We inducted new members into my schools chapter of the National English Honor Society. This was the speech I gave as the Chapter Advisor: The Old English motto of the National English Honor Society, “Gelast sceal mid are” (yuh-lahst shal mid ahr-uh), was purposely selected in part because it represents one of the earliest forms of the language we celebrate, and in even greater part because its meaning--duty goes with honor--represents the high calling to which each of us must respond. Duty, honor, scholarship. In today’s day and age, these words seem to have lost their true meanings. Today, duty is something we subscribe to obligations set forth by outside forces; honor as something only military heroes can earn through valor or even worse, high grades; and scholarship as nothing more than book studies or grant money for college. Classic literature to us modern folk conjures up images of folklore, fairy tales, and nonsensical happenings. Yet, if we allow these stores to settle within our souls, we start to realize the great power we once possessed as human beings and the great potential we may forge into the future. In yesteryears, duty was a charge set from within oneself, not simply obligations set forth by principalities or parents. The great Hellen Keller is noted for saying, “I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” Duty is an obligation to oneself, whether it is to heed the call to slay a country’s demons, like Beowulf, or being true to yourself with dignity, no matter how unique or outrageously bizarre you may be, like Stargirl. As the sun rises on each new day, charge yourself to do your duties and even more so, to do your duties well. The greatest American statesman Abraham Lincoln once said, “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” To live with honor is more than simply having your name on a society’s list. The noble goal of honor is also more than the valor shown by warriors in battle. Honor is a thing to be earned by the will of grace, to charge yourself to do what is right over what is easy, to do what is true over what is comfortable. Come what may, charge yourself to always take the high road, even if that road is long, winding, and dark. Too often you will be faced with the challenge of Robert Frost, but with honor you shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and you—you will take the one less traveled by, and that will make all the difference. It probably will come with no surprise to my students, with all my unique tastes in music, culture, and literature, that I have a favorite dictionary. Yes, I have one particular book of words that I prefer to look up definitions in. It is the first American lexicon: Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary. If you were to look up the word “scholar,” Webster notes that the word is derived from the Latin word schola meaning school and the Greek word for leisure. Thus, while Webster narrowly defines a “scholar” as a “pupil” or “disciple,” a true scholar knows that true education is a passion for learning, and not just books, multiplication tables, and the atomic weight of Carbon, but a true scholar is passionate about her life: to live it, to love it, to protect it, to share it. To be a true scholar, one must understand that yes, knowledge is power, and to fell ignorance ushers in freedom, but to live within the confines of a book like dear, dear Faust, may be like bargaining with the Devil, with your study as a prison. Scholarship is more than grades and grants: learn to live and live to learn. That is the markings of a true scholar. New members, I am very proud to call each of you my students. In honor of your accomplishments and in anticipation of your bright future, I end this ceremony with these words by our Chapter patron Virginia Woolf. Please commit them to yourself as you grow in our Society, in our community, and in our mutual dedication to a life of letters: You cannot find peace by avoiding life. Life has its struggles, its storms, but avoiding them does not bring resolution. We must prepare for our storms in life, whatever tragedy befalls us, acknowledge their existence, and soldier on together. Life happens. When we don’t avoid it, that is when we discover peace. Congratulations to you all and welcome to the National English Honor Society.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 19:00:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015