Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Will the graduates to the degree of Bachelor of Arts please rise?
>>FERGUSON: This has been an exciting year at Grinnell College
as we've been celebrating our sesquicentennial.
I hope that with the celebration,
you have discovered that we cannot create a future
without conserving and celebrating the past.
150 years ago, when Grinnell College was being born,
the slogan nearly every American touted was Manifest Destiny.
It was coined in 1845 by John Sullivan, a New York publisher,
who believed that the United States was destined to expand to the annexation territories.
Today, the notion behind that original slogan is unthinkeable
because of the human toll the road before that Manifest Destiny took.
150 years after that slogan became popular,
your generation has been accused of being cynical and selfish,
when in truth you are generous, talented, compassionate,
and committed to your community.
Designing the future is a mission.
Each day is a journey.
And every generation needs a Manifest Destiny to move toward that future.
Your Manifest Destiny, I believe, is to expand the human spirit.
The world needs your talent and your wisdom,
but most of all your humanity.
I encourage you to continually look back as you look to the forefront.
Life is a process.
Everything that happens in your life
is an integral part of your becoming a valuable citizen
with your own special talents and creativity.
Please, if everyone would now stand to recieve a benediction
from Chaplain Dennis Haas, who is retiring from the College Chaplaincy
with our deep gratitude and admiration after 30 years of service.