Why We Are Here

The semester starts so fast and with it classes and workshops entered into quickly. Later reflecting I think, wait a minute I should have had some kind of welcoming or motivational speech to give – first thing. It's always a failing of not having time to fully thinking things through. So belatedly here it is.

Some time from now you will be asked a question. It may be eight years or fourteen months or two decades, but it will come. It will be the most important question you will ever answer. You may not have studied it in school. You may never have thought about it at all. You'll think, why are they asking me, but they are and you'll need to answer, because there'll be no one else.

Your response will save the life of your friend, your lover, your next door neighbor, the person at work you hate. Your answer will save the company you work for, the neighborhood you live in, your daughters school, the little park just down the street, New England.

The person who asks you the question will be your younger sister, the guy in the elevator, your best friend, the woman in the car across the street. They'll be crying, depressed, fearful, in pain, desperate, stoic, angry, or simply have a blank look on their face. You won't have time to look it up, ask someone else, talk it over, think it through or read about it. Suddenly everything will stop. People will turn to hear your answer. Faces will lift. It will get a little quiet.

The question you will be asked is, "what should we do?" Your answer will change the course of your life and the lives of others for better or for worse. Will you be able to give an answer?

Is this likely to happen? Maybe. But here's the "really scary" version – perhaps more likely is that no one will ask at all; that people will stand there frozen, uncertain, bewildered and wait for something to happen. That's when, unasked, you have to step forward and say what you think we should do. That's when you need to lead. Answering the unasked question is the hardest thing in the world to do and the most important, but to be able to do it you have to practice – starting now.

So that's why we're really here, to get you to a point, much later in life, where you could answer that question or more importantly the unasked question. If you want to save the world you need to get ready. You may not think you're up to it, but everyone here is. However, if you're just here to only have a good time, later you're not going to be much help to anyone because you won't be able to answer the question – you didn't practice. You'll have no idea and the unasked question will just hang there, unanswered.

gunther

The Beginning, Again

Well the month of August disappeared into the past amazingly fast and we're already into the cool weather of September. This weekend is move-in day for new students and their parents.

In the past parents had been whisked away quickly and without much regard. Now we offer them seminars, counseling, dinner, and frequent tours of the campus. I had the obligation and, I discovered, the pleasure of giving tours of the new Liebling wing of the film/photo building, but I was astonished to find fifty parents in the first group and the same number in still yet another group. In retrospect I see how that many people changes what you can talk about and it's a compelling validation for small classes. However, I did have a good time and a few parents told me afterwards they were grateful for the information I gave them.

With that many people, most of whom were not really interested in media education, but more general information about Hampshire, I simply talked about what I think it takes to get through Hampshire. Engagement. Positive engagement. That, like most of life, means something different to different people, but without it you'll flounder and drop away. It means interacting with the day, with your classes, with your professors, with administrators, with other students – not just showing up. Just showing up only gets you in the door. The rest is up to you and it's not enough just to go to class. You can take all the classes we offer and not be able to graduate! Work here is project oriented and helped along by friends and associates. Friends are personal and might be content free. Associates are content oriented, but could also be friends. You need both and you need to know how to get them.

One of the most interesting byproducts of the lingering of parents is the feeling that they, too, bond with the school and become interested in not just their own sons and daughters, but the campus as a place and as an idea. I also found, surprisingly, that it worked the other way too. I felt an obligation to pay attention to their specific family member and take a responsibility to help them through Hampshire. The families did their job and I think they'll get more out of Hampshire for being here.

So I always feel the glow of optimism each September. So much is possible, so many good things will happen, it could all work out for everyone. We can hope so, but we all have to work at it and make it happen. There's no free ride here, but everyone wants the students to succeed.

gunther