John Carlin, former Governor of Kansas and former National Archivist-Bethany College Commencement Speaker, May 20, 2007.

 

YOUR   FUTURE   IS   UP   TO   YOU

Dr. Vogel, graduates, families of graduates, faculty, alums, friends. It is a real pleasure to be with you on this 126^th commencement for Bethany College and I’ll get back to the many reasons for that in just a moment.

 

But first, I want to recognize and ask you to join me   in showing  appreciation for the incredible job done in a short but exciting few months by  Bob Vogel and his wife Sally.   Bob, I’ve enjoyed getting acquainted and watching the excitement you have brought that gives us all growing confidence about the future.  From all Bethany supporters we say thanks and wish you and Sally    the very best upon your return to Colorado.

 

Next, I obviously need to say a very sincere thanks for the honorary doctorate I just received.    Having grown up in this community  and with family ties to Bethany, it is today and will always be very special for me to have this formal connection.  And it is a nice complement to my B.S.  Dairy Science degree from K-State which turned out to be so helpful in politics. Who knows where this honorary degree might lead?

 

Now to the real business at hand   and our 2007 graduates. As I worked to prepare my remarks for today,  thinking about how special you all must feel,  not just about today, but your years here at Bethany,  I got to thinking about the connections I’ve had over the years with Bethany College.

Reaffirming my age  I remember in the late 40's early 50's watching   Dave Anderson play basketball   in the old wood frame building moved from Camp Phillips after WWII.   I  was in the audience here in Presser in 1962 when real  lightning and thunder performed perfectly for the Bach performance on Good Friday and again later in that decade to see former Miss Kansas and then  Miss America.

 

With my father on the Bethany Board in the 70's  I have many memories tied to the tenure of Dr. Arvin Hahn, including watching the patience of Dr. Elmer Copley on the ever so slight delay of the King of Sweden’s   arrival April 17^th 1976.  I was here for the Messiah in 1981  and an extended interview with Jim Leher on PBS due to a tornado warning. And then in more recent years, I’ve served on President Forno’s advisory committee.

 

Which brings us back to here and now.  Commencement addresses are not, at least for me, easy. I’ve never heard of anyone going to a commencement ceremony for the speaker.  We go for you the graduates. We’re either parents, siblings, extended family or close friends or have ties to the institution that requires our attendance. So being the speaker for any graduation is a real challenge.

 

 In fact, the only commencement address  in which I’ve ever felt real success was in the early 80's at the University of Kansas when I quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson and I quote  “The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it” unquote.   I said that they had, congratulated the class and sat down, all in less than 45 seconds. Got a standing ovation. But that won’t work here today.  I’ve got some things I want to say and I’m going to say them.

 

And to start, I want to congratulate you graduates - you have achieved something worth celebrating.  I want to add my thanks to your  families,  your professors, and the many others who helped make it all possible.  And let’s not forget the scholarship providers and loan officers who played their role as well. This is a day you will long remember and you should.   It is special,   marking an  ending and a beginning, and hopefully will be a link that always keeps you tied to Bethany College.

 

If the talent on display here today is in any way representative of the skills of this class, your contribution to your families, your communities, and your society will be great.

 

And as I look over the class and the advance information provided, one thing that stands out   is the diversity of this class in so many ways,  including several foreign students.  Let me tell you, you will never regret having had that kind of experience, for the real world you enter is global and diverse.

 

Which leads to the importance of lifelong learning.  That may seem obvious, but I can’t stress it enough.  What we celebrate today, your graduation, is an important milestone in your lifetime education. The world is changing very fast. The explosion of knowledge grows geometrically and competition is world wide and intense.

 

So I’m talking about way more then additional degrees or certificates.  I’m talking about what you need to learn each and every day.   From my years of experience in agriculture and public service,  I can assure you that  your ability to succeed in whatever field you are about to enter - whether that be teaching, business,  management,  the criminal justice system  or post graduate study, will depend heavily on your capacity to make learning a daily habit.  Thankfully,  the opportunities to learn have never been greater given our Internet-connected world.   What it does  require is your willingness  to be open to learning.  In some cases that is as simple as listening.                                                                                                                                           

The next thought I share has to do with leadership.  I’ll  assume for the moment that your leadership skills were at least  somewhat  honed during  your Bethany years. What I want to say today is continue to find ways to further develop those skills for the world has a huge void when it comes to true leadership.  When you live in a time of fast change and huge competition,      there are significant changes everywhere that need to be made  and will only be made if true leadership is brought to bear.

 

And the opportunities for change are out there waiting for  you to step up and accept responsibility.   I can assure you additional  success if you, for example,  know the basics of running a meeting, understand critical and strategic thinking, are a good listener, know why groupthink is so bad, and have the capacity to make sound decisions,  among many other skills.  If so, you will find opportunities to lead,  contribute,  and truly make a difference in your workplaces and communities.   That will be good for us all and all our futures.

And finally and for me the most important,  I’m here today to challenge each and every one of you to be good citizens of this shrinking world.   Like never before the world desperately needs your generation to step up,  participate, demand answers to critical questions, not just vote but bring others along and help lead the way.  I can assure you that when the younger generation does just that, public officials will be there to listen and respond for you can be the votes that make the difference, which means both sides of the aisle will be courting you.  Just make sure they earn your vote and support.

 

As I look back on my years in politics and ponder the current state of politics in this country, I find it easy to be frustrated and pessimistic about the future.   With 24-7 news cycles, intense partisanship,  and voter apathy  combined with huge structural challenges, it is not easy to paint a positive picture.  I am old enough to remember former Kansas Senator Bob Dole saying after an election, we now have eighteen months, a window of opportunity to do the public’s business,     before politics again returns.

 

There is no window today, particularly in Washington, not even one day.   The next election and partisan politics start  immediately.  And that means there is not  much of a chance of solving some of our real long-term problems.  If an initiative isn’t going to show positive results  before election day and particularly if it requires new revenue, it almost always doesn’t get done.

 

Now to be fair, we can’t put all the blame on elected officials.  For after all we the people elected them. But regardless how we sort the blame,  this does help explain why addressing complex problems like global warming, the energy crisis, declining ground water, our crumbling infrastructure, the challenges in our rural communities, and global competition get little real  attention beyond the rhetoric.

 

 And you, you graduates, have the most at stake.  People my age can slide through with the status quo. But you and the generations that follow you face real negative consequences without changes.   As a grandparent, I’m worried about the kind of world that will be facing my grandchildren when they graduate from college.  I believe you, the younger generation, can make a difference about what kind of world that will be.  Remember Emerson and the reward of a thing well done is to have done it.  Now go do it.  Be the we the people that makes a true difference.

 

A few months ago the nation celebrated the life of the 38^th President of the United States, Gerald Ford, a truly decent man.  As Archivist, I had the pleasure of getting to know him, as I was responsible for his Museum and Library in Michigan.  Shortly after his passing, notes from several private conversations with respected journalists were released consistent with the President’s instructions.  Given the candid advice they contained, I only wished that they had been shared earlier for more timely impact.

 

Knowing no one is lined up to interview me for thoughts to be released upon my death, there is something else I want to say and will.

 

 For Bethany College this is no ordinary time.  Challenges abound.  From the infrastructure to the budget to the recruitment of students, there is much to do and at a time when small liberal arts colleges face competition like never before.

 

Very soon there will be announced  the person who has been selected to be the next President of Bethany College.  Over the years Bethany has been blessed with many good and sometimes great leaders and as well outstanding  faculty members, students, and supporters.   Anyone within the sound of my voice who assumes that Bethany will just keep going forward, that we’ve had a crisis from time to time before, and we’ll survive because we always have, is wrong.

 

The next few years are critical ones.   The shrinking Internet-based world has changed the whole ball game.  What we need is not just a good president  but a great one.  I pray that be the case but I must add, even a great one must have followers and supporters of high quality to succeed.   In teaching leadership I put much emphasis on the role and responsibility of followers  to not just follow but sometimes lead as well.

 

This audience represents people truly interested in Bethany’s future.  We must all be prepared to step up now,  not just wait and see.  We don’t have that luxury.  And that means you new graduates have a role as well. You are the latest class of ambassadors for Bethany to scatter across the globe. Your performance and your speaking up for Bethany can and will make a difference.

 

I often think of the two friends in Kansas City who always  enjoyed attending the Saturday night fights at the old Memorial facility.  One was a Catholic Priest  and the other a Jewish Rabbi.   On a particular Saturday night just before  the start of the fourth match one of the fighters went to his corner and crossed himself, to which the rabbi asked his friend the priest, what does that mean?    To which the priest replied:  it doesn’t mean a damn thing if he can’t fight.

 

As I said earlier,  these diplomas won’t mean much if you don’t continually build upon them.   And there might not  be a Bethany College unless everyone who cares steps up and delivers.

 

Now,  I’m an optimist by nature, so I don’t want to leave you on a negative note  for I believe the right things will get done and in thinking that way, I can’t help but recall the experience my long time friend and optimist Joe Ericson had a number of years ago. I’ve told this many times but given Joe farmed around here I can’t miss this opportunity.