I applied to be the Student Commencement Speaker at graduation this year, but I wasn’t selected. The message I wanted to communicate through my speech has been on my heart for a long time, so I’d like to use my final column to share an abridged version with you. Naturally, I’d like to dedicate it to the Class of 2011. So imagine yourself at Wallace Wade Stadium, dressed in academic apparel, with your proud loved ones in the stands …
One scorching-hot summer day, a woman decided to go for a walk around her neighborhood. She passed by a construction site and saw a worker taking a brick, applying mortar to it and putting it on top of another brick.
The woman asked him, “Excuse me, what are you doing?”
The man replied curtly, “Can’t you see? I’m laying bricks.”
The woman spotted a second man laying bricks, 10 yards away from the first man. She asked him, “Excuse me, what are you doing?”
With absolute indifference he said, “I’m making a wall.”
A short distance away, there was a third man laying bricks. The woman walked over and asked once again, “Excuse me, what are you doing?”
The third man flashed a brilliant smile and proudly answered, “I am building a cathedral.”
On this momentous occasion, let me ask you: Are you a bricklayer, wall maker or cathedral builder?
All of us graduating today are extremely good at laying bricks. We know how to study effectively, write persuasive academic papers and give brilliant presentations. It’s these abilities that have enabled us to graduate from this elite university. As we receive our Duke degrees today, we’re aware that they will open many doors for us, both in terms of our professional and personal development. In other words, we’re well on our way to becoming world-class at laying bricks.
But just because we’re skilled at laying bricks doesn’t make us cathedral builders. What is it, then, that distinguishes bricklayers from cathedral builders?
The key difference lies in why people do what they do. Bricklayers make decisions on the basis of pragmatism, while cathedral builders make decisions on the basis of idealism.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that pragmatism is bad. In fact, most of us graduating today are pragmatic people. We chose to come to Duke for practical reasons: the outstanding academics, the good reputation, the bragging rights that go along with having a top-notch athletics program. Furthermore, in the near future we’re certainly going to make many more practical decisions regarding our career, family and social life. Unfortunately, all this pragmatism tends to focus on laying bricks and making walls, rather than on building cathedrals.
In contrast, the hallmark of cathedral building is idealism. Consider some of these amazing achievements: The United States of America was founded on ideals. The civil rights movement was founded on ideals. Even the invention of the airplane was founded on ideals.
Similarly, ideals should form the foundation of greatness for us as individuals. For example, a good friend of mine works in a biology research lab that is investigating a specific mechanism of cell division. The experiments don’t always produce the expected results, and this causes morale in the lab to suffer. To encourage his team, the research director always says in complete seriousness, “Let’s keep on working. We must discover the secret of life and death.”
That sounds pretty cheesy, doesn’t it?
But the research director displays such incredible drive and perseverance in his work that you know he genuinely means what he says. To him, even a failed experiment means that he and his team are one step closer to discovering the secret of life and death. Now, that’s the spirit of a cathedral builder!
Like that research director, we must keep our eyes fixed on our ideals, so that even the most mundane activities take on new significance. Sheer willpower and determination can only get us so far; clarity of vision and purpose are what propel us to the finishing line.
Holding firmly to our ideals is what leads to that clear vision and purpose. Similarly, a life well-lived is founded on ideals. Yes, this idealism needs to be worked out on a day-to-day basis in the form of practical actions and practical decisions. This kind of pragmatism, which flows out of idealism, is destined for cathedral-building greatness.
So whether you’re going to be a doctor or an investment banker, an engineer or a social worker, by all means do what is practical. After all, you need to lay bricks in order to build a cathedral. But choose to hold on to your ideals and protect them at all costs because it’s in this decision that you say “yes” to a truly great life.
Class of 2011: We possess boundless cathedral-building potential. Let’s utilize every last ounce of it.
Daniel Wong is a Pratt senior. This is his final column.
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