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Commencement Address, St. Patrick's High School, Portland, MI, June 4, 1972
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Commencement Address, St. Patrick's High School, Portland, MI, June 4, 1972
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The original documents are located in Box D33, folder "Commencement Address, St.
Patrick's High School, Portland, MI, June 4, 1972" of the Ford Congressional Papers:
Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D33 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, ST. PATRICK'S HIGH
SCHOOL, PORTLAND, MICHIGAN, 3PM SUNDAY,
JUNE 4, 1972.
GOOD AFTERNOON. AFTER THAT
GLOWING INTRODUCTION, I CAN HARDLY WAIT
TO HEAR WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY.
SERIOUSLY, IT IS WONDERFUL TO
BE HERE WITH YOU. I FEEL HONORED TO BE
YOUR COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER. I AM SHARING
ONE OF THE GREATEST MOMENTS IN YOUR LIVES.
SOME OF YOU WILL GO ON TO
COLLEGE; SOME WILL TAKE SPECIAL TRAINING
FOR OCCUPATIONS REQUIRING CERTAIN SPECIAL
SKILLS; AND SOME WILL GO DIRECTLY INTO
JOBS. SOME OF YOU WILL GET MARRIED SOON
AND BEGIN RAISING FAMILIES. SOME OF YOU
YOUNG MEN WILL GO INTO MILITARY SERVICE
FORD
AND IF YOU GO IN WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
LIBRARY
-2-
YOU WILL GAIN INNER STRENGTH AND SKILLS
THAT WILL SERVE YOU FOR A LIFETIME.
I DON'T KNOW IF YOU REALIZE IT,
BUT YOU GRADUATES ARE PRIVILEGED AND
FORTUNATE
I SAY THAT BECAUSE YOUR PARENTS
CHOSE TO SEND YOU -- IN SOME CASES, AT
GREAT SACRIFICE -- TO A FINE PAROCHIAL
SCHOOL.
IT WOULD BE TRAGIC IF PARENTS
IN AMERICA DID NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO
SEND THEIR CHILDREN TO SCHOOLS LIKE
ST. PATRICK -- AND THAT IS WHY ! HAVE
COSPONSORED LEGISLATION WHICH WOULD PROVIDE
THE PARENTS OF NONPUBLIC SCHOOL CHILDREN
WITH A TAX CREDIT BASED ON THE TUITION
THEY PAY. THERE IS GREAT VALUE IN A
SCHOOL SYSTEM WHICH IS COMPETITIVE WITH
GERALD R.FORD LIBRARY
-3-
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AND WHICH PROVIDES
AN EDUCATION ATTUNED TO THE RELIGIOUS
VOCATIONS. THE COST IN DOLLARS IS GREAT
THE FINANCIAL BURDEN IS HEAVY ON THE
PARENTS, AND SO THERE SHOULD BE FEDERAL
HELP.
STUDENTS AT ST. PATRICK'S ARE
DOUBLY BLESSED -- BECAUSE THEY RECEIVE NOT
ONLY A FINE ACADEMIC EDUCATION BUT AN
EDUCATION ROOTED IN MORAL VALUES AND
ILLUMINATED BY THE LOVE OF GOD.
I CONGRATULATE YOU THIS
AFTERNOON, FOR YOU ARE NOW PREPARED TO
LIVE A LIFE WHICH RECOGNIZES THAT LOVE
OF FAMILY IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE, THAT
MARITAL FIDELITY IS A NECESSARY FOUNDATION
FOR HAPPINESS, AND THAT NOTHING IS MORE
PRECIOUS THAN THE INTEGRITY OF THE
INDIVIDUAL.
-4-
I HOPE EACH OF YOU GRADUATES HAS
COME TO TERMS WITH HIMSELF. I HOPE YOU
HAVE COME TO KNOW YOURSELF. I HOPE YOU
HAVE FOUND WHAT I CALL THE FORMULA FOR THE
GOOD LIFE.
IN LESS THAN THREE WEEKS I WILL
BE VISITING THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.
AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S HISTORIC TRIP TO
THAT VAST AND ANCIENT LAND, THE CHINESE
INVITED THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY LEADERS
OF THE CONGRESS TO VISIT THEM. SENATORS
MANSFIELD AND SCOTT RECENTLY RETURNED
FROM CHINA. CONGRESSMAN HALE BOGGS OF
LOUISIANA AND 1, WITH OUR WIVES AND A
SMALL AMERICAN STAFF, WILL BE LEAVING FOR
CHINA JUNE 23.
THE CHIEF IMPRESSION THE
PRESIDENT AND THE MAJORITY AND MINORITY
LIBRARY
-5-
LEADERS OF THE SENATE BROUGHT BACK WITH
THEM WAS OF THE DEDICATION AND DISCIPLINE
OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE. THEY WERE STRUCK
BY THE FACT THAT FARMER AND CITY DWELLER
YOUNG AND OLD, ONE AND ALL APPEARED TO BE
MOTIVATED BY THE COMMON GOALS SET FOR
THEM BY CHAIRMAN MAO.
BUT WHILE THE PRESIDENT WAS
IMPRESSED BY THIS DEDICATION OF THE
CHINESE TO THEIR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT, HE
RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES WITH A
STRONGER FAITH IN OUR SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT,
WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON FREEDOM AND
INDIVIDUALITY.
I MENTION THESE IMPRESSIONS OF
THE PRESIDENT AND THE MAJORITY AND
MINORITY LEADERS OF THE SENATE BECAUSE I
BELIEVE THAT IN EVERY SOCIETY --
GERALD
-6-
EAST OR WEST, ANCIENT OR MODERN -- PEOPLE
HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ENGAGED IN AN EFFORT TO
FIND THE PERFECT MIX OF DISCIPLINE AND
FREEDOM.
WHERE EXCESSIVE DISCIPLINE IS
IMPOSED BY THOSE IN AUTHORITY, WE FIND
DESPOTISM. WHERE THERE IS TOO MUCH
FREEDOM THE RESULT IS CHAOS -- A SITUATION
IN WHICH NO ONE CAN LIVE IN SAFETY, LET
ALONE CREATE FOR THE COMMON GOOD.
YOU HAVE SEEN THE CLASH OF THESE
FUNDAMENTAL FORCES IN YOUR OWN LIVES.
YOUR ELDERS -- BE THEY PARENTS
OR TEACHERS OR OTHERS IN AUTHORITY -- HAVE
COME DOWN HARD ON THE SIDE OF DEDICATION
AND DISCIPLINE.
WE ACCEPT DISCIPLINE IF OUR
MOTIVATION IS STRONG ENOUGH -- AND WE HAVE
-7-
FULL CONFIDENCE THAT AFTER OUR APPRENTICESHIP
WE WILL ENJOY AN EXTRA MEASURE OF FREEDOM
AND INDIVIDUAL EXPRESSION.
WHAT YOU HAVE PROBABLY LEARNED --
AT LEAST THE MOST FORTUNATE AMONG YOU
HAVE -- IS THAT THE BEST KIND OF
DISCIPLINE IS SELF-DISCIPLINE.
YOU HAVE FOUND THAT THERE ARE
DIVIDENOS IN KEEPING THE RULES OF LIFE
THOSE COMMON SENSE PRECEPTS THAT WE ALL
COME TO KNOW AS WE BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH
RIGHT AND WRONG.
YOU KNOW THE RULES. THEY RANGE
ALL THE WAY FROM THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TO
THAT SIMPLE BUT MOST-DIFFICULT-TO-FOLLOW-
RULE...DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE
OTHERS DO UNTO YOU.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-8-
THESE ARE THE RULES THAT GOVERN
EVERYTHING WE DO. MAN HAS MADE THEM -- AND
FOR A PURPOSE.
NOBODY CAN DECIDE WHAT LAWS HE
LIKES AND WILL OBEY AND WHICH LAWS HE
DOESN'T LIKE AND WON'T OBEY -- ANY MORE
THAN ANY PLAYER IN A FOOTBALL GAME CAN MAKE
UP HIS OWN RULES.
OF COURSE, SOME RULES SEEM TO
US BURDENSOME, OR SILLY, OR UNJUST. AND
SOME OF THEM ARE.
BUT UNLIKE THE SYSTEM UNDER
WHICH THE MAINLAND CHINESE LIVE, WE HAVE
A SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY WHERE ORDERLY
CHANGE IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE AS AN EXPRESSION
OF A FREE PEOPLE.
IN RECENT YEARS WE HAVE
EXPERIENCED VIOLENCE IN THIS COUNTRY IN
-9-
THE INTERESTS OF CHANGE. SUCH VIOLENCE
IS THE ANTITHESIS OF OUR AMERICAN SYSTEM.
IT IS FOREIGN TO OUR DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES.
IT IS WASTEFUL FOLLY. WE NEED NO
"CULTURAL REVOLUTION" IN AMERICA TO
PRODUCE CHANGE.
AND SO I SAY THAT FREEDOM IS
SICKENED WHEN IT FEEDS ON EXCESS.
FREEDOM FLOURISHES WHEN TEMPERED
BY THE RESTRAINTS OF SELF-DISCIPLINE.
THE TRUE BEGINNING OF WISDOM
IS THE DESIRE FOR DISCIPLINE -- THE KIND
OF DISCIPLINE WHICH SPRINGS FROM DOING
WHAT IS RIGHT SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT
TO BE RIGHT, OR, CONVERSELY, REFRAINING
FROM WRONGDOING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW
IT TO BE WRONG.
A PERSON WHO DESIRES TO DO EVIL
-10-
CAN ALWAYS FIND THE OPPORTUNITY. IT IS
RESTRAINT WHICH IS DIFFICULT AND REWARDING.
THE CHINESE ARE REMARKABLE FOR
THEIR DEDICATION AND HARD WORK.
THE GOOD LIFE IS BUILT ON
DEDICATION AND HARD WORK -- AND LOVE. DO
NOT OMIT THE INGREDIENT OF LOVE. ALL THREE
INGREDIENTS ARE IMPORTANT TO THE GOOD
LIFE, BUT LOVE IS CHIEF AMONG THEM. NOT
THE MINDLESS HIPPIE KIND OF LOVE --
IRRESPONSIBLE, FLOATING, UNATTACHED TO
ANY SET OF VALUES. THE GOOD LIFE FLOWS
FROM LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF FAMILY
OF
PARENTS FOR CHILDREN, CHILDREN FOR
PARENTS, AND PARENTS FOR EACH OTHER. THE
GOOD LIFE FLOWS FROM LOVE FOR YOUR
FELLOWMAN AND LOVE FOR YOUR COUNTRY.
THE LATE PRESIDENT DWIGHT D.
GLRALD FORD LIBRARY
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EISENHOWER SAID JUST BEFORE HE DIED:
"I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED MY WIFE. I HAVE
ALWAYS LOVED MY FAMILY. I HAVE ALWAYS
LOVED MY COUNTRY."
IKE KNEW WHAT THE GOOD LIFE
WAS BECAUSE HE LIVED IT -- A LIFE WITH
THE RIGHT MIX OF DISCIPLINE AND FREEDOM --
AND LOVE. SO TOO CAN YOU.
LET ME NOTE AT THIS POINT THAT
THE PRESIDENT THROUGH HIS HISTORIC SUMMIT
MEETING IN MOSCOW HAS REDUCED THE LEVEL
OF NUCLEAR TERROR IN THE WORLD. WHILE
WE HAVE NOT ELIMINATED THE THREAT OF
NUCLEAR WAR, WE HAVE AT LEAST LIMITED THE
SIZE OF OUR NUCLEAR STOCKPILES AND STARTED
A NUCLEAR DIALOGUE WHICH HOPEFULLY WILL
ONE DAY BRING ABOUT NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT.
FORD LIBRARY 8.07V838
-12-
TODAY I AM CONCERNED WITH WHAT
KIND OF A COUNTRY AND WHAT KIND OF A WORLD
WE WILL HAVE WHEN YOU ARE MY AGE, WHEN
YOU HAVE DONE THE BEST YOU CAN TO MAKE
IT BETTER WHEN YOU CAN THINK OF ALL THE
THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE AND DIDN'T DO,
AND ALL THE THINGS YOU DID AND SHOULDN'T
HAVE DONE.
YOU NOW HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY
TO SAY HOW THINGS SHOULD BE DONE. YOU
HAVE THE VOTE.
I WAS IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE
EFFORT IN CONGRESS TO EXTEND THE VOTE
TO 18, 19, AND 20-YEAR-OLDS -- NOT BECAUSE
I FELT IT WOULD BENEFIT MY PARTY MOST OF
THE SURVEYS SUGGESTED THE OPPOSITE
RESULT BUT BECAUSE 1 SINCERELY BELIEVE
IT WILL BENEFIT OUR COUNTRY.
-13-
I AM CONFIDENT THAT GIVING THE
THOUGHTFUL YOUNG PEOPLE OF AMERICA A
VOICE AND A VOTE CAN ONLY BENEFIT ALL OF
US IN THE LONG RUN.
IF YOU DO GET INVOLVED IN THIS
YEAR'S POLITICAL CAMPAIGN, NEVER FORGET
THAT THE THINGS THAT UNITE US AS
AMERICANS ARE FAR MORE ENDURING THAN THE
THINGS THAT DIVIDE US -- AND ONE OF THESE
IS OUR NATIONAL SENSE OF HUMOR.
AS THE CAMPAIGN GETS HOTTER
TRY TO REMEMBER TO SINGE BUT NEVER TO
BURN -- THAT ALL OF US, REGARDLESS OF
PARTY OR AGE, WOULD LOTS RATHER MAKE LOVE
THAN WAR -- THAT BOTH DEMOCRATS AND
REPUBLICANS ARE STRIVING TOGETHER TO
CREATE A MORE PERFECT UNION, WITH LIBERTY
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
GERALD LIBRARY
-14-
OUR UNWRITTEN COMPACT OF
RESPECT FOR THE CONVICTIONS OF OTHERS
AND FAITH IN THE DECENCY OF OTHERS, ALLOWS
AMERICANS THE LUXURY OF RUGGED POLITICAL
COMPETITION. LET'S ALL WORK TO BANISH
WAR FROM OUR SHRINKING WORLD AND HATE
FROM OUR EXPANDING HEARTS -- TO MAKE THIS
WHOLE PLANET AS FULL OF FRIENDSHIP AND
FELICITY AS THIS SCHOOL IS TODAY.
DISCIPLINE AND DEDICATION.
INDIVIDUALITY AND FREEDOM. YOU HAVE
ENCOUNTERED THESE SEEMINGLY CONTRADICTORY
ELEMENTS IN YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS AND IN
YOUR OWN FAMILY LIFE. YOU HAVE ACHIEVED
SOME BALANCE, SOME COMPROMISE, SOME KIND
OF MIXTURE IN YOUR OWN LIFE.
PERHAPS THE AMERICAN DREAM IS
TOO HIGH ON INDIVIDUALITY AND FREEDOM.
GERALD FORD LIBRARY
-15-
PERHAPS CLOSED SOCIETIES SUCH AS THAT OF
MAINLAND CHINA ARE TOO LONG ON DISCIPLINE
AND DEDICATION. PERHAPS WE CAN TEACH
EACH OTHER AND LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, AS
THE DOORS BEGIN TO OPEN.
CONFUCTUS, WHOSE THOUGHTS
GUIDED MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF CHINESE
BEFORE CHAIRMAN MAO, AND I SUSPECT STILL
DO, WAS VERY STRONG ON THE IMPORTANCE OF
EDUCATION. ONE OF HIS SAYINGS, WHICH HAS
BEEN TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE, SEEMS
TO ME PARTICULARLY APPROPRIATE FOR
GRADUATING SENIORS -- OR FOR THAT MATTER --
FOR THEIR PROUD PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS
WHO ARE HERE TODAY. THIS IS WHAT
CONFUCTUS SAID:
-16-
"WISE IS THAT MAN, AND BOUND TO GROW,
WHO KNOWS HE KNOWS A THING OR so,
BUT WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO SHOW,
THE MANY THINGS HE DOESN'T KNOW."
THIS IS TRULY A DAY OF
COMMENCEMENT, THE LAST TIME YOU WILL EVER
BE ASSEMBLED ALL IN ONE PLACE, THE FIRST
TIME YOU WILL EACH BE ON YOUR OWN, TAKING
UP THE TASK OF MAKING A FULL LIFE FOR
YOURSELVES AND, AS MUCH AS LIES IN YOUR
POWER, A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL MANKIND.
CHERISH FREEDOM AND INDIVIDUALITY,
DISCIPLINE AND DEDICATION; CULTIVATE
COURTESY AND CHARITY AND COMPASSION;
REMEMBER THAT COURAGE COMES FROM FAITH
AND THAT FAITH IS ONLY FEAR THAT HAS SAID RD
ITS PRAYERS.
GERALD
LISAÇÃO
-17-
CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS OF 1972,
AND GODSPEED TO ALL OF YOU. THE WORLD
IS ALREADY BETTER FOR YOUR BEING HERE,
AND IT WILL BE A FAR BETTER WORLD
I
KNOW , WHEN YOU ARE MY AGE.
-- END --
GLEATO R-FORD LIBRARY
Office Copy
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ST. PATRICK'S HIGH SCHOOL
PORTLAND, MICHIGAN
3 P.M. SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 1972
Good afternoon. After that glowing introduction, I can hardly wait to hear
what I am going to say.
Seriously, it is wonderful to be here with you. I feel honored to be your
commencement speaker. I am sharing one of the greatest moments in your lives.
Some of you will go on to college; some will take special training for
occupations requiring certain special skills; and some will go directly into jobs.
Some of you will get married soon and begin raising families. Some of you young
men will go into military service, and if you go in with the right attitude you
will gain inner strength and skills that will serve you for a lifetime.
I don't know if you realize it, but you graduates are privileged and
fortunate.
I say that because your parents chose to send you -- in some cases, at
great sacrifice -- to a fine parochial school.
It would be tragic if parents in America did not have the opportunity to
send their children to schools like St. Patrick -- and that is why I have
cosponsored legislation which would provide the parents of nonpublic school
children with a tax credit based on the tuition they pay. There is great value
in a school system which is competitive with the public school system and which
provides an education attuned to the religious vocations. The cost in dollars
is great, the financial burden is heavy on the parents, and so there should be
Federal help.
Students at St. Patrick's are doubly blessed -- because they receive not
only a fine academic education but an education rooted in moral values and
illuminated by the love of God.
I congratulate you this afternoon, for you are now prepared to live a
life which recognizes that love of family is of paramount importance, that
marital fidelity is a necessary foundation for happiness, and that nothing is
more precious than the integrity of the individual.
I hope each of you graduates has come to terms with himself. I hope you
(more)
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have come to know yourself. I hope you have found what I call the formula for the
good life.
In less than three weeks I will be visiting the People's Republic of China.
After the President's historic trip to that vast and ancient land, the Chinese
invited the majority and minority leaders of the Congress to visit them. Senators
Mansfield and Scott recently returned from China. Congressman Hale Boggs of
Louisiana and I, with our wives and a small American staff, will be leaving for
China June 23.
The chief impression the President and the majority and minority leaders
of the Senate brought back with them was of the dedication and discipline of the
Chinese people. They were struck by the fact that farmer and city dweller, young
and old, one and all appeared to be motivated by the common goals set for them by
Chairman Mao.
But while the President was impressed by this dedication of the Chinese to
their system of government, he returned to the United States with a stronger faith
in our system of government, with its emphasis on freedom and individuality.
I mention these impressions of the President and the majority and minority
leaders of the Senate because I believe that in every society--East or West,
ancient or modern--people have always been engaged in an effort to find the perfect
mix of discipline and freedom.
Where excessive discipline is imposed by those in authority, we find
despotism. Where there is too much freedom, the result is chaos--a situation
in which no one can live in safety, let alone create for the common good.
You have seen the clash of these fundamental forces in your own lives.
Your elders--be they parents or teachers or others in authority--have come
down hard on the side of dedication and discipline.
We accept discipline if our motivation is strong enough--and we have full
confidence that after our apprenticeship we will enjoy an extra measure of freedom
and individual expression.
What you have probably learned--at least the most fortunate among you have--
is that the best kind of discipline is self-discipline.
You have found that there are dividends in keeping the rules of life, those
(more)
-3-
common sense precepts that we all come to know as we become acquainted with right
and wrong.
You know the rules. They range all the way from the Ten Commandments to
that simple but most-difficult-to-follow-rule do unto others as you would have
others do unto you.
These are the rules that govern everything we do. Man has made them -- and
for a: purpose.
Nobody can decide what laws he likes and will obey and which laws he
doesn't like and won't obey -- any more than any player in a football game can
make up his own rules.
Of course, some rules seem to us burdensome, or silly, or unjust. And some
of them are.
But unlike the system under which the mainland Chinese live, we have a
system in this country where orderly change is always possible in an expression
of a free people.
In recent years we have experienced violence in this country in the interests
of change. Such violence is the antithesis of our American system. It is foreign
to our democratic processes. It is wasteful folly. We need no "Cultural
Revolution" in America to produce change.
And so I say that freedom is sickened when it feeds on excess.
Freedom flourishes when tempered by the restraints of self-discipline.
The true beginning of wisdom is the desire for discipline -- the kind of
discipline which springs from doing what is right simply because you know it to
be right; or, conversely, refraining from wrongdoing simply because you know it to
be wrong.
A person who desires to do evil can always find the opportunity. It is
restraint which is difficult and rewarding.
The Chinese are remarkable for their dedication and hard work.
The good life is built on dedication and hard work -- and love. Do not
omit the ingredient of love. All three ingredients are important to the good life,
but love is chief among them. Not the mindless hippie kind of love -- irresponsible,
floating, unattached to any set of values. The good life flows from love of God
and
love of family of parents for children, children for parents, and parents for
(more)
-4-
each other. The good life flows from love for your fellowman and love for your
country.
The late President Dwight D. Eisenhower said just before he died: "I have
always loved my wife. I have always loved my family. I have always loved my
country."
Ike knew what the good life was because he lived it -- a life with the
right mix of discipline and freedom -- and love. So, too, can you.
Let me note at this point that the President through his historic summit
meeting in Moscow has reduced the level of nuclear terror in the world. While we
have not eliminated the threat of nuclear war, we have at least limited the size
of our nuclear stockpiles and started a nuclear dialogue which hopefully will one
day bring about nuclear disarmament.
Today I am concerned with what kind of a country and what kind of a world
we will have when you are my age, when you have done the best you can to make it
better, when you can think of all the things you should have done and didn't do,
and all the things you did and shouldn't have done.
You now have the opportunity to say how things should be done. You have
the vote.
I was in the forefront of the effort in Congress to extend the vote to
18, 19, and 20-year-olds -- not because I felt it would benefit my party
most
of the surveys suggested the opposite result but because I sincerely believe
it will benefit our country.
I am confident that giving the thoughtful young people of America a voice
and a vote can only benefit all of us in the long run.
If you do get involved in this year's political campaign, never forget
that the things that unite us as Americans are far more enduring than the things
that divide us -- and one of these is our national sense of humor.
As the campaign gets hotter, try to remember to singe but never to
burn -- that all of us, regardless of Party or age, would lots rather make love
than war -- that both Democrats and Republicans are striving together to create
a more perfect Union, with liberty and justice for all.
Our unwritten compact of respect for the convictions of others and faith
in the decency of others, allows Americans the luxury of rugged political competition.
(more)
-5-
Let's all work to banish war from our shrinking world and hate from our expanding
hearts -- to make this whole planet as full of friendship and felicity as this
school is today.
Discipline and dedication. Individuality and freedom. You have encountered
these seemingly contradictory elements in your high school years and in your own
family life. You have achieved some balance, some compromise, some kind of mixture
in your own life.
Perhaps the American dream is too high on individuality and freedom.
Perhaps closed societies such as that of mainland China are too long on discipline
and dedication. Perhaps we can teach each other and learn from each other, as
the doors begin to open.
Confucius, whose thoughts guided millions upon millions of Chinese before
Chairman Mao, and I suspect still do, was very strong on the importance of
education. One of his sayings, which has been translated into English verse,
seems to me particularly appropriate for graduating seniors -- or for that
matter for their proud parents and grandparents who are here today. This is
what Confucius said:
"Wise is that man, and bound to grow,
Who knows he knows a thing or so,
But who is not afraid to show,
The many things he doesn't know."
This is truly a day of Commencement, the last time you will ever be
assembled all in one place, the first time you will each be on your own, taking
up the task of making a full life for yourselves and, as much as lies in your
power, a better world for all mankind. Cherish freedom and individuality,
discipline and dedication; cultivate courtesy and charity and compassion; remember
that courage comes from faith, and that faith is only fear that has said its prayers.
Congratulations, Class of 1972, and Godspeed to all of you. The world is
already better for your being here, and it will be a far better world, I know,
when you are my age.
# # #