Don
MacLaren
May 1998
San Francisco, CA
City College of San Francisco Valedictory Address, Class of 1988
City
College of San Francisco has provided me with the opportunity to educate myself
by challenging me as one who aspires to write and to make films. My creative energy has been honed here
through many challenges. Most
recently I was given the privilege and challenge of addressing you on this
occasion.
What
I have been inspired to teach myself here at City College cannot easily be
calculated in terms of money or material. One's education, one's life, cannot and should not be measured in terms
of money or material, but by that intangible and nebulous force that shapes
history.
In
the writing and film classes I took here at City College, I acquired confidence
in my ability to communicate my creative visions to other individuals and the
world at large while at the same time delving into the recesses of my soul to
confront my fears and let them bleed on paper and celluloid. Without the aid of the academic
environment here, this road to self-knowledge as an artist would have been
terribly difficult to navigate.
Though
my major here was film, I pursued a diverse course of study, running the gamut
of what City College had to offer, including foreign languages, history, and the
sciences in order to complement my work in the arts. As a writer in a civilization that is approaching the
twenty-first century and a new millennium, I feel an education in a wide range
of fields is of utmost importance in a world of varied peoples and ideas. As we approach the new millennium we
must create a truly new age – a new renaissance in which the diverse people of
the planet can live together.
This
is easier said than done.
Americans
must come to a greater understanding of those with whom we share the
planet. Contrary to what many
Americans would like to believe, we are not here alone. Until recently, we were the major
economic power in the world. Japan
has taken our place. Japanese
students are required to study English, but few Americans can negotiate with
Japanese in their native tongue. That's food for thought.
As
an educational institution in a major city in the Pacific Rim, City College has
a significant role in shaping the future of our rapidly shrinking global
village.
After
encountering a wide variety of cultures, races, languages and religions at City
College, I have come to know that barriers of culture, race, language and
religion cannot be allowed to stifle our growth through the dead-end streets of
prejudice, ignorance, misunderstanding and fear. We cannot allow humanity to be controlled by a small group
of self-proclaimed masters, no matter what their culture, race, language or
religion. There is no master race,
only the human race. Each of us as
individuals must take part in shaping the life of our planet. Each individual must master his or her
role in the part they play in the cosmic act in order for a new age, a new
renaissance – built upon the foundation of history- to take form. Through education – traditional and otherwise – by means of City
College, and by any and all other means necessary, each one of us has a duty to
fulfill our potential as human beings.
Through
the experiences I've had traveling throughout Asia while in the Navy and
throughout North America on my own, I've come to realize the great
opportunities we have as Americans. This is especially true of the opportunity to educate oneself through
institutions such as City College. I feel privileged to have been able to indulge myself in the learning process
here….
Now
let me say this: most of humanity
lives in poverty, and most of humanity places great faith in Americans to shape
the world. We have a tremendous
responsibility to contribute to the growth of a new civilization in which all
of humanity can prosper.
City
College has stimulated me to attempt to inject what it is my spirit can
contribute to the flowing river of history, to affect a change for all cultures
and races – for all humanity to grow and flourish. If we don't make a contribution, we're bowing to the
temptation of laziness, irresponsibility, stagnation and ultimately – death.
For
several decades we have been faced with the prospect of nuclear
annihilation. Every day we make
decisions, which can lead us to that route, or to the formation of a new world,
built on hope and faith. Every day
we make decisions, which affect the whole of humanity and influence the course
of history in some small way. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev must not have a monopoly on the
decisions that affect us all. We
must all, as individuals, commit ourselves to our planet, to our future, to
each other. If we don't all make
an effort to invoke a change in the river of history, then I'm afraid – we'll
drown.
The
ideal student-teacher relationship is one in which a teacher, through
inspiration and deed, gives of him or herself to a student so that in turn the
student might have the knowledge and ability to give of him or herself to the
world, and surpass the teacher. And by surpassing the teacher, the student pays the teacher the
compliment.
We
still have a long way to go as students to surpass those who have lived before
us. Yet I have faith that we have
what it takes to pay our ancestors the ultimate compliment. This is easier said than done, but we must
do it, we must take the course of history into our own hands.
We're
at a crossroads today. We're at a
crossroads every day of our lives. We must apply our education to our own lives and in turn to others to
create something that not only will allow human life on planet earth to
continue past the next century, past the next millennium…but we must create
something that will allow people one hundred, one thousand years from now to
look back at us here today with a genuine sense of respect and admiration, so
that they will be inspired to surpass us and by doing so, pay us the ultimate
compliment.