Hum Bio Commencement Talk
by Armin Rosencranz Forty-four years ago, when I was just a couple of years older than most of you, I walked out of my TA office in the political science department in this inner quad and saw signs saying, “Send a man to do a boy’s job. Elect Charmin’ Armin ASSU president!” I had no idea what the ASSU was. I began tearing down the signs, but soon discovered that they were everywhere. I told people not to vote for me. Nothing worked. I was elected in a landslide. So the first thing I’d like to pass on to you is, you can’t always control what comes to you in life, but you CAN determine how you respond. My response was to set out to make Stanford students aware of the plight of young black people in the south; the plight of student protesters struggling against crackdowns in other countries. I tried to build community with weekly dinners at my house – a former bordello in PortolaValley – with invited students, faculty and administrators. I prevailed on Stanford’s president and board of trustees to amend Leland and Jane Stanford’s founding grant, which prohibited all political and religious groups from meeting on campus. It was a transformative year. Second, you’re 22. You don’t need to have everything figured out. Experiment. Improvise. You’re young! Embrace change; change is one of life’s few constants. Third, question all orthodoxies. I’m an environmentalist and I teach about global environmental issues. Two orthodoxies in my field are: avoid nuclear power because of the long-lived wastes it creates; and avoid genetically modified foods because there might be long term, yet unknown harms. I question these orthodoxies: nuclear power is not my first choice among non-carbon energy technologies, and, with an infant son in my arms, I protested the PG&E Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant when it was about to be opened in 1978. But I won’t reject it out of hand because it can mitigate the effects of climate change, which is likely to incur larger costs than nuclear power. And GMOs are not my foods of first choice, but they can relieve desperate hunger in parts of the world where pests and pathogens destroy crops and waste the water used to grow those lost crops. So question all orthodoxies. Fourth, be engaged. Don’t just wring your hands; help choose political leaders; take part in the public life of this country; try to make the world a better place. You’ll all be busy with work, and many of you may choose to build a family. But you can make choices, such as protesting a Walmart that wants to open in your town; putting solar panels on your residence; buying a car with the highest miles per gallon that you can afford; consuming less and taking only what you really need. Fifth, try to stay ahead of the curve. I’ve been fortunate to learn and write about several subjects BEFORE they became household words: acid rain; stratospheric ozone depletion; Siberian forests; India; climate change. Go well beyond me and think innovatively – how can we help relieve hunger, poverty and disease? Travel to the frontiers of knowledge. Become comfortable with thinking outside the box; of being labeled ‘different’; of having new ideas shot down – and keep going. It may be YOU who applies stem cells to cure cancer. Sixth, think about how to lead an individual moral life. Behavior and action, not words, are key to living a satisfying life. Consider who you are, what values guide you, how you treat people, how you ACT in the world. Seventh, creating an individual moral life requires you to have a sense of mission. Help create a future more free, tolerant, open and just than what we have now. Dedicate yourself to the service of others. It’s the only thing of lasting value. At my friends’ 40th Stanford reunion 20 months ago, person after person stood up to say they were looking for ways to contribute to the world. After decades of focusing on making money, they wanted more meaning in their lives, ways to serve others – through teaching, volunteering, creating new institutions, building community. Eighth, be kind and compassionate. Withhold criticism and smile often. People are vulnerable, even those you think of as accomplished and powerful. Your friendships and interactions will benefit from respecting others as you’d like them to respect you. And give your younger colleagues and eventually your children all the support they need. You were once them. Ninth, take pleasure in life’s endless small delights – good food, glowing sunsets, walking in the grass after the rain, the song of a bird, playing with a child. These small miracles are what will give you balance and make you happy. Tenth, show gratitude and love to the people in your life. Love them for who they are, unconditionally. Love without a goal. Take the risk of saying “I love you.” And finally, remember that we humans have advanced not by being sober, responsible and cautious but by being playful, rebellious and by taking risks. I wish you all a life in which you contribute meaningfully to the world. I hope you blend questioning and risk taking with satisfying work, play, service and loving relationships. Godspeed! | 
