Attending the opening exercises at Harvard University this weekend made me want to run to the admissions office and head back for my Masters. A number of themes weaved through the fabric of this day which tapped feelings of inner hope about this future generation's capabilities to change the way we will work and live – into the next decade.
We are living and working at the speed of light. But in order to succeed, Dean Michael D. Smith of the Arts and Sciences department at the nation's oldest university, shared that we must be mindful of our culturally diverse working environment, our 24/7 world of communication, and our individual roles in the sustainability of our society and the environment. "Ideas can run around campus as quickly as they run around the world," said Smith who went on to explain that this type of "change" defines our generation.
Of particular note were words from a soon-to-be graduate. Sarah Lockridge-Steckel of the class of '09 who identified with the transformative power of "change" not in Obama or McCainesque terms, but with real life meaning.
She spoke of how our actions, no matter how small – impact our world. By integrating her desire to help others in the form of working with children living with HIV/AIDS, she explained that she found her own voice and forged her own meaningful working and living experience.
Lockridge-Stickle quoted Hellen Keller (who graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904 and subsequently in 1955 received Harvard's first honorary degree granted to a woman) saying, "True happiness is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."
Aligning our core values with our work is bound to begin this journey toward more a purposeful and meaningful existence, even in times of tribulation.
Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, took the idea of exploring purpose and meaningful work a step further. The courage to fail she said, might be the first step toward success.
"It's not about where you've been, or where you are now – but where you are going," she remarked to the audience adding that uncertainty, anxiety and death might be signposts on that journey. She mentioned that we all have to risk failure at this time of unprecedented upheaval and change.
"We have to redefine success to include failure…to go out on a limb, abandon the path you know, " she continued saying, " ..to have the courage to fight for an ideal." Faust should know. Last year here mere presence rattled tradition. She was the first female to be named as president of Harvard University in more than 370 years. Drew Gilpin Faus took the idea of exploring purpose and meaningful work a step further – toward history.
