birds chirping. Cracking a smile, I kept raking the trimmed branches into my 3-foot tall pile. Looking up, I watched a bird fall out of a tree, flapping its wings, and saving itself from imminent death right before hitting the ground. Suddenly, college popped into my head. Leaving home . . . It was overwhelming. I was sort of in shock, until Alfred yelled “ALEX! We need another pile, this one is getting too big.” Thinking back on the moment, I realized that in leaving for college, moving on from Stuart Hall, like the bird, I’m leaving the nest, my comfort zone. But I have to, it’s the next step for my life, and it needs to happen. There is nothing I can do in my power to prevent this rapid change.” You’re right, Alex London, there is nothing any of us can do to stop any of you from walking through those green gates, leaving the nest, on your way to becoming men of courage and integrity.
I end as I began. You have a home here. Please do not forget that. We are here for you as are your families and friends. Know that you are always welcome to return to the Hall as often as you like. We will be here for you – most certainly in spirit – and we wish you well. As you go, take this blessing of Moses, a common prayer today, with you: “May God bless you and keep you. May God make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you (Numbers 6:22-23). Thank you for four very enthusiastic and enjoyable years.
[i] Gore, Al. “Can We Still Save The Planet?” Interview by Frank Sesno.
Panetta
Institute Lectures. Natl. Public Radio. NPR, San Francisco, 22 May 2010.
Radio.
[ii] “Empathy: College students don’t have as much as they use to.” Physorg.com. 27 May
2010. 30 May 2010. <http://www.physorg.com/news194201935.html>.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Plato. “Book VIII.” The Republic. Ed. Josyln T Pine. Trans. Benjamin Jowett.
Unabridged Republication ed. 1894. Mineola, New York: Dover, 2000. 177-183.
Constitution Society. Web. 14 Sept. 2009. <http://www.constitution.org/
pla/repub_07.htm>.
[v] Ibid., Empathy
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