Jeffrey Silver, a theater major, was selected to give the student address at the College's Commencement on June 15, 2003.
A native of Oyster Bay,
Silver is the son of Mark and Ginny Silver. He was a 1999 graduate of Portledge
School in Locust
Valley.
While at Union,
Silver also earned a minor in political science. He was a member of Mountebanks,
the student theater group; chair of the Student Conduct Committee; a news
writer for Concordiensis, the student
newspaper; and a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Following is the text from
Silver's speech:
An angel appears at a faculty meeting and tells the dean
that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior, the Lord will reward
him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom, or beauty. Without hesitating, the dean selects infinite
wisdom. “Done!” says the angel, and disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt
of lightning. Now, all heads turn toward
the dean, who sits surrounded by a faint halo of light. At length, one of his
colleagues whispers, “Say something.”
The dean sighs and says, “I should have taken the money.”
Parents, Family, Professors, Administration, Alumni, and
most importantly, fellow students, welcome to Graduation. Welcome to the day when we celebrate the
culmination of the best four (or maybe five or even occasionally six) years of
our lives. We have spent so much time
studying, working, memorizing, analyzing, debating, deliberating,
contemplating, and cramming together. We
have feasted together, drunk together, danced together, played together,
protested together, laughed together, cried together, rejoiced together,
mourned together. And be it the global
tragedy of terrorism or the internal tragedy of the death of a student, we have
bonded together.
Many of us sitting here today started out right behind you,
down in West College. I have many memories of that dorm
that I will hold with me forever. Living
in the same room with a stranger, walking to the shower in a towel in front of
thirty people, my first time being sick without my mother to bring me toast and
soup, ordering mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings at four in the morning,
staying up two nights in a row for exams, sleeping in until 6 p.m., and of
course, the occasional beer. The one
constant in my four years of wonderful and occasionally painful memories are my
friends. Union College has given us many things, but we
have given ourselves and each other the greatest gift — friendship.
Fred Rogers was supposed to be here today, but
unfortunately, he is no longer with us.
I watched his show religiously during my childhood, as I'm sure many of
you did. I very much wish Mr. Rogers
could be here with us today, because he is the godfather of friendship. But if he were here, I'm sure he would agree
with me — the most important lessons learned in college, exceeding any
engineering design or history thesis, are friendship and care towards one
another. In that regard, I think we have
all succeeded. As Mr. Rogers would say,
we turned Union into our own “land of
make-believe.”
What have we learned here at Union?
Biology, chemistry, history, English, philosophy, political science, and
other departments have taught us many facts and figures. Our brains have grown, we have been
educated. But what of this
education? As the dean in my story first
suggests, we should all be striving for infinite wisdom. But many educated world leaders strive to
oppress, enslave, harass, afflict, torment, and torture their own people. Depending on your opinion, our own educated
leaders strive to make war. So, besides
the occasional pleasure of quoting Plato or reiterating facts about the nucleus
at cocktail parties, what can we do with our education?
Many graduating seniors have big plans for next year. Many are going on to graduate school to study
medicine, law or business. Many already
have jobs lined up with prestigious companies.
Our education at Union has given us graduate school admission and acceptance in
the workplace. But a great deal of
students sitting here are unsure of their future, myself included. We are scared, indecisive, uncertain, and
unassured. We are suspicious of this
mysterious idea of life after college.
The real world, as they say — real jobs and real responsibilities. And we ask – what has Union taught us? What has it gotten us, besides bank debts and
uncertainties?
On paper, we go into the real world with a Bachelor of Arts
and not much else. But as I have been
told many times by my professors, we must learn to think outside the box. The English poet Alexander Pope says “Tis
education forms the common mind, Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined.” And if we consider our four years here, we
should be proud of our accomplishments.
Of course we should be proud of acing a midterm or writing a fantastic
paper, but the accomplishments to which I refer do not appear on paper. They are intangibles. The ability to think in different
dimensions. The capacity to analyze a
problem on different levels. And the
want and desire for more knowledge. This
has been taught to us not only by our professors, but by our peers and friends
as well.
John Locke said that “the only fence against the world is a
thorough knowledge of it.” The real
world which we are about to embark on can be a cold and difficult place. But with our inclination of knowledge, with
our Union College experience, we will be okay. Of this I have no doubt. Absolute wisdom and knowledge is impossibility. But we have learned enough here to be ready
to move into the next stage of our lives.
The beginning may certainly be rough — finding work, making new
friends, paying bills, moving into your own apartment — these are not easy
things. With the exception of the food,
we will all miss College very much. But
we are ready. Our friends and our teachers
have prepared us. This is the first day
of the rest of our lives.
Seniors, we are graduating today. No more Sunday brunches in West, or hockey
games against RPI, or painting the idol.
No more trips to Chet's, the Skellar, or Gepetto's. No more teacher conferences and office hours
and begging for a higher grade and spending ten hours in the library. But our friendships won't end. Distance does make the heart grow fonder, and
hopefully we will all see each other soon.
But it's time for us to bring our land of make-believe into the real
world. To execute the lessons that we
learned here. To make our own
lives.
Four long wonderful years are behind us, and we are stepping
into a world of untold riches and greatness.
I wish you all the greatest success in the world. Congratulations, and keep in touch.