GAMBIER — On Saturday, reknowned author and journalist Anna Quindlen told this year’s graduating class of Kenyon College students to take courage and take advantage of the opportunities ahead.
“This morning is not about what I say but about what you all have done,” she said. “Be not afraid. It is an old but honorable directive found in both the Old and the New Testament. That’s because it is truly the secret of life.”
Quindlen quoted author C.S. Lewis, who said courage is not simply one virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. She quickly added that she remembers her own past well enough and knows it is ridiculous to say don’t be afraid.
“You are afraid and you should be afraid, of leaving what you know, of being what you want, of leaving Middle Path, of taking the wrong path, of not taking a path at all,” Quindlen said.
She urged the graduating seniors to learn to put fear aside, or at least to refuse to allow it to rule within, adding that no one does the right thing out of fear. Likewise, Quindlen encouraged them to be themselves, to speak their mind and to challenge external forces that lead to conformity and censorship.
“The voices of conformity speak loudly,” Quindlen said. “Don’t listen.”
She said it is sometimes necessary to ignor your elders, to reject a one-size fits all approach to human experience.
“When you are content to simply be yourself, everyone will respect you,” Quindlen said.
She quoted the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who said the secret of happiness is freedom, and secret to freedom is courage.
Quindlen praised their generation, said it had accomplished more than hers, for its involvement in community service, for casting off old prejudices, for getting involved in the election process. She urged the members of the graduating class to stand up for what they believe, to speak their minds, even if others would silence them.
Quindlen received an honorary Doctor of Letters. Denise Schmandt-Besserat received an honorary Doctor of Human Letters. Adele Davidson, professor of English, said Schmandt-Besserat, archeologist, art historian and author, has charted the farthest horizons of writing on the shores of pre-literate Stone Age culture.
The journal of American Scientist named her book “How Writing Came About” as one of a hunred books that shaped the 20th century. Her book “Before Writing” was hailed as “cruicial to an underteanidng of th development of civiliation.”
“Wherever that most humanizing of inventions, writing, is valued, your name will be known, and Kenyon rejoices to number Schmandt-Besserat among our names, “ Davidson said.
Thomas Snyder Turgeon was named the recipient of an honorary Doctor in Fine Arts. Harlene Marley, Professor Emerita of Drama, said that for 36 years, Turgeon’s work as director, actor, scolar, department chairman, gracious host and teacher has inspired generations of students and enriched the life of the community. Educated at Amherst and Yale, he joined the Kenyon faculty in 1972. Turgeon directed and acted in nearly 50 productions in academic and professional theater, from Shakespeare to Stoppard, Moliere to MacLeod.
Turgeon’s degree was accepted by his daughter, Sarah Turgeon Perry, a 1989 Kenyon College graduate.
Gwendolyn Judith Faulkner, president of the class of 2008, told her fellow classmates that when they first arrived on campus, they walked down Middle Path, anxious, ambivalent, elated and unaware of what would come. They were among the students who were among the last in the nation to vote in the 2004 election. Four years later, she said, they share a common love for the quirky, loveable, and opiniated community, and they will always carry a piece of Kenyon College with them.
“Bertrand Russel said the good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge,” she said.
Kenyon College President S. Georgia Nugent told the graduating class that the relationship with the college will last forever, including frienships with students, faculty, and members of the Gambier community.
The ringing of bells in the distance signaled the awarding of diplomas and the end of the college’s 180th commencement ceremony.
