Choose Virtue Over Vulgarity

This website is not a political forum. Yet, when the country (and world) is facing an existential threat, to be silent would be complicit. Spirituality and politics might seem to exist on two very different plains. To the awakened, conscious person, it is clear that they are very much intertwined. To the awakened person, all is connected.

Ken Burns, American film maker known for his documentaries and TV series, is a profoundly awakened and insightful man whose undergraduate commencement address just weeks ago to the 2024 graduating class at Brandeis University speaks convincingly of the connection. He included another voice that speaks to this, philosopher and historian during the revolution, Mercy Otis Warren, “...when the checks of conscience are thrown aside, humanity is obscured.”

Below are a few excerpts from his address.
 
The presumptive Republican nominee is the opioid of all opioids, an easy cure for what some believe is the solution to our myriad pains and problems. When in fact with him, you end up re-enslaved with an even bigger problem, a worse affliction and addiction, "a bigger delusion", James Baldwin would say, the author and finisher of our national existence, our national suicide as Mr. Lincoln prophesies. Do not be seduced by easy equalization. There is nothing equal about this equation. We are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives. This is a choice that could not be clearer.

Choose honor over hypocrisy, virtue over vulgarity, discipline over dissipation, character over cleverness, sacrifice over self-indulgence. Do not lose your enthusiasm, in its Greek etymology the word enthusiasm means simply, "god in us". Serve your country. Insist that we fight the right wars. Denounce oppression everywhere.

Speaking directly to the graduating class.

Watch out, here comes the advice. Listen. Be curious, not cool. Insecurity makes liars of us all. Remember, none of us get out of here alive. The inevitable vicissitudes of life, no matter how well gated our communities, will visit us all. Grief is a part of life, and if you explore its painful precincts, it will make you stronger. Do good things, help others. Leadership is humility and generosity squared. Remember the opposite of faith is not doubt. Doubt is central to faith. The opposite of faith is certainty. The kinship of the soul begins with your own at times withering self-examination. Try to change that unchangeable human nature of Ecclesiastes, but start with you. "Nothing so needs reforming," Mark Twain once chided us, "As other people's habits." 

To read or listen to the full commencement address go to:

     Text -  https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/unum
     Video -  https://www.brandeis.edu/commencement/2024/burns.html