Honor's Breakfast Remarks
December 13, 2008
Northern Michigan University

Dr. Leslie E. Wong
President

Thank you Susan for such a nice introduction and thank you for the work you do for students.  I suspect you're enjoying being a Wildcat.  Thank you to NMU's staff and faculty who, at Northern, define the concept of being, "student centered".  Each student here reflects the commitment we've made to promote your growth and development.  We're proud of your accomplishments and we celebrate you.  This is your special moment.

Next, I want to congratulate the parents of every Honor student here.   Satisfaction and pride are worthy emotions right now.  I know that parents try to restrain themselves from boisterous emotional displays.  But there is a point when your sense of pride is exactly what you should be feeling.  Revel in it and believe like me, for this one brief moment, the world is right.  I think of that at each graduation.  We've done our work.  It's now up to them. 

Students, the rest of my remarks are for you because you have a very special challenge in front of you.   Yes, there is the job market, taxes, paying your bills and what's his name? What's her name?  But I'm not thinking of that.  The toughest challenge will be handling the pressure to succeed; especially the pressure you may put on yourself.  Don't forget that balance, steadiness, and determination are important.  You don't have to win every race.  However we do expect you to finish.  There is a perfect example here.  Theresa Nease, my executive assistant, started her bachelor's degree in 1983.  She's finished her degree this semester, graduating summa cum laude.  Congratulations Theresa.  The challenge I want to put in front of you is about a different definition of success.  A different kind of definition fundamental to your life, mine and this country is needed.  And I'm convinced we've been waiting too long for a different way to think of success.

As a university president I have had many an occasion to see students confront and surpass all kinds of challenges.  And notably, the pressure to succeed is most prominent.  With Honor students the pressure to succeed is particularly intense.  The near-religious fervor of a GPA driven culture, high test scores, fuller and longer resumes, doing more than most, doing better than most permeates the campus culture.  Sadly, I've seen a fair share of frustration and failure.  This mix of intense highs and lows and my dissatisfaction with a cult of grades has led me to soften if not change considerably my definition of success. This is my 35th year in higher education and this change has been occurring since my first days as a college professor. So this morning, I'd like to stimulate some thinking by offering some thoughts on what might be a more appropriate and more difficult challenge where a different sense of success may emerge.  It will require me to connect two dots; so let me begin.

At the center of my definition of success is the most powerful word I've worked hard to understand.  This word may seem simple to you, but it isn't to me.  The most powerful use of the word comes from a very special document I value perhaps more than any other document.  It's a document, one of only two, which I carry with me everywhere, everyday in my iPhone.  This special word affirms the decision of my parents to come to this country, and it affirms my youngest son's belief in defending it with his life.  Let me quote from this powerful document.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.—We hold these truths (my emphasis) to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." 

Can you name the source? (pause)  Yes I knew you could.  The Declaration of Independence has it right.  Jefferson and his friends placed the word "TRUTH" at the very core of our nation's values.  And despite the presence of slavery, bigotry and racism, they certainly were aware that they weren't establishing the ground floor upon which to define this nation's identity so much as they were establishing the high moral ground to which this country should aspire.  This high moral ground now floats atop a sea of imperfection, lack of effort and a level of greed not seen in some time.  There are times when this country shines brightly with regard to truth and the high moral ground.  And it is then that my hopes soar. 

There have been many times when I expected more of myself and certainly this nation with regard to those truths that are self-evident.  Ever had that dreaded feeling, "we could have done better".  But don't forget the opening words to the Constitution, the second document I carry with me everywhere, every day in my iPhone.  Let me quote just one line.

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…"   We are not trying to create and sustain THE perfect country.  Continually trying to improve this country meant that each and every generation, should they hold to the high moral ground, those self-evident truths, WILL improve this country.  And that is the challenge and duty that each of you represent for me.  My generation held high hopes when we walked the streets in support of civil rights.  We questioned and challenged the treatment and status of women, the course of war(s), we objected to other injustices wherever we found it.  But we got soft and I would say we got lost.  It is especially troubling when we lose sight of the high moral ground Jefferson expected of us.  So keep in mind this noble use of truth.  Let's move on to the second dot.
I have been having a hard time forgetting a cartoon recently published in The New Yorker magazine.  It made me laugh but more importantly it has continued to haunt me.  I think about myself, you and the educational processes here at NMU.  The cartoon shows an individual between two directional signs pointing in opposite directions.  On one sign is the word, "victory".  On the other sign pointing in the opposite direction is the word, "truth".   This single cartoon, for me, captures one of the major dilemmas of modern times and I'm sure, the major challenge in front of our students today.

In a short span of time, barely 232 years, truth was transformed from an absolute statement of value that undergirds this powerful nation to a conflict between two pragmatic paths: victory or truth.  Granted, a cartoon is not of the same magnitude as the Constitution of the United States.  But the degradation of truth in behalf of victory, to institutionalize the pressure to win at all costs, or "just win baby" is just too dominant and too easily visible in today's culture.  I'm sure we could identify a hundred more examples.  We speak any number of ways about our lives as if there are only two options, winning and losing.  And the pressure to win can be a narcotic especially if you are a high achieving student because you have a long history of earning society's rewards by your hard work. 

I didn't realize until I became a parent that truth mattered more than victory.  Why, because, I confused victory for success.  Suddenly it dawned on me that my own parents must have felt the same.  They knew, as I know now, that you can't lead children to truth.  You can't sell them truth, market truth and sadly you can't buy it, give it to them or get it by earning a college degree.  By setting a good example, literally "walking the talk", young people early in their intellectual careers, as you are, will see, in our behavior the comfort and inspiration truth provides.  Your job as college graduates will be the degree to which you value truth over victory. Confronting those road signs, I hope and I do expect you not to hesitate when you choose the path to truth.  You will see that a life inspired by truth is possible, particularly those truths that are self-evident.  I hope my wife, my sons, nieces, nephews and my new grandchildren see this in me.  And at that moment you will realize that that is what it takes to make this nation more perfect.  And that is what makes this country so amazing.   

So your job as college graduates is to take the abilities and skills and talents your parents and others have worked hard to help you develop and begin the grandest adventure of all.  You will become smarter, better and wiser knowing that you've not sacrificed truth for victory in any event or within any relationship that comes before you.  I'm confident you'll get it right.  TRUTH.   Practice it.   Live it.   Be inspired by it.  You'll come to respect yourself for how it can guide you through tough and confusing times.  Your education was meant to prepare you for the responsibility and capability of leading such inspired lives.  And this different notion of success may spare you the personal anguish of measuring your success by the wrong criteria. 

Thank you for this opportunity. 

• Barsotti, Charles.  "Victory and Truth (a wandering guru is divided between Victory and Truth)".  Cartoon, New Yorker, November 3, 2008.
• Constitution of the United States.  Constitution for iPhone 1.3.  Clint Bagwell Consulting.  2008
• Declaration of Independence.  Declaration for iPhone 1.0.  Clint Bagwell Consulting. 2008