As the 1,326 members of the Class of 2003 go forth beyond Yale, they have two choices about how to live their lives, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman told the graduating seniors.
One is to be a "survivor," while the other is to be a "thriver," remarked the columnist for The New York Times in his address to the soon-to-be-graduates during Class Day exercises on May 25.
"Be a thriver," he urged the seniors.
Friedman noted that while the Class of 2003 entered Yale "at the sunny dawn of a new millennium," when "Y2K" was a much-uttered numeral, they leave the campus at a time when another number -- "9/11" -- continues to dominate public thought.
The journalist offered the graduating class five "lessons" that he said would help them in their future lives in the new "Age of Terrorism" that dawned on 9/11. Being a thriver was the first of those lessons. He also exhorted the seniors to follow their hearts and do what they love, to listen well to others, to be "naïve optimists" and, finally, to call their parents regularly.
The journalist, who won two Pulitzer Prizes for international reporting and a third Pulitzer for commentary, told the class that his advice was based on what he had learned during a 20-plus-year career that has taken him frequently to the hotspots of the Middle East.
In fact, Friedman said, he was in Beirut reporting on Lebanon's civil war in the late 1970s when he first began to notice that people tended to fit into the two distinct personality types of "survivors" and "thrivers."
In war-ravaged Lebanon, survivors were those who "spent all their days worrying about every conceivable threat," said Friedman, while thrivers "learned to live with uncertainty, mainly by learning to view their environment very selectively."
To show how each group would react, he gave the example of an Israeli plane flying overhead. Survivors, fearing the plane might be carrying a bomb, would rush home to their basements in search of safety, said Friedman, while thrivers would assume that the plane was not bringing harm to them and would carry on with their activities and plans. Friedman said his "hero" of a thriver, a British salesman who lived in Lebanon after retiring, continued to play golf nearly every day despite the violence in the country.
Presenting a more recent example of a survivor mentality, the journalist described how his daughter's Washington, D.C., high school cancelled a student orchestra's annual trip to New Orleans because of the school board's fear of terrorism. Friedman described that decision as an "overreaction" that was "absolutely nuts."
Saying that "cave-dwelling" should be left to Osama bin Laden, Friedman promised the seniors that "it's never as scary out there as the newspapers say."
"There is no such thing as perfect security in today's world," the journalist told the Class of 2003. "Rational precaution should be taken, but once you've done that you basically have to decide: Am I going to sit home in the basement forever or am I going to get on with my life?
"Get on with your lives," he exhorted. "Do that trip abroad, spend that year overseas, go to that Yale Law School."
Lessons for a life of thriving
Friedman followed his appeal to the seniors to be more than survivors by telling them that the best way to thrive is to do what they most love.
Saying that the seniors come from "the most programmed generation in American history," Friedman acknowledged that following their hearts could be a challenge.
"Since kindergarten, you and your parents have been advised about how you should attend the right pre-school to get into the right elementary school, to make it the right high school, to get into the right college, so you can get the right degree, to get into the right firm, so you can start on the right career track, in order to get to the right stage to get the right promotion, so you can finally get to the right position, where you might just have some fun, but where you'll certainly earn enough money to get into the right retirement village."
His own career path, he said, was "a complete accident -- all dreams and no plans.
"I got here today by doing one thing: I followed my heart and I did what I loved without ever planning what came next. And because I did what I loved, I always loved what I did, and that is what propelled me forward."
The journalist described how unplanned but fortuitous events eventually led to his becoming a foreign correspondent for United Press International and, later, to The New York Times, where his columns appear twice weekly. "To this day," he commented, "I still can't wait to get up, get dressed and start writing. It doesn't mean I love every minute of every day of my job -- I have my frustrating moments, believe me -- but I always want to come back the next day, and that is the real test."
Equally important, particularly in the post-9/11 age, Friedman told members of the Class of 2003, is to listen well to other people.
"We Americans need to be good listeners more than ever before," he asserted. "...[W]hen you have as much overwhelming power in the world as America has today, the world is always going to oscillate between respecting you and resenting you. People who have power often don't think about it, but people who don't have power think about it all the time. ... America has spoken a lot after 9/11 with its power; now should be our season for listening."
Keep naïve hope alive
The post 9/11 world is also in need of many more "naïve optimists," Friedman told the graduating seniors. In spite of the cynicism of those who claim that real democracy is impossible to attain in the Arab/Muslim world, the journalist says that he supported regime change and nation-building in Iraq out of hope that positive growth is possible in the region.
"If we just keep saying to the Arab world, 'You are good for nothing,' it will never grow," Friedman stated. "That sort of attitude leads to actions that foreclose change and every hope for development. Which is why I refuse to indulge it. Maybe I will be disappointed in what ultimately transpires in Iraq, but I hope not. ... Because if the pessimists are right, that there is nothing to be done to repair the wounded spirits of the Arab and Muslim world, that is not just an attitude. That is a prescription for disaster. There are simply too many angry young people out there, too many weapons of mass destruction being proliferated, and too few walls anymore, to protect our open society. Which is why, for me at least, hope is not just an attitude. It is a survival strategy. And I hope you will make it yours as well."
Friedman recalled for the seniors one of the most poignant aspects of the 9/11 tragedy: the desperate attempts of some of its victims to call loved ones to say their final good-byes.
"[T]hink of the hundreds of others who never got a chance to say goodbye or a final 'I love you,'" he said, adding that he wished he could still call his own father, who died when the journalist was 19.
"Your parents love you more than you will ever know," he told the students. "So if you take one lesson away from this talk, take this one: Call your Mama, regularly. And your Papa. You will always be glad you did."
The Class Day speaker concluded his address by reciting a tidbit of advice by an unknown author that Friedman said has touched him.
"'Always work like you don't need the money,' he quoted. 'Always fall in love like you've never been hurt, and always dance like nobody is watching.'"
'Grasp this moment'
Class Day formally began with the traditional procession of seniors onto the Old Campus displaying -- in keeping with the custom of the festivity -- creative headgear. Perched atop the heads of the seniors were such diverse items as a chess board, a raccoon tail, an upside-down Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket, a stuffed medusa, space helmets and an arching pile of assorted women's dress hats. One of the most conspicuous creations, which branched across a united trio of female students, was an inflatable beach raft on which lay, ever so leisurely, a mannequin in a bathing suit and sunglasses.
Katie Cole, secretary of the Class of 2003, welcomed her classmates to the ceremony by reminding them that the moments when they could say they were Yale students were quickly slipping by.
"Grasp this moment," she said to her fellow students. "Grasp the view of Harkness, grasp the hand of the person sitting next to you and grasp these words for one of the last times they can still be said: 'Damn, we go here!'"
Cole said that because of all she learned during her undergraduate years at Yale, she leaves the campus certain that she can change the world, and assuredly told her fellow students that all of them will do so, too. While she said she knew she and other classmates feel an urge to just halt time so they could forever savor the Yale experience, she offered consolation to those sad to be departing by sharing words of encouragement her father gave her. "College is some of the best four years of your life," she said, "but not the best. ... Life gets better every year."
Awards and prizes
Twenty members of the Class of 2003 were honored with prizes for scholastic or athletic achievements, personal accomplishments or commitment to serving others. Receiving the loudest cheers from his classmates was Eric Wenzel, a survivor of a tragic car accident in January that killed four Yale students, who was honored with the Department of Athletics' Amanda D. Walton Award. The award, named for a former Yale student who also survived a serious automobile accident, is given to "an outstanding athlete who has excelled on the field of play and who has shown spirit and courage in transcending unforeseen challenges." Wenzel raised one arm in a salute to his classmates as they clapped and cheered in celebration of his own perseverance in recovery.
The names of all of the students who received prizes, as well as their citations, appear on other pages of this newspaper.
In addition, four members of the faculty were honored with awards for outstanding teaching. A posthumous award was given to Robin Winks, a renowned Yale historian, conservationist and former Berkeley College master who died in April. His widow, Avril Winks, accepted the Harwood F. Byrnes-Richard B. Sewall Prize for Teaching Excellence in Yale College, which recognizes the teacher "who has given the most time, energy and effective effort" to educating undergraduates. Yale College Dean Richard H. Brodhead noted that former Yale faculty member Richard Sewall, the "beloved" Yale teacher for whom the award is partly named, also passed away in April.
The names of and citations for the other teachers who won awards appear on page 10-A.
Symbolic ivy vines
and a class stone
Following another annual custom, Class Day co-chairs Savaria Harris and Chris Michel planted an ivy in honor of their class near Battell Chapel, where they also dedicated a stone with the numerals of the Class of 2003. As his classmates made the symbolic journey to the site where his class will be memorialized, Scott Kirschenbaum read the Ivy Ode he composed for the occasion. The ode typically describes a symbolic connection between the growth of the ivy vine and the flourishing of the graduating class, and is read in both English and a foreign language. Manique Wijewardena translated and read the ode in the Sri Lankan language of Sinhala. This year's ode, reads, in part:
Walk with me now, Eli
Across this Old Campus.
We'll trade lyrics like musing minstrels,
Your veined hand whispering wrinkled wisdom:
'Go forth wild-eyed one,
Mark this verdant walkway
As your own. Strike
Against our faint-hearted age, vindicate
Innocence, decry the cynicism of the hour.'
The ode was followed by the performance of a sentimental tribute to Yale College years called "Blue and White," a song composed and performed by Jared Savas and Talley Lambert as the "Senior Class Song."
A history -- in skit and song
Another Class Day tradition, the tongue-in-cheek recounting of the senior class' four years at Yale, took the form of a skit in which students plan their futures as they would make selections in a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book by fiction writer Edward Packard. Acting out the roles were Catherine Davis, Jeffrey K. Miller and Katie Zouhary. This was followed by an original song composed by seniors Matthew R. Johnson and Jared LeBoff, which was performed by Chuck Colman, Allysha Powanda and Joel Resnicow to the tune of the Peter, Paul & Mary classic "Leaving on a Jet Plane." It recalled campus and world events during the students' four years at Yale, including the controversial Bush/Gore presidential election, Yale's Tercentennial celebration of 2001, the death of Beatle George Harrison and the renovation of Timothy Dwight College. The audience laughed and cheered as the song concluded with the words, "Oh Yale, I hate to go."
A sea of fluttering white'
The sun made a grand entrance on an otherwise overcast day not long before the Class of 2003 took part in the final Class Day tradition, the singing of the alma mater "Bright College Years." Holding video and still cameras of every variety, parents began lining up along the walkways to capture the highlight of the traditional song: the waving of white handkerchiefs at the last line of the song -- "For God, for Country and for Yale." As the seniors raised their arms, the Old Campus appeared to be a sea of fluttering white birds against a welcome blue sky.
"All right '03," a student Class Day participant roared over the microphone as the seniors began parading off to celebratory parties in their residential colleges and the chance to share -- for one final time -- in college revelry, before finally becoming Yale graduates.
C O M M E N C E M E N T
2 0 0 3
Yale Celebrates 302nd Graduation
Baccalaureate Address
Honorary Degrees
Senior Class Day
Teaching Prizes
Scholastic Prizes
David Everett Chantler Prize
Roosevelt L. Thompson Prize
William H. McKim Prize
Athletic Department Awards
Robert E. Lewis Award for Intramural Sports
Wilbur Cross Medals
Reception with President Richard C. Levin
ROTC Commissioning
Other Undergraduate Awards and Honors
Graduate School Awards and Honors
Commencement Photo Gallery
Graduation: The Video
T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale Celebrates 302nd Graduation
Trip expands Yale ties to South Korea
Koplan elected as alumni fellow
YSN researcher to head state's VA Department
International festival returns June 12-28
Edelson named director of Yale Cancer Center
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Alumnus donates first novel by an African-American slave
Reunion events to explore world's public health crises
British Art Center acquisitions honor its founding 25 years ago
'Behold, the Sea Itself' showcases center's collection of marine art
Graduate/Professional International Study Grants
YCIAS offers Summer Institutes for educators
Corrections
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