Text: Dr. Carl Gombert’s portion of the Baccalaureate sermon delivered to the Maryville College Class of 2024 on May 3
May 3, 2024
Maryville College Professor of Art Dr. Carl Gombert was selected alongside Dr. Jenifer Greene to deliver the Baccalaureate sermon to the Maryville College Class of 2024 on May 3, 2024. Here is the full text of his portion of the sermon, delivered after Dr. Greene’s, titled “Unsolicited Advice.”
Thank you, Dr. Greene.
I would like to add my “welcome” to everyone here this afternoon. I too wish to congratulate and welcome the class of 2024 who sit here trembling in anticipation of the auspicious milestone they will mark tomorrow morning. I too wish to welcome the parents, grandparents, siblings, relatives, friends, admirers, and other well-wishers assembled here who have supported and guided these soon-to-be graduates through this process, and who are here now to witness them boldly begin the next chapter of their life stories. And let me assure you that this community of well-wishers includes Dr. Greene and myself as well as the entire Maryville College faculty and staff, the Board of Directors, and the vast network of Maryville College alumni.
And, Class of 2024, let me reiterate what Dr. Greene has already said:
We are proud of you.
We look forward to seeing what you will do next, and we will continue to support your efforts in the years to come.
As you know, the unifying theme of our remarks is “Unsolicited Advice,” and I am pretty sure that for the last couple of decades or so you have received lots and lots of advice. I am also pretty sure that only a very small portion of it was advice that you actually asked for. I also know that there are certain times in one’s life when one receives lots of unsolicited advice, things like choosing a job, deciding whether or not to have children, moving away, buying a house, and so on. And if you think back to four years ago, you might recall getting all kinds of advice about where to go and where not to go to college, what majors to pursue and what majors to avoid, what classes to take, and all kinds of other advice, some of which was wise or helpful, and some of which was not. Like it or not, this is one of those times. In fact, it might actually be that nature itself requires old folks like us to offer advice at times like these.
And so, I have no shame whatsoever in suggesting that from here on out you should wear sensible footwear and get adequate sleep. And I could easily rattle off all kinds of conventionally good advice about eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, establishing appropriate boundaries, acquiring better habits, practicing self-care, or thinking better thoughts. Heck, I might even suggest that you “do good on the largest possible scale.” But I am guessing you get enough of that stuff elsewhere. So, let’s head down a different road so to speak.
One piece of advice I have been offering recently is that it is often helpful, and maybe even wise, to hold complementary or contradictory ideas in one’s head simultaneously. And so, I am very comfortable offering advice that might at first seem blatantly contradictory.
This context, I believe, explains why I chose readings from the Book of Ecclesiastes for today’s talk. Of course, the best-known example is Chapter 3 that contains the famous “for everything there is a season, a time to be born, a time to die,” verses. But the theme runs through the verses I have chosen to reflect on as well. These verses note that sometimes good people die too young, and sometimes bad people not only live but also prosper for a long time. Of course, one of the big lessons here is that sometimes life is not fair, and sometimes people either don’t get what they deserve, or they don’t deserve what they get. So, one bit of advice I want to offer is to encourage each of you to work hard to make life more fair, to work for equity, for justice, and for peace.
And that is very good advice, if I do say so myself, but this isn’t what these verses are really about. Ecclesiastes also offers a pretty solid example of virtue ethics. By reminding us to be neither overly wicked or overly righteous, the writer counsels us to find a middle way, to avoid extremes, and to find balance. And this too is very good advice.
(I am tempted to make a quip about Aristotle and the required Senior Ethics class, but it might be too soon for those of you who just took the exam this week, no?)
In a similar vein, the other verse I chose for today reminds us that we do not know how much time we have. What I love about this verse is the encouragement to enjoy whatever time we do have. It tells us that life is a glorious banquet on a sunny afternoon; that life is full of gifts, and that it is “good and comely” to enjoy them. It teaches us to cultivate and maintain a sense of gratitude.
Of course, life isn’t an unending string of good times, delicious treats, and amusing diversions, but this verse reminds us to pay attention and to look for them, and most importantly, it gives us permission to enjoy them.
And that is very good advice indeed.
Best wishes and Godspeed, Class of 2024.