Tim Russert at Fordham University

From InspireYou

Tim Russert, And His 2004 Commencement Address at Fordham

Father McShane, distinguished honorees, distinguished guests and the Class of 2004.

Before all else, congratulations! You finally made it.

Now however, before you can begin to move on to the next phase of your lives, you must undergo the last grueling hurdle in your career here at Fordham University: the Commencement Address.

Let me be honest with you about my experiences with commencement addresses. I’ve been through several of my own and I’ve sat through dozens of others. And I can’t recall a single word or phrase from those informed, inspirational and seemingly interminable speeches.

In preparing for today, I had thought about presenting a scholarly treatise on the Bush-Kerry presidential race, but I thought better of it.

I guess I’m like that noted philosopher, Yogi Berra–I get it eventually. After Yogi had flunked his exam, his teacher came down the aisle, shook him and said, “Yogi, don’t you know anything.” Yogi looked up and said, “I don’t even suspect anything.” Yes, this is the same Yogi Berra who when asked whether he wanted his pizza cut into six or eight slices replied, “Six. I couldn’t eat eight.”…

This is the second most humbling day of my life. The first was in 1985. I was granted an extraordinary opportunity–a private audience with the Holy Father.

I’ll never forget it. The door opened and there was the Pope, dressed in white. He walked solemnly into the room, [which] at that time seemed as large as Yankee Stadium. I was there to convince His Holiness it was in his interest to appear on the Today program. But my thoughts soon turned away from Bryant Gumbel’s career and NBC’s ratings toward the prospect of salvation. As the Vicar of Christ approached me, you heard this tough, no-nonsense hard-hitting moderator of Meet the Press begin our conversation by saying, “Bless me Father!” He took my arm and whispered, “You are the one called Timothy.” I said yes. “The man from NBC?” “Yes, yes, that’s me.” “They tell me you are a very important man at the network.”

Somewhat taken aback, I said, “Your Holiness, with all due respect, there are only two of us in this room, and I am certainly a distant second.”

He put his hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and said, “Right.”

In that humble spirit may a respectful servant in the laity of the Church I love offer a serious observation. I believe it is imperative our bishops and cardinals continue to work tirelessly to bring about a healing and reconciliation with all those who have been harmed and they vigorously enforce measures that ensure the illegal and immoral abuse of our young will never ever be tolerated or enabled by our Church again.

It’s not often you have a chance to meet and talk with people who share the same background and the same values.

So let me skip the temptation of lecturing to you.

Instead, let me take just a very few minutes to have a conversation with you, the Class of 2004.

Like each of you, my life changed forever on September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m.

The English language does not yet include the words we need to express our sorrow for what happened on that day. Only in our hearts can we give full and complete expression of our grief and the shocking sense of personal loss and the agony of seeing New York City and our nation so violated. And yet we learned much about ourselves that day. [We learned] about the fragility of life, about our deep love for our country and about our real heroes.

My dad, Big Russ, was a truck driver and a sanitation man. He worked two jobs for 30 years and he never complained–and that was after he helped win WWII. That is the story of his generation. He never graduated high school, but he taught me more by the quiet eloquence of his hard work by his basic decency. By his intense loyalty, he taught me the true lessons of life.

As a young boy, I remember so vividly when John Fitzgerald Kennedy concluded his Inaugural Address:

“With history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking this blessing and His help, but knowing here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

What is God’s work here on earth?

Understanding that is, I believe, the key to a meaningful life, the essence of our earthly existence. Fordham University endeavors to educate a new generation of leaders for the new millennium, men and women who will be capable of shaping a new century with vision and justice and charity, with a sense of calling, with a concern for all of the human family.

I am the first person in my family to have the chance to go to college.

I attended John Carroll University, also a Jesuit school, where I received a superb education.

And so, too, with you. You chose a school that was different and you made the choice deliberately.

The education you’ve received at Fordham isn’t meant to be the same as you could have received at a score of colleges, public and private, across this country.

You’ve been given an education that says it’s not enough to have a skill. Not enough to have read all the books or know all the facts. Values really do matter.

Fordham University…a Catholic university founded by the Jesuits.

Its only justification for existing is because it has a special mission: training young men and women to help shape and influence the moral tone and fiber of our nation and our society. And that means now you have a special obligation and responsibility. You have been blessed with extraordinary opportunities–and, St. Luke tells us, “To whom much is given, much indeed is expected.”

Graduating from Fordham University has given you incredible advantages over others in your generation.

Yes, I too have heard the sometimes-smug remarks about Catholic colleges.

You think you’ve had it bad. You should try being a Buffalo Bills fan in Washington, D.C.! I actually took Meet the Press to the Super Bowl a few years back. At the end of the program, I looked into the camera and said, “It’s now in God’s hands. And God is good. And God is just. Please God, One time. Go Bills!”

My colleague, Tom Brokaw turned to me and said, “You Irish Catholics from South Buffalo are shameless.”

I said, “You’ll see the power of prayer, Brokaw.”

Well, as I moped back from the stadium after the Cowboys slipped by the Bills, 52-10, the first person I saw was Brokaw. He yelled across the room, “Hey Russert, I guess God is a Southern Baptist.”

You have something others would give most anything for!

You believe in something–in your God, in your country, in your family, in your school, in yourselves, in your values.

Remember the message our parents and grandparents and teachers repeated and repeated-and tried so hard to instill in us.

A belief if you worked hard and played fair, things really would be all right.

And you know, after working for senators and governors, meeting popes and interviewing presidents-I know they are right.

It sure seems funny. The older I get, the smarter my mother and father seem to get.

The values you have been taught, the struggles you have survived and the diploma you are about to receive, have prepared you to compete with anybody, anywhere.

People with backgrounds like yours and mine can and will make a difference. In Poland, it was a young electrician named Lech Walesa, the son of a carpenter, who transformed a nation from communism to democracy.

In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, a brave black man who worked his way through law school as a police officer, spending 28 years in jail to make one central point: we are all created equal.

And on September 11, at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon it was our brother and sister police, fire and rescue workers who properly redefined modern day heroism.

All these men and women have one thing in common with you: like the past, the future leaders of this country and this world will be born not to the blood of kings and queens, but to the blood of immigrants and pioneers.

It is now your turn. You will now have the opportunity to be doctors, nurses, lawyers, bankers, accountants, social workers, soldiers, journalists, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, teachers and more. And in those vital professions, your contributions can be enormous. You can help save lives, provide prosperity, record history, prevent disease and train young minds. And you will succeed. And you will make a difference if you only accept the simple fact that your family and your Fordham education and your values have prepared you for this challenge second to none.

And always remember it is your grandparents and your parents who defended this country, who built this country, who brought you into this world and a chance to live the American dream. Will your generation do as much for your children?

You know you must. Every generation is tested; every generation is given the opportunity to be the “greatest generation.”

And so, too, with the Fordham University graduates of 2004. You were born and educated to be players in this extraordinary blessing called life.

Go climb that ladder of success and work and live in comfort. And enjoy yourself.

You earned it. For that is the American way.

But please do this world one small favor.

Remember the people struggling alongside you and below you, the people who haven’t had the same opportunity, the same blessings, the same Fordham education.

Eight children a day are shot dead in the streets of America, 25 percent of eighth graders will never graduate high school. Thirty-five million adults in our country [are] without a high-school education.

If we are serious about continuing as the world’s premier military, economic and moral force, we have no choice. We will need all of our children contributing and prospering.

We can build more prisons and put more police on the streets, but unless we instill in our young the most basic social skills and cultural and moral values, we will be a vastly different society. We must motivate, inspire, yes, insist our children respect one another, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

We must teach our children they are never, never, entitled, but they are always, always loved.

And we must do everything in our power to make sure our schools are meaningful, skills are learnable, jobs are available.

No matter what profession you choose, you must try, even in the smallest ways to improve the quality of life of all the children in this country.

No one has shown that generous spirit of service more than the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. No matter what your political philosophy, reach down and see if there isn’t some child we can’t pull up a rung or two. Some are sick, some are lonely, some are uneducated. Most have little control over their fate. Give them a hand. Give them a chance. Give them their dignity.

The best commencement speech I ever heard was all of 16 words: “No exercise is better for the human heart than reaching down to lift up another person.”

That is your charge. That is your challenge. That is your opportunity.

That’s what I believe it means to be a member of the Class of 2004 of Fordham University. For the good of all of us, please build a future we all can be proud of.

You can do it.

But please get busy. You only have 2,300 weeks before you’ll be eligible for Social Security!

Have a wonderful life.

Take care of one another.

Be careful tonight.

God Bless …

Go Rams!

http://2008central.net/2008/06/14/a-personal-note-on-tim-russert/