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That is why I was so heartened to hear of the remarks of Jean Kennedy Smith, my dear friend and our Ambassador to Ireland, to the graduating class of Fairfield University. In her commencement address, Ambassador Smith lauded the graduates for their deep faith and brilliant spirit of volunteerism. Indeed, she knows service to others when she sees it. Jean Kennedy Smith not only comes from a family whose faith underlies a deep commitment to community and public service, but is herself actively involved in both public service and in improving the lives of those who are less fortunate. Her exemplary work with the `very special arts' organization brings the joy of the arts to people with disabilities.
In this day and age, when most of the news about youth is gloom and doom it was refreshing to know that Fairfield University has cultivated such an outstanding group of young men and women. A group of young adults, as Jean Kennedy Smith explained, whose faith and commitment to service will not only bring personal fulfillment, but also ultimately advance goals such as peace in Ireland and the world over.
Mr. President, I wish to share Jean Kennedy Smith's uplifting remarks with my colleagues and with the American people, and ask that they be printed, as published June 17, 1995, in America Press, in the Record.
The remarks follow:
Since this is a day of celebration, it is a time to talk of those who love us and those whom we love--your parents, grandparents, your brothers and sisters, your friends--all those who have given so much for you and whose sacrifices have brought you to this threshold of the future. Although I never had the good fortune to attend a Jesuit school, I am certainly familiar with the value of a Jesuit education. My late husband, Steve, graduated from Georgetown, and my son attended medical school there. In my family, a Jesuit education has always been synonymous with excellence.
A noted college president once said that the reason that universities are such storehouses of knowledge is that every entering student brings a little knowledge in and no graduating student takes knowledge out. I'm sure that is not true at Fairfield. A good education is respected and cherished throughout the world, particularly in the United States and in Ireland. Ireland, in fact, boasts one of the most educated societies in the world. The Irish youth are the best educated in all of Europe.
But this should come as no surprise. When Europe descended into the Dark Ages, Ireland earned its reputation as a land of scholars and saints by preserving the traditions of learning and faith. Men and women of religious orders in those years committed themselves to the world of ideas and knowledge, and passed on this heritage in both written and oral form. Western civilization has benefitted from their wisdom ever since.
St. Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus in 1540, also extolled the importance of education. But he realized that it must be more than the mere accumulation of knowledge. Ignatius understood that a true education is one that is inspired by spiritual values. The motto of Fairfield University, `Through Faith Toward the Fullness of Truth,' reflects the spirit of St. Ignatius and the work of the Jesuits and lay men and women who teach at Fairfield.
My mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, shared this same high vision--that faith, above all things, brings fulfillment. She often said: `The most important element in human life is faith. If God were to take away all his blessings, health, physical fitness, wealth, intelligence, and leave me but one gift, I would ask for faith.'
Our family was blessed with two wonderful parents. And while we were growing up, they always impressed upon us the responsibility to give something back to our country, which had been so good to us. As President Kennedy said on Inauguration Day in 1961, `Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' But too often in recent years, our country seems to have lost sight of that ideal. We ignore it at our peril.
Service to others takes many forms. It can be an act of kindness to a friend or neighbor, volunteering at a soup kitchen or local hospital, standing up for civil rights and against poverty and discrimination or working with others on the countless challenges that face society. Each of these acts is important--essential--to our well being. Each act expresses our morality, our commitment to the enduring values of peace, justice and truth. My brother Robert Kennedy told by students of Capetown in South Africa in the 1960's: `Each time a man stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. And crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a mighty current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'
I know that the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well as Fairfield. You have staffed the Head Start program in Bridgeport, teaching basic skills to disadvantaged children. Nursing students staff a health promotion center that also assists the poor. Some of you are active in Project Children, which has made a tremendous impact on the children of Northern Ireland, by giving them opportunities to visit the United States. Other have worked in third world countries like Belize, Ecuador, Mexico and Jamaica. And I am particularly delighted that Fairfield will host 520 athletes next month for the Special Olympics International World Games. I commend you for the example you have set, and I hope you will continue to find such opportunities for service throughout your lives.
Much of my own work has been with an organization called Very Special Arts, which tries to bring experience with the arts to people with disabilities. It is amazing, what men and women and children can achieve no matter how great their difficulties. Patients who can barely communicate can learn to write beautiful poetry. A deaf child can learn to dance, a paraplegic to play music by using his toes or to paint with his mouth. The joy they discover in their achievements is indescribable. Every one, in a unique way, is a miracle of our common humanity and our care for one another.
In its own way, a miracle on a large scale is happening today in Northern Ireland. Peace, which had eluded the people for so long, has now been a faithful presence for many months. The guns and bombs are silent, and Protestants and Catholics alike are finding how much they can accomplish together when violence no longer oppresses their community. It makes me proud of my country to know that America is helping this dream of peace and reconciliation to come true.
I arrived in Ireland as ambassador 30 years after President Kennedy's famous visit in 1963. One of my first trips was to County Wexford, `where our ancestors had lived. At the heritage center there, I type the name of my great-grandfather into a computer. The screen read: `Patrick Joseph Kennedy, Age: 28. Literacy: None.'
This year, as we observe the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine, when millions were forced to leave Ireland, those words symbolize for me their courage, faith and determination. These immigrants came to this country penniless, without their families and without education, in order to build a better life for themselves and their children in the freedom and opportunity of this land. We are a nation of immigrants. And our diversity has helped make us strong. But our faith will keep us free.
You, the members of this graduating class, will make all the difference in maintaining these high ideals in the years ahead. The success of your neighborhood, your community and our country will depend on you. You will be asked to take chances, to take risks, to take action. The ripples of hope that you send forth will make America a better country in a better world.
As my brother Robert said, `This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life, but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, predominance of courage over timidity--of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.'
I wish you great adventure, happiness and fulfillment in all that you do--for yourselves and others.
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