Outgoing Oregon Symphony conductor gave a graduation speech recently that all Americans need to hear.
Artists are truth-tellers, and, as an artist, James DePreist began his address with the painful truth of today:
Graduates, the world in which we live is a mess. Myth masquerading as truth, our beloved United States in crisis, many of its fundamental principles under assault. And yet, a goodly number of your fellow Americans seem oblivious…sleepwalking through these alarming times, heedless and gullible beyond belief. Our country simply cannot afford this and our hard won freedoms cannot long bear the weight of an unenlightened citizenry. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the unspeakable horror of September 11th or the very real menace of world terrorism. History has clearly shown that the ultimate weapon of mass destruction for any society is ignorance.
His poetic and passionate plea to confront “the tragic bittersweet chasm between dream and reality, between a nation’s words and its deeds…beauty in the wings” urges us to accept our Constitutional responsibilities as American citizens:
You must find the ideas that our society needs to hear and make your country heed your words. At the 1964 Republican convention Sen. Barry Goldwater let fly this provocative clarion reaffirmation: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Could the senator have been thinking of the Declaration of Independence and our revolutionary war led by that ragtag band of left-wing extremists like Washington, Jefferson, and Patrick Henry? Just imagine the list of those who today could rally ’round the banner emblazoned with Goldwater’s words. Over here