Dr. Parris, Mr. Clark, and the teachers and staff of the Choir Academy of Harlem thank you for welcoming back home. To the class of 2009, I thank you so very much for the opportunity to address you today, as you make your transition toward higher education. I sincerely hope that my words and the words of the other distinguished speakers here this morning will not fall upon deaf ears, hardened hearts, or hard heads, but, rather minds and hearts that are eager to absorb and even, test, that which we hope will more than inspire you, but, empower you. I must confess, when this opportunity was presented to me, I erred like so many of your elders do. I thought to myself, “What have I to say to a group of Jr. High Schoolers…will my words even matter to them?” However, the Holy Spirit quickly arrested me. How dare I even have such a thought? How dare I, of all people, despise your youth?
One of the great dilemmas of age is memory loss. As the Holy Spirit rebuked me, he reminded me of our own personal heritage which overflows with the souls of brave and innovative young men and women, who literally changed the course of history and transformed the destiny of billions. How could I have forgotten that it has always been the young who have redeemed that which their elders have broken?
Was it not the blood of a fourteen year old, named Emmitt Till who set the so called Civil Rights Movement on an irrevocable course? Was it not the courage of nine Arkansas students and many like them through out the United States, both north and south that made it possible for you and me to be educated in any institution of our choosing? Was it not the voice and stature of a young preacher, from Atlanta, GA, who entered college at age fifteen and received his PhD by the age of 26, a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who would become the pre eminent figure of the Civil Rights Movement? Were revolutionary organizations like the Freedom Riders, the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party and a whole host of other missions not founded and led by innovative and courageous youths?So you see, it is and it has always been the young who have perpetually reset the world upon its righteous axis. For the Bible is true when it declares, “…a child shall lead them…” Therefore, I stand here repented and humbled as I speak to you today.
One of the great dilemmas of age is memory loss. As the Holy Spirit rebuked me, he reminded me of our own personal heritage which overflows with the souls of brave and innovative young men and women, who literally changed the course of history and transformed the destiny of billions. How could I have forgotten that it has always been the young who have redeemed that which their elders have broken?
Was it not the blood of a fourteen year old, named Emmitt Till who set the so called Civil Rights Movement on an irrevocable course? Was it not the courage of nine Arkansas students and many like them through out the United States, both north and south that made it possible for you and me to be educated in any institution of our choosing? Was it not the voice and stature of a young preacher, from Atlanta, GA, who entered college at age fifteen and received his PhD by the age of 26, a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who would become the pre eminent figure of the Civil Rights Movement? Were revolutionary organizations like the Freedom Riders, the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party and a whole host of other missions not founded and led by innovative and courageous youths?So you see, it is and it has always been the young who have perpetually reset the world upon its righteous axis. For the Bible is true when it declares, “…a child shall lead them…” Therefore, I stand here repented and humbled as I speak to you today.
The world does not give you enough credit. Far too many of us, even have the audacity to unload societies ills upon you. As if you created unjust wars. As if you are the ones who have practiced insatiable greed, sending our economic well being into a tail spin. As if you are the ones who have abused the earth and its precious resources. As if you are the ones who find it economically sound to build more prisons as opposed to state of the art schools. No, we foolishly believe if you would just pull your pants up and wear a belt, not say the “N” word so much, maybe turn down that rap music all would be well with the world.
No! You are not the blame. However, you are, as history has so vividly proven, the redeemers. Therefore, you have no right to live beneath yourselves. For within every single one of you resides the Kingdom of God, and within every single one of you lives the courage, the genius, and the power of our ancestors. Your life is not your own. You do not have the luxury or comfort of mediocrity. You do not have the option of the wide and winding road. Yours must be the straight and narrow path. Your eyes must look straight ahead, neither looking to the right nor to the left, yours must be firm steps. You must stand on solid ground. For “the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” [1]
You do not reserve the right to live lives which are tossed and turned by every passing wind. For your way has been paved with much pain and much blood, by young and old alike; men and women, boys and girls, who stood on solid ground and would not be moved. You are to use your life as a sacred light for others and the generations to come, just as our fore bearers did for us. It is how the world goes round. In this perilous age of me, where many are dutiful disciples of the religion of self such a thought is virtually unheard of. I needn’t tell you of the vile outcome of such a belief. You see it played out in the media everyday. You see it on your way to school or on your way home.
Able bodied men and women so immersed in their blaring IPODS they can hardly think to offer their seats to an elderly person, the infirmed, or a woman with child. Elected officials who are so enamored with power that they neglect to lead those whom they are entrusted to serve. Marriages and families are disrupted and destroyed because somebody’s bored. A justice system which caters to people of means or worse regards the life of a pit bull with more empathy than that of a man struck down by a drunk driver. Law enforcement which murders Black and Brown with impunity, even within their own ranks. We have become a society negligent of the most transcending law, the most transcending religion, and the most transcending governance of all…love.
No! You are not the blame. However, you are, as history has so vividly proven, the redeemers. Therefore, you have no right to live beneath yourselves. For within every single one of you resides the Kingdom of God, and within every single one of you lives the courage, the genius, and the power of our ancestors. Your life is not your own. You do not have the luxury or comfort of mediocrity. You do not have the option of the wide and winding road. Yours must be the straight and narrow path. Your eyes must look straight ahead, neither looking to the right nor to the left, yours must be firm steps. You must stand on solid ground. For “the integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.” [1]
You do not reserve the right to live lives which are tossed and turned by every passing wind. For your way has been paved with much pain and much blood, by young and old alike; men and women, boys and girls, who stood on solid ground and would not be moved. You are to use your life as a sacred light for others and the generations to come, just as our fore bearers did for us. It is how the world goes round. In this perilous age of me, where many are dutiful disciples of the religion of self such a thought is virtually unheard of. I needn’t tell you of the vile outcome of such a belief. You see it played out in the media everyday. You see it on your way to school or on your way home.
Able bodied men and women so immersed in their blaring IPODS they can hardly think to offer their seats to an elderly person, the infirmed, or a woman with child. Elected officials who are so enamored with power that they neglect to lead those whom they are entrusted to serve. Marriages and families are disrupted and destroyed because somebody’s bored. A justice system which caters to people of means or worse regards the life of a pit bull with more empathy than that of a man struck down by a drunk driver. Law enforcement which murders Black and Brown with impunity, even within their own ranks. We have become a society negligent of the most transcending law, the most transcending religion, and the most transcending governance of all…love.
If you retain anything you hear here today, let it be this: “Love never fails.” Governments, religions, laws, families, talents, education, etc. all fail. For without love, the aforementioned are frustrated shells of the human imagination. But it is in love and through love that all things are perfected. Governments are neither established nor maintained by military might or opulent wealth, but, from the loving and active will of the people. Religion with its holy sacraments and rituals account for nothing without a heart lovingly bent toward justice, mercy, and truth. Without love laws are hollow legalized, burdens which lack the power to edify or change the offender. Without love a family is merely a house of strangers, talents lie dormant and unfulfilled, and education is empty and often dangerous scholarship used to serve one’s whims. Let all your doings, let all your pursuits be girded with love. There is no other way.
During your young lives you’ve bore witness to an extraordinary happening. Something many even my age have never, ever thought possible in the United States of America. The election of our nation’s first African American President, Barack Obama. Our hearts were lifted and our eyes were opened to a new day brimming with unseen possibilities. However, in your enthusiasm I urge you to see our 44th President for who he is, a symbol. A dynamic and long awaited, symbol of all that should be possible in accordance with the very words of our nation’s most treasured documents. The Dream has not been fulfilled, a great milestone, yes, but, there is still so much work to be done, and our President cannot do it alone. Every hand, young and old, is needed. Parents, now more than ever your children need you. Now is not the time to surrender them to a system of strangers.
As you move onward and upward toward higher education, count it as a privilege, better yet, as a blessing that someone you have never known, thought so fondly of you to risk their lives so that you might pursue a life they would never know. They fought, they marched, they bled, they died, and they endured because they understood that education is the great equalizer. Therefore, in tribute to that boy or girl who could not even fathom the opportunities you now have, commit yourselves to excellence, in all that you do. For the generations that will follow, set a steep standard. Give them something to aspire to. Expect and accept nothing less from yourselves. And please do remember, your education far exceeds the classroom. Experience, absorb, and learn all that you can. Know who you are! You can never love what you don’t know.
I assure you that contrary to popular opinion you will be more than delighted to find that you descend from a proud, fierce, innovative, and ingenious people, whose contributions to the world far exceed the myths and lies you are oft bombarded with. Let no one tell you different, it was their genius, even more so than their bodies that built this nation. Get to know them and you will be amazed at how much you are like them.
Let no one despise your youth, not even you. It is never too early to matter. Genius has no time frame. How zealous the world is to speak of the worst of you. Hardly will you ever hear of the likes of entrepreneur, Farrah Gray; who, despite growing up in the heart of Chicago’s most notorious slums became a multi-millionaire by the age of 14. These are incredible times in which you live. The world has changed dramatically, and your youth affords you the opportunity to see it unfold. You are so very blessed. Not only will you witness the evolution of your brave new world, you will likely be the generation that drives those changes. This is the age when great legacies are born; when history is written and the great lives of the age have their stories told. This is the time when immortality happens.
During your young lives you’ve bore witness to an extraordinary happening. Something many even my age have never, ever thought possible in the United States of America. The election of our nation’s first African American President, Barack Obama. Our hearts were lifted and our eyes were opened to a new day brimming with unseen possibilities. However, in your enthusiasm I urge you to see our 44th President for who he is, a symbol. A dynamic and long awaited, symbol of all that should be possible in accordance with the very words of our nation’s most treasured documents. The Dream has not been fulfilled, a great milestone, yes, but, there is still so much work to be done, and our President cannot do it alone. Every hand, young and old, is needed. Parents, now more than ever your children need you. Now is not the time to surrender them to a system of strangers.
As you move onward and upward toward higher education, count it as a privilege, better yet, as a blessing that someone you have never known, thought so fondly of you to risk their lives so that you might pursue a life they would never know. They fought, they marched, they bled, they died, and they endured because they understood that education is the great equalizer. Therefore, in tribute to that boy or girl who could not even fathom the opportunities you now have, commit yourselves to excellence, in all that you do. For the generations that will follow, set a steep standard. Give them something to aspire to. Expect and accept nothing less from yourselves. And please do remember, your education far exceeds the classroom. Experience, absorb, and learn all that you can. Know who you are! You can never love what you don’t know.
I assure you that contrary to popular opinion you will be more than delighted to find that you descend from a proud, fierce, innovative, and ingenious people, whose contributions to the world far exceed the myths and lies you are oft bombarded with. Let no one tell you different, it was their genius, even more so than their bodies that built this nation. Get to know them and you will be amazed at how much you are like them.
Let no one despise your youth, not even you. It is never too early to matter. Genius has no time frame. How zealous the world is to speak of the worst of you. Hardly will you ever hear of the likes of entrepreneur, Farrah Gray; who, despite growing up in the heart of Chicago’s most notorious slums became a multi-millionaire by the age of 14. These are incredible times in which you live. The world has changed dramatically, and your youth affords you the opportunity to see it unfold. You are so very blessed. Not only will you witness the evolution of your brave new world, you will likely be the generation that drives those changes. This is the age when great legacies are born; when history is written and the great lives of the age have their stories told. This is the time when immortality happens.
Who will tell your story? Whose life will you inspire? This is your moment. Don’t you dare waste it!
God bless you! God Bless the United States of America, and, may the God of mercy and truth prosper you and all your ways.
Thank You.
God bless you! God Bless the United States of America, and, may the God of mercy and truth prosper you and all your ways.
Thank You.
[1] Proverbs 11:3
Copyright 2009 Johnathan L. Iverson Baptiste
No comments:
Post a Comment