Signals and the Noise
If the mood of the Associates' valedictory was, "Go forward!
Take hold the reigns of the glorious future!" – to that
I say, well, that's easy for you, you guys have two years
left in college to think about that! No, the mood of the four-year
valedictory is decidedly more:
Oh no…what happens now?
And the answer, obviously, is change. Lots of change.
Now, change in itself isn't so scary. When someone asks me, "What
are you doing next year?" and I, summing up my vast wisdom
of the job market of tomorrow reply, "I don't know," the
trepidation there – or should I say abject terror –
comes not from change, but from the uncertainty implicit
in change. The fear of that unknown. The noise of having to make
a decision with so much else going on. I don't know what's
going to happen next year.
That's not a very satisfying answer to the question, so instead
I could be clever, and reply, "Well, statistically, I'll be
changing jobs seven times in the next 10 years, so I guess next
year I'll be getting ready to change jobs the year after."
No, I don't have a very good answer to that question, so instead
today I would like to pose a different question, which is this:
How has our college experience prepared us for all the change that
lies ahead?
If someone were to ask Bryn Athyn College, as an institution, "What
are the relevant skills for post-secondary education in this ever-changing
21st century?" – it probably wouldn't say, "I don't
know," but it might pause to consider. It may well say that
students still come to college to receive a well-rounded education,
and to pursue one or more fields of academic study. And this is
true. We did come to college partly for this reason. Bryn Athyn
College is no stranger to change itself, and is currently in the
midst of much flux to improve and enhance these services. It is
changing its curriculum to allow for more career-oriented experience,
it is raising funds to mount an independent science facility, and
it is masterfully integrating the worlds of art and nutrition, by
hosting meals next year in the Fine Arts Center.
As a result of these services, there are indeed budding teachers,
ministers and scientists among my fellow graduates today. These
are perhaps services that any college could offer, but we are grateful
to have received them from this nurturing faculty in our very…honest…cement
structure; but they're not why we came to Bryn Athyn College.
I would argue that we came to Bryn Athyn College because there's
too much change. Change everywhere. We're drowning in change.
We're deafened by change. We live in such an exciting and
bewildering time. Exciting, because never before has there been
greater access to information, broader channels of communication,
more choice, more paths to follow. Bewildering, because what
do you do with it all? With so much going on, how do you pick
out the true from all the false? How do you focus on what's important
with so much that's erroneous? No, what we really need help with
is distilling the meaning behind all the stimulus; discerning the
signal amidst all the noise.
And so, Chancellor Kline, President Keith, Deans Carswell and Lindsay,
Faculty, on behalf of the graduating class of 2007, I would like
to thank you for allowing us to pursue our fields beyond the strict
boundaries of empirical study. For prodding us to consider the moral
and spiritual dimensions underlying these fields. And for instilling
in us an appreciation for the Lord's love and wisdom as reflected
in the differing perspectives of a liberal arts education.
To invoke a somewhat awkward, but perhaps memorable analogy, we
would like to thank you for what you have taught us about sailing
the turbulent seas of change that lie ahead. You have given us wise
counsel on how to select our crew, emphasized the urgency of fighting
off pirates, encouraged us not to be too concerned with how much
booty we plunder. You have shown us where to catch
the fish that will nourish us, taught us how to use a compass, and
where to point our sail.
But we are most grateful today for Bryn Athyn College's dedication
to those institutions of our society that don't change,
that last a little longer than every seven years, such as: the institution
of marriage, the institution of charity, the institution of use.
Among these skills: a critical discernment of the apparent truths
which obscure falsities in the world around us every day; a zealousness
to perform whatever job we might have with honesty, faithfulness
and fairness; and the humility to accept that the Lord is in control
of everything, that we can do absolutely nothing without
Him, and that He is indeed, taking care of us.
We're graduating today, and though we may not be able to say with
absolute certainty what's going to happen in the future, when someone
does ask us, "What are you doing next year? Or in the next
seven years?" – instead of saying, "We don't know,"
perhaps we can reply, "Well, we don't know what, but
we've got a pretty good idea of how."
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