Following the lead of media
ecologist Neil Postman
I want to talk to you about
your ancestors
Not your biological ancestors, about whom I know nothing.
But your spiritual ancestors, about whom I know
quite a bit
I want to tell you about two
groups of people who lived many years ago
But whose influence is still with us
They were very different
from one another
Representing different values
And different traditions
As we close our association
together, I think it is appropirate for you to be reminded of them on this day
Because sooner than you know
You must
choose to align yourself with the spirits of one group……….or the other.
The first group of people
lived about 2500 years ago in a place which we now call
They were the Athenians
They were are first truly
"insanely great people"
Just think of their
INNOVATIONS
They invented the ALPHABET
So words could be written down
So we could bridge time and space
They invented the idea of
POLITICAL DEMOCRACY
Practiced it with a vigor that would put us to shame
They invented
PHILOSOPHY,
LOGIC, AND RHETORIC.
They invested what we now
call the OLYMPICS
And among their values none stood higher than
One should always STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE.
They invested the idea we
now know as Ecology.
They composed poetry…sang
songs….and perfomed plays hat centuries later still move audiences to
laughter and tears.
About 2000 years ago the
vitality of their cultures declined and these people began to disapear
But not before their
commitment to
Education,, politics, and
aesthestics
Had spread all over the world.
Today it it hardly possible
to speak on any subject
Without repeating
What Aristotle, Socrates or Pluto had to say
on the subject.
The Second Group of People
Lived in a place we now call
THEY WERE THE VISIGOTHS
You may remember that your
sixth or seventh grade social studies teacher mentioned them.
They were excpetional
horseman…..
But that is about the only positive thing that history
Can say of them.
They were the mongol hordes
that swept down through
They overrran the
They were pagans, drunks,
and largely uncivilized.
There was noth a Visigoth like better than to
Burn a book
Desecrate a building
Smash a world of art
No System of Education
No
Human Politics
No
logic or rhetoric
No
theatre or poetry.
Like the Athenians, The Visigoths also disapeared
But Not Before They
Ushered in period know as the Dark Ages
Which Took
The Point I Want To Make
Athenians and Visigoths
still survive
And they do so in the way we conduct our lives….
They are metaphors
They have the potential to shape the way we think
The potential to resonate far beyond your college
Years.
All around us there are
people whose way of life
Reflects the ways of the Athenians
And
People whose ways is the way of the
Visigoths.
I don't mean to say that
modern day Athenians
go around philosophizing or
reciting poetry.
Or modern day Visigoths
Go around rapiing, pillaging and plundering
To be an Athenian of a
Visigoth is to organized your life around a set of values
An Athenian is an idea
An visigoth is an
idea.
And as Richard Weaver
reminds us
"ideas have
consequences"
Let Me Briefly Tell You What
These Ideas Consist Of