Commencement
Catherine A. Rigsby, Chair of the Faculty
May 2006
Thank you Chancellor Ballard. And good morning graduates.
Each of us here today lives two distinctly separate lives.
We live the life that describes WHO we are in this world, and the one that describes WHAT we must do to live in this world successfully.
Regardless of whether you are a student or a professor, whether you are engineering a household or a bridge,
whether you are creating the next great scientific breakthrough or the ideal expression of a thought –
if you are very fortunate, about 20% of your life is spent doing what you NEED to be doing.
It is in this 20% that we focus on our hearts and our talents, It is in this 20% that we feed our strengths and our passions – and truly contribute to society. This is the CONTENT of our lives. This is the truly important part of our lives.
The remainder of our time is taken up with what we HAVE to do. As Americans, we spend perhaps 80% of our lives supporting the inefficiencies and indifferences of others: Sitting at the end of an eternal line of traffic,
Filling out endless paperwork, or Living with dead-end jobs, and feeling unrewarded.
These things do nothing to contribute to making our world more vibrant and whole.
All of this “stuff” is the CONTEXT of life – the minutia that we wade through daily.
We deal with this minutia, this CONTEXT, because correcting the indignities it causes would consume the little inspiration we get from that precious 20% of heartfelt CONTENT.
It seems a sad commentary that 80% of our actions are just maintenance. But being aware that our lives are more than just jumbled heaps of meaning-starved acts is important. It gives us the opportunity to focus – if only for a few minutes a day – on what REALLY matters.
Class of 2006, parents, guests, faculty and administrators – reflect for just a moment on how you can become more fulfilled in your lives.
Regardless of who we are, CONTEXT shapes our behaviors – and inhibits our imagination.
And CONTEXT is transferable. Every day we choose to either carry our CONTEXT with us to new opportunities, careers, and places; or to leave it behind and, instead, focus on the CONTENT of our lives.
The challenge is to think past the car crammed full of your life’s possessions, past that perfect job that would make everything right for you in the world, past that new toy you will buy with your first real paycheck. Instead, we need to focus on those actions that will bring us closer to the truth of who we are.
Resist the temptation to follow, simply because it is easier to follow than to forge a new path.Resist the temptation to rebel, simply because it is easier to rebel than to work from within as part of a larger society.
The easier paths give into that 80% CONTEXT – allowing it to take over even more of our lives and leading to nothing but more of the same; and this sameness is NOT achievement.
It is fine to follow and it is fine to rebel. But only when you know in your heart that it is what you NEED to do to live a more fulfilled life.
Focus on actions that will bring you closer to the truth of your talents and the truth of your heart.
And know that only in striving to increase life’s CONTENT will you truly achieve success.
The East Carolina University faculty congratulate you.
We wish you success in all that you do.
And we hope that you will never forget to focus on WHO you are – on the true CONTENT of your life – and that you will keep your passions burning, and never allow the CONTEXT to hold you down.
