Remarks upon receiving an honorary doctorate at the University of Brighton Commencement

Lawrence S. Bacow
Tufts University
July 25, 2007

Chairman, Vice Chancellor, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for the great honor which I accept on behalf of all my colleagues at Tufts, each of whom has worked hard to create a university where everyone – students, faculty, staff and alumni – recognizes their responsibility to be active, engaged citizens in all the communities they inhabit.

It is a special honor to receive this degree from the University of Brighton where there is a rich and innovative tradition of civic engagement first begun by your former Vice Chancellor David Watson, and now so ably led by your Vice Chancellor Julian Crampton. Tufts looks forward to working with Brighton collaboratively in the future for the betterment of society.

To my fellow graduates, congratulations! You have worked long and hard to complete the requirements of your degrees, and you should be very proud of your achievements.  But you did not get here on your own. You have been supported by friends, family and loved ones, many of whom have sacrificed so that you may stand here today as a university graduate.  Graduates please rise and join me in thanking your friends and families for their support. 

University can and should be a time of great personal growth, a time when you expand both your intellectual and social horizons.  At times like these, I am reminded of the story told by Mark Twain. “What did you learn at college?” a recent graduate is asked. “Not much,” he replied, “but my parents seemed to have learned a lot while I was gone.”

No doubt, you are wiser today than when you entered the University of Brighton.  But what about the future?  What will you do with this degree, this wonderful education you have earned?

One of the great myths that we perpetrate on young people is that they should know what they want to do with their lives on the day that they graduate.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  A career is only knowable on the day you retire.  Up until then, you are just making plans.  Most of our careers are really a string of fortuitous accidents.  Be prepared to recognize opportunity when it walks up and hits you in the face.

In similar situations, I have always found it useful to ask myself three questions.  Is the job worth doing?  Not every job is, even some that pay very well.  Are you going to grow and learn?  Nothing is more stultifying than to work in a job that does not provide you with new challenges.  And finally, are you going to enjoy the people who will be your colleagues?  Life is too short to work with people whom you do not respect and enjoy.  If you can answer each of these questions in the affirmative, take the job.  And keep asking these questions.  When the answer to any of them turns negative, it is time to move on.

Many of you will soon find yourselves in jobs where you feel completely over your head on day one. My advice is to relax. Two of the many things you learned at the University of Brighton are how to learn and how to think.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help. It is not a sign of weakness.  On the contrary, it most often is the sign of an intelligent, secure, individual who is wise enough to know his or her own ignorance.

I have a confession to make.  I have never had a job in my life that I felt qualified to do on day one, and that includes being President of Tufts University.  One of the fun things about taking on a new responsibility is the opportunity it gives you to master a new set of skills and to address a new set of challenges.  Approach each career opportunity with humility; see it as a chance to learn, and you will never be disappointed.

All of you who have had a chance to study and learn at the University of Brighton have truly led a privileged life.  I hope you will take this wonderful education and put it to good use.  Try to be rich in the things that matter – the love of your family and the respect of your friends and colleagues.  Please commit yourselves to invest your time and effort in your community.  The world we live in is far from perfect.  This is not a political statement, but rather a statement of fact.  It is your obligation to try to repair it.  Get involved.  Don’t sit on the sidelines.

I recently learned of a wonderful story told by one of the great Talmudic scholars of all time.  Rabbi Akiba was sitting with his students.  He decided to give them a math test. “You have 1000 dinars,” he said.  “You give away 300.  How many do you have?” “Seven hundred,” his students quickly responded. “Wrong.  You really only have the 300 you gave away.  You could be robbed or lose the rest in a business deal.  But no one can ever take away from you all the good you have done with that which you have given to others.”

My point in telling this story is that you will be known less for what you do for yourself in your lifetime than for what you do for others.  Try to be generous with all the gifts you have been given.  Please give others opportunity, just as opportunity has been given to you.  Make time for children, the elderly, for those who are less fortunate than you.  And, if through hard work and good luck, good fortune should come your way, please remember the lesson of Rabbi Akiba.

Graduates, congratulations again.  We have great hopes and expectations for you.  Good luck to you and God speed.