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September 16, 2005
Henry Louis Gates, and pursuing a dream
So yesterday Case hosted Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for the Anisfield-Wolf lecture. A group of us from the admission office made the short walk over to Severance Hall for the lecture, joining a large portion of the new first year class at Case, other students, staff and faculty members, as well as students and counselors from other colleges and local high schools to hear one of the top scholars in America today. Like Lisa said, it's one of the perks of working on a college campus, getting to listen to smart people talk about a multitude of topics. (I learned SO MUCH about the history of comics from Art Spiegelman--if you ever get the chance to hear him, he's fascinating!)
Anyway, Gates talked about the pursuit of a dream. In 1909, WEB DuBois hatched an idea--that the most efficacious way to combat white racism was to create an encyclopedia of African-Americans, because DuBois was convinced that racism has its roots in ignorance, and an encyclopedia, by remedying that ignorance, would also remedy racism. I won't go into the long and storied history of this dream, as Gates did so eloquently (and in such an entertaining fashion!) but long story short, this dream originally conceived by DuBois was finally fulfilled by Gates just a couple years ago--nearly a century later.
There's a lot to say on this topic, but what really spoke to me is how passionate and inspired DuBois and Gates were to realize this dream, how it became the drumbeat that marched their lives forward, how it was such an ambitious goal, faced so many hurdles, goalposts moved back numerous times, yet they kept on in their pursuit because its intent was so grand. Gates told us at the end of his talk to dream big. He believes he was put on this earth to carry the torch for DuBois over those last miles, and finally (of course, with the help of some other outstanding scholars and partners) to light the fire that would illuminate the darkness of ignorance and help to overcome racism.
So of course, I ask--have I dreamed that big? I love my job, but do the goals and objectives, however ambitious they may be (and believe you me, they're ambitious!) offer the same kind of inpiration that fueled DuBois and Gates? It would be easy to feel like a loser because they don't--and probably couldn't. There aren't too many goals that are on par with creating understanding and harmony among people. (Not to sound like a contestant in a beauty, er, scholarship pageant.)
But even though we might not have as grand a pursuit, I think we can still be energized by Gates's passion, and to think about whether we approach our day-to-day, more mundane aims with the same kind of zeal, because there is joy in pursuing and achieving a dream, however small it might be...while at the same time, being mindful that there may be greater goals to consider, and there's nothing stopping us from taking up those somewhat heavier burdens.
Bob, Undergraduate Admission
Posted by rrm3 at September 16, 2005 11:58 AM
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