Rise and Hasten On

Seniors, when I think of your class, I think of the way you began your senior year. When you chose to come together one morning earlier this year to watch the sunrise, you showed us who you are as a group. You soon became a sunrise in my thoughts.

 

Poets usually tie sunrises to love between people within families and between friends. Like a sunrise, friendship love and family love feel bright, bring hope, and travel alongside and in front of us each hour of the day. The friendships I have seen flourish in this class really do seem like a sunrise to me.

 

The support you have given each other has helped all of you as supporters and as the supported. Observing the sunrise in the poem “Dawn,” Wilcox wrote “rise and hasten on”(Wilcox, “Dawn” line 4). You have faced each day filled with a sense of possibilities. You rose, came to school, and ‘hastened on’ with your tasks. You turned those tasks into pursuits, and you gave all you have to pushing ahead and not looking back.

 

Sunrise is also symbolic of birth, growth, and new beginnings. Your optimism inspires gratitude and hope. This is a quality your faculty has remarked on repeatedly. As an example, the quiet sign you placed in front of the Hastings Center that says thank you to the community speaks loudly to the spirit of gratitude that you embody.

 

Sunrise also pushes us to think of the day ahead and what it might offer us. Your classmate James Wong addressed this in his senior thesis defense when he talked about the value we must place on putting aside comfort and embracing resiliency. James was taking a hopeful approach to challenges that we will face in the future. He also surprised me with how much I enjoyed learning about Zombies in the context of his summary of futuristic story telling. The act of deciding to rise early and see a sunrise exemplifies putting aside comfort to embrace higher rewards in life. The Class of 2022 has shown us their ability to sacrifice comfort and embrace resiliency.

 

Commencement marks a new beginning for each one of you – a new sunrise. You are resilient, focused, persistent, and optimistic nature promises a bright future. American anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “If the future is to remain open and free, we need people who can tolerate the unknown, who will not need the support of completely worked out systems or traditional blueprints from the past.” Class of 2022, you are certainly a people who can tolerate the unknown, you have shown yourselves to be people who create new paths and fight traditions, and I am confident you will rise with the sun every day ahead knowing it holds many possibilities. Your resiliency, intellect, optimistic nature, and ability to find beauty are sure to blaze a path that offers an open and free future. Given the state of our country and world, we count on you to think critically about traditional blueprints and challenge the systems. I believe the members of this class will do just that.

 

Rise and hasten on.