I'm very happy to be here to welcome everyone back for another semester and a new year. A month of 1998 has already gone by. A new year always brings thoughts of things done in the past and resolutions for the future. I've never been one for new year's resolutions. They always seem to be the same old thing! Eat less, exercise more, no more gossip, be nice! New year's resolutions always seem to be about a change in behavior. But I find more of a challenge in a change of attitude, a change in thought.
My new year's resolution or revelation, as I like to put it, didn't really come to me on new year's day. I missed Wells a lot while I was home for break. I missed my friends and staying up early in the morning talking and laughing and worrying and hoping and dreaming. I missed viewing sunsets on the lake from my third floor window. I missed the honking geese. I didn't realize until I was home that even though we're in Aurora, Wells is a pretty fun and exciting place to be. And I didn't truly realize the impact that Wells has had on me until I started my internship.
The "real world" is an extremely confusing and sometimes unfriendly place to be. Not that it's all that bad because I did enjoy my internship - it gave me a chance to really observe people. I worked at the New York State Division of Human Rights in Syracuse. Not only was it interesting to observe the people who came into the office but the desk that I sat at had a direct view of the cafeteria across the hall, and I got to see all the employees from the whole building walk in and out every day! The thing that most struck me was that everyone seemed so preoccupied with his or her own lives. Rarely did anyone stop in the hallways to chat. I never heard anyone invite the person from the office next door to lunch, and no one ever smiled when I passed in the hallway and said hello. I just didn't understand it, but it gave me something to think about on days when the work was light. And the conclusion to all my thoughts was more of a realization, a realization of how life is at Wells.
At 9:30 in the morning when I am walking to Macmillan for my first class of the day and I see someone else walking on the sidewalk and she smiles and says hello I feel a bit better about walking to that class. When I'm walking through the halls of the dorm it is nice to stop by an open door to say hello to someone and chat about how our day has been going, and when professors, and deans, and presidents eat lunch in the dining hall it is nice to sit and have a cup of coffee with them and just talk.
We need to move away from the mentality that tremendous actions and great accomplishments will influence others as profoundly as the small ones do. The hellos in the hallway and cups of coffee in the dining hall are what shape who we are as individuals. Wells is a community that allows us to be open and friendly with each other. We're in a community where we influence each other's lives each day by what we say and how we act. We touch each other's lives - all of us - students, professors, administrators, staff.
Every contact that we have with a fellow member of the Wells community is an attempt at influencing someone. Each contact we have is a chance to make someone smile, to make someone think, to give someone something we have, to show someone something we know. Each contact is a chance to share. Why can't we take that power out into the "real world" with us? That's my new year's resolution. To take the energy that I've gained at Wells and use it to influence positively those people out in the "real world." Isn't that why we are here? Not just here at Wells, but here in the world - existing to share with each other and grow in the knowledge and love that we each generate.
While we were away from Wells this January our nation celebrated the birthday of one of the most influential figures in American history. Whether you celebrated on his actual birthday, January 15, or the observed day, January 19, I hope you thought about the influence of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In a class that I took last year, I read Dr. King's book Strength to Love. And every word I read from that book has had an impact on the way I view my fellow human beings and the way I feel about myself. Dr. King wrote from his heart and led by example. He said love is stronger than hate, hope is more powerful than doubt, and optimism is more effective than pessimism.
I have a strong feeling that Wells women are going to affect the world in a profound way. We've all learned, in one way or another, the things that Dr. King wrote in his book. I like to believe that if we put those words into action - if we live and love, if we share and smile, if we take the time to understand how we are affecting each person that we come in contact with, then we will grow content with ourselves and we will influence others to do the same!
This spring semester is going to fly by. Semesters around here tend to do that. But I'm going to take the time to enjoy each moment of this semester because I've grown to understand that I'm only going to be here once. We're all only going to be here once, together. So whether you are a student, a professor, an administrator, whether this is your first year at Wells or your 30th, whether you are thinking of leaving Wells or think that Wells is the best place for you to be, whether you are odd or even, whether you are black or white or Hispanic or Asian or nothing or everything, I encourage each of you to take the time to get to know yourself, to experience life at Wells to the fullest, and to courageously touch someone else's life. Human beings thrive on the connections that we have with each other.
Delivered Monday, January 26, 1998, in Phipps Auditorium, Wells College
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