Baccalaureate 2003

Here is a transcript of a videotape of the Baccalaureate speech that I gave to Newfound’s graduating Class of 2003. This was Chip’s class and I was one of the two class advisors.

The original speaker had backed out and one of the class officers asked me to take his place. I accepted but I had made a previous promise to myself a few years before.

I had given the commencement speech for the Class of 2000. I had poured my heart and soul into the speech and had spent weeks preparing it. This was very unlike me. It was delivered in a very hot gymnasium because of the threat of foul weather. It was fairly well received, a few even raved, but several felt that it required too much thinking and was very complex and deep.

So, much to the concern of the principal, I decided to make this one up on the spot. I had a general idea that I would relate a trip to New York City with Rich and Val to faith, hope and love, quote a song… and that was about it.

My parents were in the audience (because of Chip’s graduation). My mother was to pass away seven months later. This speech was one of the finest and proudest moments of my life:

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Greetings!

First I’d like to thank the class for the honor and the privilege you have given me this evening. Secondly, I’d like to let you know how uncomfortable and anxious this has made me. (low laughter). And you will probably see this as we go along. Up until just a few short years ago, at the end of the scholarships, I did not return. I don’t consider myself a religious person but I do consider myself spiritual. And after hearing Mr. Gilman’s speech, just a few short years ago, I realized that there is a lot to spirituality.

But I decided to look up ‘baccalaureate’ to try and ease my anxiety….so I got through some definitions..’graduation sermon’. …I didn’t like that. –So I’m lookin thru, lookin thru- ‘sermon: a long and tedious speech’ – I’ve done that plenty of times. (ripples of laughter).

The day after Nicole asked me to do the speech, we were heading for New York City with some very close friends. And I don’t know if you are familiar with the island of Manhattan – it is very long and thin. And in the middle of it is a big green rectangle, called Central Park. And it stretches for miles and miles… trees, flowers, bridal paths, reservoirs, pond, …plenty of people.

So when we left our hotel and we had decided what we were going to do..The girls went one way and the boys went another way. So Richie and I decided that we would walk up the west side of Central Park to the Museum of Natural History, We’d go see the Rose Science Center.





As you get to the Museum of Natural History, it looks like a traditional museum but on the side is – a glass cube. It’s about 70 feet tall. What’s also impressive about it is that there is no span across it, just a glass cube. But inside it is a huge sphere.


Now as you come into the science center you walk around this sphere. And they use this sphere to try and impress upon you the scale of things in the universe. At first you might be looking at Jupiter as compared to maybe one of the moons. Another time you might be looking at a hydrogen molecule as compared to an electron. It is very fascinating just to walk around.

Then you go into the bottom half of the sphere, where they present you, on the bottom half, with a film of the birth of the universe…How they got the cameras there, I don’t know (strong laughter) (pause, shoulder shrug)…CNN! (spoken a la James Earl Jones). So..Maya Angelou narrates the birth of the universe. And, after the big bang, they let you out, your head is reeling just a bit. And you follow a long spiral path…Every step you take is ten million years ..(pause)..it takes a long time to get down. As you wend your way down, which is quite a ways, you realize you covered thirteen billion years. At the end…the very end, there is a very small line …and that represents the presence of humanity…in the history of the universe.

So we got out of the Museum of Natural History and go to..oh excuse me, we didn’t leave..We went upstairs to go to the top half of the sphere…And they have redone, with technology, the entire floor of the top half of the sphere as a sub-woofer. It vibrates as you watch the universe unfold before you.

And as you did leave the Museum of Natural History, and got some sandwiches and headed for the park, we were just reflecting on our cosmic experience. One of the things we reflected upon is that there is so much that we cannot, and never will, understand. And to me, that is the basis of faith. You cannot know..everything.. or explain..everything. You just have to go on. And, to me, being there in Central Park with my friend, in awe of the cosmic sense… It’s the same awe one might feel watching the sun set over Newfound…or maybe in climbing the mountains in the Presidential Range. … or maybe being with a close friend.

And we sat and ate our sandwiches and we started to get up and walk so we could meet Gini and Val over the other side of the park…when, all of a sudden, a whole bunch of runners come running by us. … all full of energy. Two of the runners were way ahead because they were aliens. They were running way too fast. (chuckles) And then there were just hundreds and hundreds of people just going by us. And we made ourselves to the other side of the park over to the Guggenheim Museum, which, again, I recommend you go to, because in the midst of all the squareness and angles of Manhattan is this long, flowing, wavy building. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

So we got together and started walking…finding our mandatory cup of cappuccino …. and began thinking: What is it that causes us to build these huge buildings, and put this green rectangle together, and to run like crazy through it with all this energy.

I believe it is one of our contributions to the universe..and that is hope. Why should we, in the midst of not knowing, not being able to know, should we invest all this energy? To make great buildings. To make wonderful places to sit and have lunch. To expend our energy just for the feeling it gives us.

As we wended our way through, and I decided I wanted to see a movie..I had to make my way to Times Square. I was standing there waiting to cross the street in Times Square and I realized as I looked at all the corners..There are more people here than in all the Newfound School District! (good laughter) And as I watched these people…I saw families… I saw friends… lovers… people just going around, having a good time… And then it made me realize about the connections that we make. How we get outside ourselves and how we become connected to the universe. I believe that to be love. Every time you extend beyond your own limits, when you step out with faith… with hope…and you connect with somebody, you are connecting with the universe. And that, to me, is what I believe… to be love.

Faith, hope and love… These are our contributions and our connections to the universe.

(Reaching into the inside pocket of my jacket to take out a folded piece of paper and putting on glasses)
As I walked up the west side of Central Park… I walked by a person’s house that used to live there. And as I was trying to do that, that person had a bit of an effect on my personal life. Let me read you something…

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one (voice shaking)
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

(Folding up paper, putting it back inside the jacket,)

So, my hope for you…is peace.

Our gift to you is love.

(Flashing the peace sign)
Keep the faith, baby!
(taking off glasses)

(Uproarious applause, standing ovation)