Advice to College Graduates

This is a speech I delivered on April 24 to the graduates of the College of Humanities at Brigham Young University.

On a study abroad to Spain this semester, my wife and I and our students were transformed by our visit to the Basque city of Gernika. Innocent civilians of Gernika were tragically bombed without notice during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 by allies of Spain’s soon to be dictator, Francisco Franco. Spain’s political and cultural diversity threatened Franco and his supporters. Their response was oppression, including violence against the beautiful culture and unique language of the Basque country in northern Spain.

The leader of the Basque people, Jose Antonio Aguirre, said something after the bombing that caught our attention: “The Basque people do not ask for vengeance. Their overwhelming desire is for peace and justice.” Gernika’s remarkable El Museo de la Paz argues that although we often write history based on the actions of the few individuals on the stage of world history who seek attention and power and incite conflict, the true story of humanity is the story of peace. The story of peace, however, is harder to tell because it is the story of a collective of citizens who uphold it, day in and day out. They do this with quiet acts of building and sustaining belonging for others and tirelessly working to protect the dignity and the voice of all people.

By some measures, America isn’t doing so well in this regard. Political division and vitriol for enemies, real and imagined, are at an all-time high, and we are a nation at war. Many Americans get their news from pundits and social media reels and enjoy the thrill of being political spectators or culture warriors, lobbing rhetorical grenades at the other side. Even more respond to the ugliness by choosing to live in willed ignorance of what is happening to our country. This might be especially tempting to many of you. Political tribalism and political apathy, however, are equally dangerous and equally wrong. Both imperil peace and justice.

Our doctrine shows a better way. In section 134 of the D&C, we read that “governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them.”Instead of resorting to anger or apathy, President Russell M. Nelson called us to be peacemakers who “build bridges of understanding rather than walls of prejudice.” President Dallin H. Oaks invites us to “seek to moderate and unify,” especially on contested issues. He warns us against seeking “total dominance for our position,” but instead urges us to “seek fairness for all,... to live together in peace in a pluralistic society.” Our ignorance or indifference, he taught, would, by contrast, lead to a “less responsible and less responsive government.” He urges us instead to be “knowledgeable citizens,” with “individual priorities” and “actions,” with enough independence to change party and candidate votes when necessary. In essence, the gospel calls us to not only stand up for our interests and our faith in public. It is a call to exercise our agency to make government serve more people more effectively and more fairly.

With such prophetic guidance, Latter-day Saints are especially well prepared to have a needed influence on our country. We are not perfect, of course, but consider that while most of America increasingly lives and associates with the those of similar income, party, and race, God has called us to love and make a community out of whatever group of individuals our geographical location assigns to us. While most of America has become increasingly isolated and individualistic and fearful of compromise, we learn daily in our lay church life how to live, listen and work together as a single body. Many of you have learned to speak to total strangers on busses and in streets, even in foreign lands. And you in the humanities, of all Latter-day Saints, have been especially well trained to begin to understand the diversity of beliefs, languages, and customs that make up our beautiful and plural society. With empathetic understanding of that diversity, you can help find and communicate a common ground. The arts and religion are both indispensable to democracy because they honor the interior life of people while also helping us to reach for shared and lasting values across our differences.

But all of this will be for naught if you choose the path of civic withdrawal and apathy. The worst mistake you can make as a student of the humanities and as a disciple of Christ is to believe that it is more important to have correct ideas and beliefs than it is to have the integrity to act on them in your society. Our time to shine in this country as a people is now. This will require your generation to learn to extend lifelong service beyond the circle of family and friends and ward members, better than our generation has done. Precisely because it is so rare today to hear public discourse that is thoughtful, respectful of human dignity and diversity, and committed to something larger than self-interest, it is all the more important that you enter the fray. This might mean you have to start reading more, listening more, and getting better informed. It might also mean that you have to find the courage to act on what you learn. Action risks making mistakes and getting bruised by enemies, but that is what repentance and forgiveness are for. The bottom line is that the adventurous life of seeking to improve the world as courageous citizens is far more thrilling than doom scrolling.

The hardest lesson of your civic journey will be accepting the reality that different people think and act differently and that agreement is elusive. If you accept that reality, however, you have finally grown up and are now ready to be truly effective in a democracy. At their root, all forms of authoritarianism are an adolescent rejection of a plural world full of diverse cultures and individuals with agency of their own. In the face of such a world, it is tempting to want peace but at the cost of justice or to want justice but at the cost of peace. The higher way of the gospel is “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We are called to build a kingdom, to build families and churches, but also governments and institutions capable of attending to the least of us. You are marvelous. I know I speak for every one of my friends behind me: you give us hope. I believe each one of you was uniquely prepared to meet this moment and that God will bless the adventurous among you who accept the call to bring this time of division to an end. May we all have the courage to follow the example of the Prince of Peace.

George Handley, Executive Director, Engage