“You have the obligation to bind
people together in a world that fragments them.”
-
Jack Smith
John F. “Jack” Smith Jr, chairman
of the board and chief executive officer of General Motors
Corporation, delivered the principal address and received
an honorary degree on May 28, as Holy Cross graduated 650
seniors and conferred four other honorary degrees at its
153rd Commencement.
Others receiving honorary degrees were Peter
Berger, director of the Institute for the Study of Economic
Culture at Boston University; Charles E.F. Millard ’54,
a trustee of the College and former chief executive officer of the Coca Cola
Bottling Company of New York; Rev. John W. O’Malley, S.J., professor
of church history at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology; and Sister Helen
Prejean,
C.S.J., author of the book Dead Man Walking and advocate for the abolition
of the death penalty.
Emily S. Rauer, a psychology major from Minoa,
N.Y., delivered the valedictory. In her speech, Rauer recalled
a school trip to Cuernavaca, Mexico: a “two-week
immersion into the lives and culture of the Mexican poor.”
It was during this trip that Rauer was given
the advice, by director of the Chaplains’ office,
Kim McElaney, to “pay attention to your senses.” Rauer said
that this advice proved valuable throughout her college career. “‘Pay
attention to your senses’ is the advice I’d like
to offer each member of the Class of 1999,” she said.
Smith, a native of Worcester, recalled spending
many boyhood Saturdays in Fitton Field. “Years ago,” he said, “I used to ride into this very
stadium on my father’s ice cream truck. Smithfield ice cream was a favorite
at Holy Cross football games.”
“I grew up here at the foot of College Hill. My mother’s homestead
was across Cambridge Street from this field,” Smith said. “My grandfather
was a carpenter who worked on the first buildings of Holy Cross.”
Referring to his uncle, who owned a local
diner, and his grandfather, who owned a bicycle repair shop,
Smith said, “The college on the hill was like a
dream for the sons of these immigrants.”
Accepted to study at the College, Smith admitted “I broke my mother’s
heart when I went to the University of Massachusetts. The reason I did not go
to Holy Cross was simple. I would have had to live at home. By the age of 18,
I wanted to see more of the world — as long as the world stayed in Massachusetts!”
Commenting on the “fragmenting world” that awaits the graduates,
Smith spoke of “the disruption … of social relationships,” and
the breakdown of “the bonds holding families, communities and nations together.” Against
this disruption and breakdown, Smith contrasted the mission statement of the
College.
“I love the mission statement of Holy Cross,” he said. “Its
mission, in essence, is to counter the disruptions that are so prevalent in modern
life — disruptions to reason, to spirit, to community, to our common humanity.”
“Therefore,” he said, “when you leave here today, you have
an obligation. You have the obligation to create a community wherever you go.
You have the obligation to bind people together in a world that fragments them.”
In closing, Smith quoted the playwright Ibsen,
noting, “ ‘A community
is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.’ Today
is about your taking the helm. With a degree from Holy Cross, I am confident
you are prepared to do just that.”
“We
have forgotten, in the words of the African proverb, that ‘rain
does not fall on one roof alone.’”
- Jack Smith
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