2001 senior speeches
Seeking Truth
Katherine Paschal, a Christian ministries major from Mooresville, Ind., talked about her endeavor to seek truth during Senior Chapel on April 26, 2001. She advised her classmates that truth comes from seeing the world as it is, asking hard questions and listening to the answers. Following that formula, here is the truth she has discovered so far along her journey:
In his Confessions, Augustine wrote, “I must dismiss all these futile trifles from my mind and devote myself entirely to the search for truth.”
... For the past four years, I, like Augustine before me, have sought truth. I’ve explored the meaning of reality – finding and learning to articulate beliefs and convictions I now claim as my own, apart from those of my parents, my church and my professors. Sometimes, those beliefs have been identical to the beliefs of those who have taught me; other times, I have learned to articulate and defend all I hold to be true. Regardless, I have sifted and defined my convictions during my study at AU.
During the last four years, I have come to see more than ever that Jesus Christ is the only way to find life – both abundant life here on earth and eternal life with God. The truth is, Christ came and died on the cross for our sins, even before we would have any part of him. And then he rose from the dead so that we, too, might have strength and power. But just knowing about Jesus isn’t enough. We must know him intimately. Truth is about a relationship with the one who came to earth and sacrificed everything for us. That relationship has been my stability the last four years, not because I need a religious crutch, but because I’m human and, the truth is, I cannot stand on my own. “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in one,” A.W. Tozer wrote. “Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”
… As we leave the place we have called home the last three or four or five years, we must have a foundation. I urge you to find truth in Christ. Allow yourself to be real and disillusioned. Ask the hard questions, but also hear the equally difficult answers. Grasp truth with both hands. Toward the end of his Confessions, Augustine wrote, “My belief that you existed and that our well-being was in your hands was sometimes strong, sometimes weak, but I always held to it even though I knew neither what I ought to think about your substance nor which way would lead me to you or lead me back to you.” Know the truth. Stand on it even when nothing else seems right. Truth must be our foundation as we depart AU. It is the only thing that will last.
The influence of ideas
Thomas Strow, a Bible/religion and philosophy major from Ottawa, Ill., discussed how ideas influence the world:
Ideas matter. From the early dawn of human consciousness on this planet, no single one of us has been able to escape that fact. What we choose to think has dramatic consequences not only for how each one of us sees the world, but also in shaping and determining the course of human history. It makes no difference where you were born, what race you were born, or the economic or cultural context into which you were born. Ideas will always be the axis on which civilization turns.
However, we have arrived at a new point in the prolific power of what an idea can do. The ideas of science are allowing us to gain an increasing amount of control over our lives and our environment. But, as late astronomer Carl Sagan wrote, “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which the most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology.” Add to this a philosophical theory called “post-modernism,” which in its extreme claims that there is no such thing as a fact and that there is no objective reality. The idea that we are controlling objective reality and the idea that there is no such thing as objective reality are contradictory. This is a dangerous and volatile mix, which if not checked, may lead us down the path of our own destruction. We cannot afford the choice of ignorance when it comes to the reality of science and the reality of its consequences. Nor can we afford to assume that there is some greater power that will save us from ourselves. Ideas matter.
… Our situation is such that most issues and problems facing our world today have connections to multiple disciplines and multiple ideas. These problems affect us all, so we do ourselves no favor by ignoring the ideas outside our immediate context. To this extent, we must all be scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, religion scholars, economists, political theorists, sociologists, students of medicine, literature, etc., in one form or another. We must be aware of the larger context of ideas and see how they interrelate with one another.
... One good way to broaden perspective … is to take advantage of opportunities to study other cultures. I spent a semester in Israel, and it allowed me to learn about different ideas. I was able to appreciate how the conflict in the Middle East is not just about religion, history, politics, economics, or differing philosophies. It’s about all of these things together and more. It reinforced in me that ideas do matter and that both sides need to grasp this concept, for reason ends when the violence begins. True peace comes from thinking, not from force.
… You can learn by observing variations in your own culture. I came back from Israel and spent the summer interning for the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, in Washington, D.C. I watched as the ideas that rule our society were degraded by both parties, in a cascade of media sound bytes and empty rhetoric, aimed solely at manipulating our minds for their own ends. Our government wields great power, but that power is limited by our individual ability to learn the ideas involved in any issue. I learned that if we are to rescue these ideas and our lives from those who would sacrifice them to power, political parties, and the ambiguous “common good,” we must do so not by withdrawing from the process but by taking more individual interest than ever before.
Ideas also matter because they lead to values. Everything you choose to do, every action that is done by volition, is a product of how you see the world and yourself in it. From what economic theory you espouse, to what type of music you prefer, from the meaning you put into the style of clothing you wear, to how much you exercise, is all a function of values. These values come from ideas of what is worth valuing. The point is, how we act is in direct correlation to what we think. Ideas matter. What we think matters.
The fear of complacency
Matthew Johnson, a political science and business administration major from Powell, Ohio, shared fears he faced as he prepared to leave AU. One fear was becoming so caught up in his post-AU life that he would forget those less fortunate than himself:
While in Egypt, I worked with the children of Cairo’s “Garbage City” who, except for a few hours of schooling a day, helped their families sort through the city’s trash, looking for a living in recycling. Despite the affluence of their more educated neighbors, these children were stuck in an unbreakable pattern of poverty. I also saw the shattered lives of Palestinians and their continued plight at the hands of political and social injustice.
... The knowledge of these peoples’ suffering haunts me. In addition to their concerns, I realize that they are not unique in the world. So many others suffer daily under the weight of poverty, the slavery of oppression or the threat of violence. We live in devastating times and my heart breaks for all of the injustice of the world. I cannot help but act in response.
I suppose that at one time or another, everyone thinks that he or she will be the one to change the world. So in this respect, I am not unique. However, their suffering continues to stir me on to grand ideas of faith and action to make change.
My first fear finds root in the ideals for action on their behalf — I’m scared of forgetting their need and my calling to it. … It seems far too easy to fall victim to the success-driven world, lose the dream of something bigger and end up living for scraps and second bests. Most succumb to this trap. We put in our eight hours at the office and come home to alleviate the void nothingness with movies, sitcoms and “well-deserved” rest. In the meantime, we pay lip service to God with daily “15 minutes of faith” and a weekly church visit. I fear this is what I will become.
What a horrible thing it would be to lose the desire for something greater, something deeper. In the book The Journey of Desire, Jon Elderidge writes, “The only fatal error is to pretend that we have found the life we prize. To mistake the water hole for the sea. To settle for the same old thing.” …
So in response to this fear, I want to encourage you all and myself to never settle. Never give in to the life of ease. If you find yourself in a few years sitting in that home at the end of the cul-de-sac, relaxing to sitcoms or the next James Bond flick while the Beamer sits polished in the driveway, then I congratulate you — you’ve found a life of emptiness. You’ve done your job. You’ve earned it and the world of self-gratification applauds.
The dreams of reaching those kids in Garbage City have long subsided and the world goes on. The things that you have gained aren’t so bad in themselves, but you’ve let them kill whatever passion for the world you had before. The watering hole becomes home and you mistake it for the ocean. … I urge you to keep the faith of something bigger than our smaller stories.
