2005 Commencement Address
Brewton Parker College
by Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia
May 14, 2005

Dr. Davis, members of the faculty and staff, trustees, guests, graduates-to-be and their families -- thank you for your warm welcome. It’s an honor to be with you today at Brewton Parker. Rest assured I know my remarks delay the award of diplomas. So I intend to follow Winston Churchill’s sage advice to those speaking at occasions like this: "Say what you have to say, and the first time you come to a sentence with a grammatical ending, sit down!"

Let me begin by offering my congratulations to each of the soon-to-be-graduates. You have earned your degree from a fine institution. You have the right to be proud. You owe yourselves a round of applause.

Each of you knows that this day would not have been possible without the love and support of the faculty and staff of Brewton Parker and, most importantly, without the love and support of your family and friends, many of whom are here today. Let’s give them a round of applause as well.

The knowledge you have learned at Brewton Parker is important. But what you ask of yourself and others throughout your life is even more important. Always inquire. Always be curious, never complacent. Always be awed by the world around you. Be precise in your use of language. Thirst for knowledge. Be open to voices that make you uncomfortable. Never be complacent.
I could go on with advice particular to education. But I want to dwell on a larger subject, something critical to you and to others.

This afternoon I will be at Fort Stewart with the 48th Combat Brigade Team of Georgia’s National Guard. I’ll be attending a graduation ceremony of another sort. The more than 4,000 soldiers of the 48th have completed their training and are about to be deployed to Iraq, to Baghdad, in service to our country, in service to each of us as citizens, in service to each of you. They leave behind their loved ones and face the certainty of long hours, discomfort, loneliness, boredom and fear. They also face the certainty that many of them will be wounded, some will be killed.

I’m not scheduled to address the 48th this afternoon. But if I have an opportunity to speak, I will acknowledge all of the challenges they are facing, including the possibility of combat wounds or death. Then I will tell them that, as I look at them, I see myself at a younger age, a time that seems not long ago, a time when I traveled the same paths they are about to travel. On behalf of our country, I will thank them for the gift they give to each of us, the gift of their service. Then I will tell them something counter intuitive. I will tell them that the gift they give us, the gift of their service, is also a gift to themselves.

I say the same to you. I’ve traveled many of the paths you will travel. My age gives me a perspective I did not have when I was younger, a perspective many of you may not yet have. I know now something I didn’t fully appreciate when I was much younger. I know that the service I have provided to others during my lifetime, whether small or large, is not only a gift to those I serve but also a gift to me. With time I’ve come to learn the truth of the words of that old spiritual: “If I can help somebody as I pass along then my living shall not be in vain.”

Any Believer, no matter the faith, knows that the joy and fulfillment we humans receive from lives of service to others is a God given character trait. No one can study the Bible, the Talmud, or the Koran without reaching that conclusion.

But you needn’t be a Believer to understand the Darwinian logic valuing individual service to the whole. Robert Wright makes the case brilliantly in his 1996 book Non Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny. The most successful human civilizations were peopled by individuals effective at cooperating with one another. Those whose members did not serve one another died out. Those whose members served others lived on.

All of us, each of you, are the genetic product of a process that values individual service to the whole as a character trait critical to social survival.

Listen to these words from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

What is success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
That is to have succeeded.

I was working last Saturday afternoon, as usual. By the way, that’s good, not bad. I was in my office in Macon sorting through correspondence, and I was struck by an appeal I had received from an organization calling itself the United Jewish Community. You’re all familiar with Lance Armstrong’s yellow rubber band bracelet that says “Livestrong.” I read just yesterday that this campaign has raised nearly $50 million dollars to fight cancer. Since I received my yellow ribbon months ago, I’ve received a lot of copy cat ribbons. I have almost ten in my desk drawer.

Well the United Jewish Campaign sent me another ribbon. It’s blue. Matches my eye color. And it says “Live Generously.”

I hope that matches my soul.

“Livestrong.” That’s a good slogan. “Live generously.” That’s a slogan to live by.

Too many of us, unfortunately, never figure it out, like the very wealthy man who died and went to heaven. He was met at the pearly gates by St. Peter who asked him why he should be admitted. The wealthy man replied “Because I have not sinned. I’ve never done anything wrong.” Well Peter looked at him incredulously and to himself thought “Yes. You’ve done something wrong. Something very wrong indeed. You’ve just lied to me in an attempt to enter Heaven.”

But Peter didn’t say what he was thinking. Instead he said “I’ve never heard of such a thing. It just doesn’t seem possible. Let me pull up your record on the celestial computer.”
With that Peter whipped out his laptop and entered the wealthy mans name. “Gees” said Peter. “I’m shocked. We have no record of you having sinned. This has only happened once before. And that was before my time at the gate. Now tell me why we should admit you to heaven.”

Startled by this request, the wealthy man replied “because I have not sinned.” “I don’t think that’s enough to get you in here” said Peter. “What good things have you done for others during your lifetime? Have you led a valuable life, a life of service?”

The wealthy man stood aside and let others pass into heaven while he dredged through his memories for a few minutes. Then he stepped back up to Peter and said that he had done some good during his life. “What was that,” asked Peter.
“Well years ago I was in New York City and I gave a dollar to a guy who was begging on the street.”

“Is that it? Anything else?”

“Well I thought of that because the exact same thing happened just before I died. I was in New York, was bugged by a street panhandler and gave him a dollar.”

“Anything else,” asked Peter. “Not that I can recall,” replied the wealthy man. “But surely I am entitled to enter heaven,” he added. “After all, I haven’t sinned and have done some good in my life.”

Peter replied “Your case is most unusual. I’ll have to check with the head man. Wait here. I’ll be back.”

So Peter goes to see the Lord and explains the situation. And the Lord says “Peter, give that guy two bucks and tell him to go to hell.”

You can do well for yourselves while doing good for others. Choose that course. The Japanese call it the Cycle of Goodness essential to the health of civilizations. And by doing good for others, you do good for yourself.

You will momentarily be graduates of Brewton Parker. You will claim her for the rest of your lives. Support her as you are able. This institution was not created and maintained on student tuition and fees alone. It would not be here today for you and won’t be here tomorrow without the generosity of alumni.

May God bless Brewton Parker, her faculty and staff. May God bless your families and each of you. And may God give each of you and each of us the gift of living generously.

Congratulations again to the Class of 2005. Go forth and live generously.