An Annual Letter to the Graduates of Seattle University (2019)

For all the mystery surrounding life, it becomes about the lanes in which we find ourselves. The lane assigned to us at birth may not be the lane we find ourselves in the winter of our years. Circumstances may force us to move beyond what we know. Personal choices will play their part. Liberation and freedom will come to define others. The need to fight the tyranny of the lane in the form of protest will rock many. Change is predicated on the intention of something better. With this in mind, we adapt, test, search, and fight.

As we do, I would like us to remember those who cannot. An education affords us a tremendous amount of freedom. I believe it also places a great deal of responsibility on our shoulders. Whether in the courtroom or the boardroom, the kitchen or the factory floor, the desk or the construction site, I believe we each possess a responsibility to reach behind us to pull others forward. Given what we know, I believe this to be truer for us.

We are all busy. We are all consumed by deadlines, appointments, and commitments. Life can be suffocating and stifling. It can fool us into believing we can only focus on ourselves. With all that we must balance, the need to pull others forward can seem impossible. We get so focused on the concept of changing the world. We think in the form of grand systemic…