Fontbonne University May 08 commencement remarks submitted by Mr. James Buford, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis.

President Golden, Chairman Ferry, Members of the Board, Distinguished Faculty and Staff, Proud and Relieved Parents, Calm and Serene Grandparents, Distracted but Secrectly Pleased Siblings, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Graduating Seniors, Recipients of Advanced Degrees

Good Morning and Thank You for this Great Honor. I Am Also Deeply Honored That You Have Asked Me Here To Say A Few Words At This Momentous Occasion

You Might Find What I Have To Say Worthy Of Your Attention On So Important A Day. I Am Aware That I Am The Only One Standing Between You Receiving Your Diplomas, So I Say To You As Dr. Martin Luther King Said In One Of His Famous Sermons, Asking African Americans - When Equality Would Come, “How Long, Not Long”! Or As Marilyn Monroe Said To Her Fifth Husband, “I Don’t Plan To Keep You Long”.

But I Want First Of All To Say What Is Quite Right And Fitting At This Moment. Heartiest Congratulations To All Of You Who Are Graduating. It Is A Splendid, Splendid Achievement, And I Know That You Are Going To Keep Getting Applause. But I’d Like To Suggest To This Great Gathering, That We Ought To Give Them A Wonderful Round Of Applause. Thank You.

It Is Very, Very Richly Deserved, And I Have No Doubt At All That All Of You Are Going To Make A Very Significant Contribution To The World Out There. I Would Ask The Graduating Class Of 2008, To Stand And Salute All Those Who Helped You On This Journey, Be It Family, Friends, Faculty, Whoever, Please Give Them A Hearty Thank You By Applause. Thank You!

Just Remember No One Makes This Journey Of Life Alone, No One Never Has, And No One Ever Will, Remember That As You Move Forward!
I Have History Here At This Great Institution Being A Former Member Of The Council Of Regents And A Guest Lecturer To Several Classes. My Family Has History Here, My Wife, Susan, Received Her Bachelor And Masters Degree From Fontbonne As Well As My Mother-In-Law, Nan, Who Was Awarded Her Bachelor Degree Here.

President Golden Serves On The Urban League Board Of Directors Has Chaired Our Education Committee And Is Also A Member. So Needless To Say I Fell Right At Home.

I Would Like To Publicly Congratulate Dr. Golden on Receiving The Norman Stack Award for Diversity From The Jewish Community Relations Council. It Is Truly A Great Honor And Doesn’t Come Easy! Nor Given Lightly!

I Commend Fontbonne University On The Completion And Adoption Of Its Fourth Strategic Plan From 2008-2011 – That Says ”We Will Integrate Our Mission, Vision, Values, Commitment Statement And Catholic Identity Into All That We Do” This Goal Is Supplemented By Sub-Goals – Academic Excellence, Diversity, Service, Community, Justices, Faith.

It Is In That Vein That My Remarks And Message Today We Be Focused Service, Community And Integrity Which Is Encompassed In Catholic Presence (Identity).

From Generation To Generation The World Around Us Presents New Challenges, New Pressures, And New Anxieties, And I Am Quite Sure Your Reality Is Different In Many Respects From Mine When I Was A Student In The 1960’s. No One Had Heard Of HIV and AIDS. There Was No Internet, No One Spoke Of Global Warming, There Were No Dot-Com Booms – or Busts. The Berlin Wall Had Not Yet Come Down. Apartheid Was A Way Of Life In South Africa And Nelson Mandela Was Still In Prison.

And We Were Still A Long Way From The Day That A Woman And A African-American Man Would Vie For One Party’s Nomination To Run For President Of the United States.

And Of Course There Is No Way That Any Of My Classmates or I, Back Then Could Have Imagined That On A Bright September Morning in 2001 A Group Of Terrorists Would Fly Two Airplanes Into The World Trade Center, A Third Into The Pentagon And A Fourth Into A Field In Pennsylvania Taking The Lives Of 3000 American Civilian’s And Setting This Country On A Course That Has Challenged Our Fundamental Values.

Yes, The World Is Different From When I Was Graduating And In Many Ways It Feels More Dangerous. But One Thing We Share Is That Each Of Us Has A Choice About How We Will Respond To These Dangers And Challenges, And About What Kind Of Leaders We Elect To Be.
Please Note, I Did Not Say We Had A Choice As To Whether You Lead, Because You Have A Responsibility To Lead, “From Those, To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected” Your Choice Is What Kind Of Leader Will You Be.

What Each Of Us Do With Our Gifts And Talents And Positions In Life Is Our Message To The World. Let Me Be Clear That I Am Not Asking Every One Of You To Take On A Life Of Sacrifice And Travel Around The World Curing Diseases, Negotiating Peace Agreements, Feeding The Poor, Tending To The Sick, Defending The Imprisoned – Although I Sure Hope Some Of You Will.

What I Am Asking Of Each Of You - Is That As You Engage In The World You Ask Yourself – What Is My Message?

Are You Living A Life That Embraces And Defends The Dignity Of All Human Beings? What Do You Do When Subtle And Not So Subtle Discriminatory Comments Are Made Against People Who Are Gay or Disabled or Black or Brown or Yellow or Fat In Your Workplace, In Your Neighborhood, or At A Dinner Party? Do You Speak Up? Do You Speak Out? Do You Play It Safe? Do You Lead By Example - In The End, “Martin Luther King Said “We Will Remember Not The Words Of Our Enemies, But The Silence Of Our Friends” Silence, It Seems To Me, Is A Message That Speaks Volumes.

Are You Someone Who Finds Ways To Experience Other Cultures, Societies, And Religions Through Travel, It Is Difficult To Understand And Respect Other Cultures If You Have Never Experienced Any Other Than Your Own. Are You Reading At Least One Credible Newspaper Everyday To Keep Up With What Is Going On In The World. Hundreds Of Thousands Of People Have Been Slaughtered In Darfur. All Of Us Have A Responsibility To Know That It Is Happening, To Care About The Impact Of Our Action Or Our Inaction?

Are Your Ready To Lead?

Are You Registered To Vote And Are You Voting In Local And National Elections? Big Decisions Are Being Made At The National Level That Will Shape Our Future As A Country And As A Society, And At the State And Local Level Decisions Are Made Every Day That Have Direct Impact On The Communities In Which We Live. Are You Ready To Lead?

In Some Very Real Sense, Our Vote Is Our Message.

The Point I Am Trying To Make Is That No Matter What You Choose To Do Professionally – It Is How You Live Your Life That Will Be Your Message. And The Great Thing About Being Human Is That We All Get To Deliver Our Life Message In Our Own Way And In Our Own Style. No One Can, Or Should, Script This For Your. It’s All Your Call.

But Again, You All Must Play, You All Must Act, You All Must Lead.

Not Necessarily As President Of Fontbonne Or President Of The Urban League But As President & CEO Of Your Life.

Remember Your Life Is Your Message!

Your Life Must Be Guided By Integrity Adherence To Moral And Ethical Principles: Soundness Of Moral Character; Honesty. The State Of Being Whole, Entire Or Undiminished. A Sound, Unimpaired or Perfect Condition. As President of The League I Serve As Administer, Educator, Politician, Fiscal Officer, Civil Rights Leader, Community Leader, Fundraiser, Communicator. Often These Responsibilities Conflict, But To Me It Has Never Been A Problem, Because Integrity Rules, “Never What Is Best But What Is Right”

To Quote Yogi Berra “Hold Onto Your Integrity, Ladies and Gentlemen It’s the One Thing Your Really Need To Have; If You Don’t Have It, That’s Why You Need It! Work Hard To Reach Your Goals, And If You Can’t Reach Them, Use A Ladder. Keep The Faith And Follow The Commandments: Do No Covet Thy Neighbors Wife, Unless She Has Nothing Else To Wear. Treat Others Before You Treat Yourself, As Franklin Eleanor Roosevelt Said, “The Only Thing You Have To Fear Is Beer Itself.

But on a More Serious Note, The Fall 2008 Theme For Fontbonne University’s Dedicated Semester Is “Goals For World Change”
I Commend Fontbonne’s Faculty For Taking On The World’s Worst Inequities. For Having The Vision to Encourage Fontbonne Students To Learn About The Depth Of Global Poverty, The Prevalence Of World Hunger, The Scarcity Of Clean Water Or Children Who Die From Diseases We Can Cure. Don’t Let Complexity Stop You. Be Activists, Take On Big Inequities. It Will Be One Of The Great Experiences Of Your Lives!

You Graduates Are Coming Of Age In An Amazing Time. As you Leave Fontbonne, You Have Technology That Members Of My Class Never Have. You Have Awareness of Global Inequity, Which We Did Not Have.

And With That Awareness, You Likely Also Have An Informed Conscience That Will Torment You If you Abandon These People Whose Lives You Could Change With Very Little Effort.

This I Define As Service To The Community With Integrity With A Catholic Identity And/Or Presence. We Can Make Market Forces Work Better For the Poor If We Can Develop A More Creative Capitalism – If We Can Stretch The Reach Of Market Forces So That More People Can Make A Profit, Or At Least Make A Living, Serving People Who Are Suffering From The Worst Inequities. We Can Also Pressure Governments Around The World To Spend Taxpayer Money In Ways That Better Reflect The Values Of The People Who Pay The Taxes. If We Can Find Approaches That Meet The Needs Of The Poor In Ways That Generate Profits For Business And Votes For Politician’s, We Will Have Found A Sustainable Way To Reduce Inequity In The World. I Am Optimistic We Can Do This,

But I Talk To Skeptics Who Claim There Is No Hope. They Say “Inequity Has Been With Us Since The Beginning, And Will Be With Us Till The End-Because People Just Don’t Care”

I Completely Disagree

I Believe We Have More Care Than We Know What To Do With. All Of Us Here Today, At One Time Or Another, Have Seen Human Tragedies That Broke Our Hearts, And Yet We Did Nothing – Not Because We Didn’t Care, But Because We Didn’t Know What To Do. If We Had Known How To Help, We Would Have Acted. The Barrier To Change Is Not Too Little Caring; It Is Too Much Complexity.

When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It! (Yogi, Again) Fontbonne Class of 2008, You Have Been Trained, You Know How, You Care, You Must Take It! You Must Lead.

And I Hope You Will Come Back To Fontbonne 30 Years From Now and Reflect On What You Have Done With Your Talent And Your Energy. I Hope You Will Judge Yourselves Not On Your Professional Achievements Alone, But Also How Well You Have Addressed Human Kind’s Deepest Inequities, On How Well You Treated People Who Have Nothing In Common With You But Their Humanity!!!!

Good Luck And God Bless!

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