I have intentionally been neglecting my blog for a while. Since we returned from vacation, my life has been consumed with board exams and pre-residency paperwork, and Matthew has been spending more time at his office than at home. I am certainly not complaining because we know we are fortunate to have jobs and both feel lucky to be doing what we enjoy. The reason I have refrained from writing, though, is that I did not want to jinx myself in becoming a licensed pharmacist. Although not official, I found out today that I passed the third and final part of the GA boards. What a joyful exhale when I saw that ‘pass’! This is a lengthy post that will make up for my absence. (Remember my disclaimer, this is a journal, too.)
Mercer University decided to do something different for graduation this year. Rather than having separate graduations, all colleges on the campuses other than the Macon campus graduated together on May 14, 2011. Many students (and family members) were outraged about this decision because over 1000 students would walk across the stage in sweltering Atlanta heat. Personally, I did not mind because I think outside graduations are better. In the year leading up to May, the administration countered complaints and protests with the argument that we could have a ‘bigger’ keynote speaker if only one was needed. Jimmy Carter was the name thrown around. So when we found out that the speaker was a former President of the University, you can imagine the disappointment. I see Mercer faculty all the time! But this was another one of those times when life surprised me. There is no way that Jimmy Carter could have been better than R. Kirby Godsey on that sunny Saturday morning.
Dr. Raleigh Kirby Godsey, the current Chancellor of Mercer, was the President and CEO from 1979 to 2006, has written several books, including When We Talk About God, Let’s Be Honest, and has a litany of achievements and honors that I could mention. But I want to talk about his Atlanta Commencement Speech, titled Intersections, May 14th, 2011, which was very likely the best speech I have ever heard. My mom slipped him a business card as she passed him leaving graduation that day, and he mailed her a copy of his speech so I have been able to include excerpts here.
Dr. Godsey compared the graduation itself to waiting at an intersection, knowing that when the light turns green, we have to move. He said that he wrote this speech while he “indulged in some indigenous New Orleans refreshments” in Mr. B’s Bistro in the French Quarters and wrote down his gifts to us graduates on a cocktail napkin.
Here are his gifts:
I first tried to paraphrase what Dr. Godsey said but failed to be nearly as eloquent, so I finally just inserted parts of his speech.
THOUGHT.
The most important lesson with which you can leave this intersection today will not be the principles of macro-economics. It will not even be a discovery that may lead to a new treatment for cancer or the world's greatest curriculum plan. Your most important lesson, no exceptions, is to keep thought alive. Think before you act. Think before you react. Doing so would be revolutionary. Think before you decide. Think before you speak. Think before you lead. It will change your destination. Think before you teach. Think before you preach. Think before you care.
Thought, you see, is intelligence in action. Your diploma will solve no problems and it will cure no ills. Thought is the engine of every achievement. Thought alone will enable you to master the unexpected. Your Blackberry, on which some of you are texting right now, will never be a substitute for the power of intelligence. Your iPhone will supply you with data, but it will never light your path. Only thought, that is, intelligence at work will light the way. When you leave this intersection today, if you don't keep thought alive, you will come to a dead end.
PASSION.
Thought without passion never gets anything done. Passion without thought is reckless. If thought is the engine of every important achievement, passion is the fuel for that engine…
Living with passion requires that you be willing to re-imagine yourself, starting right now at this intersection…. Achievements, you see, are not accidents of history. They spill out of an inner fire that compels us. Passion will enable you to reach higher than you have ever reached. Passion will enable you to leap farther than you have ever leapt and to run faster than you have ever run. Passion will enable you to see what has never been seen, to do what has never been done, to be what nobody has ever been. If you are pursuing a goal which you cannot pursue with passion, you are pursuing the wrong goal. You are chasing the wrong star. Listen to the call you cannot stop hearing. Drink to the thirst you cannot quench. Listen to the voice you cannot silence. Warm by the fire you cannot put out.
Live with passion. Take the risk. Love something, love somebody, with abandon. Not just your head, put your heart into it. Follow that inner fire. Inspire someone that only you can inspire. Loosen the chains of ignorance for someone that only you can loosen. Be what only you can be. Stake your life on it. Imagine the difference you can make. Imagine the hope that you can give. Imagine the hurt you can overcome. Live with an inner fire and imagine the future you can create.
GRACE.
You will not live long enough to get even. The word is grace. Resentment and anger and rage will corrode and ultimately shrivel your insides. Bitterness will shorten your life.
Grace means not allowing the external forces - - the uncertainties, the doubts, the hurtful words, the disappointments that will surely come, to define your life. Grace means forgiving somebody when he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. Grace means letting go of yesterday. Why? The present is the only moment that has a heartbeat.
The issue is not whether you will get bruised. Not at all. When you go through this intersection today, you will from time to time, feel beaten down. You will sometimes be black and blue from bumping up against one another. You will get your feelings hurt. Someone is going to speak a harsh and hateful word. Somebody is going to look down on you, thinking you can't preach because you are a woman. Somebody is going to treat you as though you are not a full and equal partner on the healthcare team. Somebody is going to think that you are not a real American because you are of Latin or Asian or African dissent. Somebody is going to think that you should be discounted because you are gay. Do not allow your competence or your compassion or your commitments to be diminished by the prejudice of those who are victims of their own fear.
Embrace the power of grace. Etch this lesson into your soul before you leave this intersection today: Learn to live with grace. You will not live long enough to get even.
As we walked off the stage after receiving our diplomas, we were handed a napkin. Dr. Godsey had personally handwritten on over 1000 Mr. B’s Bistro napkins for each graduate.
Coincidentally, today was my first day at Grady so reading over Dr. Godsey’s comments comes at the perfect time. I know that the next year holds challenges for me as I begin mastering my chosen art. I cannot imagine being more excited about doing anything else, though. I obviously don’t know where my career and family will take me in the future, but I am making a promise to myself that I do it with thought, passion and grace.
Thank you, Dr. Godsey, for the motivation to venture into the next chapter of my life. Mom and Dad, as always, thank you for the opportunity to reach this point. And Matthew, my appreciation of you is a blog post in itself for another day. Thank you for everything so far and everything we’ve got to look forward to. To the rest of my family and friends, thanks for keeping me humble and school in perspective. To my fellow first-year pharmacists, good luck to you all, and to my Grady co-residents, let’s run through this tornado of a year together!
Until next time, sending love,
The Spiveys
