 |
|
|
|
LA ÑAPAIn Dominican Spanish la ñapa refers to "the little extra" added on at the end. Just when you thought you'd gotten all that you would get, along comes your ñapa, like a baker's dozen, with one more kiss, one more pastelito, one more mango at the mercado.
Toward Hope and History RhymingAs I mentioned under NEWS, I delivered the commencement address at the University of Vermont, this past May 2008. I'm posting an excerpt from "Toward Hope and History Rhyming." It's what I have to say to young people of all ages, especially young people just starting out on the adventure of their lives. I am feeling hopeful and inspired by the example of young people who are rolling up their sleeves to address the monumental but not insurmountable challenges ahead. We have two wonderful volunteers working at the farm this coming year, Naomi Harper and Dylan Wadja-Levie. And there are so many of you out there -- passionate and committed young people -- whom I meet on book tours or through letters. The work you are doing truly humbles me and makes me proud to be in the same human family with you. Thank you and gracias! YOUR fan, Julia. So far, I've been talking about the personal journey, having the patience and intelligence to find your true pattern. Having the courage to live by that directive. But now I want to turn to what you do with it. What's it for? Or as the song from my generation used to ask, "What's it all about, Alfie?"
. . . I don't have to tell you that this is a big year for America. Most of you will be voting for the first time this November. I could make this a bully pulpit for myself, but I won't. But what I want to say in the time left me I hope will be something you keep in mind as you go forward. Because what I see when I look out at all of you is the world without me. You are the ones who follow after, the next little beads in the necklace of the generations. You are the ones we are turning the world over to, with so much hope, and longing, and with apologies, yes, that we who in the 60s meant to make this a much better world, well, we're giving you a planet with serious problems. But we are still here to help and support you, count on us.
|
|
Great challenges lie ahead and we need all your patience and intelligence and passion, your sense of service, your love in order to survive as a human family. One of the most interesting thinkers on this subject is a man named Dr. James Martin. Maybe you've heard of him? He's the author of The Wired Society and most recently The Meaning Of The Twenty-First Century, a man who foresaw the whole information technology revolution, someone who has been at forefront of futuristic thinking for the last thirty years. Dr. Martin sat down a few years back and made all the projections, computer models, numbers crunching, no soft science, the hard facts: what would happen in fifty years, a hundred years given the rate of population growth, our ability to feed the growing multitudes, carbon emissions, global warming--and what he concluded was that humankind is on an unsustainable course, that if things continue as they are, we are headed for global catastrophe. Dr. Martin says that this could be either humanity's last century or the new-Renaissance century that sets the world on a course toward a spectacular future.
Dr. James Martin so much believes that it's so critical that we get on that course now that he has decided to devote the rest of his life to trying to ensure that we make that global shift. I heard Dr. Martin speak a few years ago at Shelburne Farms--a wonderful organization just down the road that is trying to model how to be a responsible global citizen. In his conclusion, Dr. Martin said that basically he has worked out the projections and possibilities and it comes down to three scenarios.
Number one, he calls "Fortress America." That is, as world conditions worsen, the United States protects itself. We make ourselves as well-defended and wealthy as possible. We get pervasive anti-terrorist protection. Dr. Martin says that in many ways our country is already behaving as if it has chosen this option. America's defense budget exceeds the combined GDP of the entire 4th world.
Scenario two is a version of scenario one, and Dr. Martin calls it the Strong Nations' Club: it's basically the fortress idea among the strong nations. China, India, NATO countries, Japan, and the USA. We keep among ourselves the power, the technology. That means about 4 billion people who are members in this club, but 5 billion outside it.
The third scenario is the Compassionate World model. The rich nations determine to share in building a stable world for all of us.
Dr. Martin says that he travels all over the world, meeting with heads of state, addressing leaders in all areas of technology and development, CEOs of the biggest corporations, and when he asks them what is the model they would like to see happen, they say, hands down, number three. But when he asks them what model they think is going to happen, they inevitably say, number two or number three.
It's this gap between hope, what we all know in our hearts is the true loving pattern of our human family--versus--the cynicism that disbelieves and posits the worst by acting out of its fears-- that gap that I want you to think about closing in the lives you lead as you leave this place. A gap that I want you to think about closing, especially when you go to vote in November. Seamus Heaney, the poet, whom I first met here at UVM where he came to give a reading, has a wonderful passage from his play, The Cure at Troy:
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up, And hope and history rhyme. So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge. Believe that further shore Is reachable from here. Believe in miracles And cures and healing wells. Hope for a great sea change. In fact, do more than hope. . . . Be part of that longed-for tidal wave! Submerge yourself deeply, passionately in your true pattern in service to your community, your human family. Believe that further shore is reachable from here. That hope and history can rhyme!
| ||
Julia Alvarez From "Toward Hope and History Rhyming" Copyright © Julia Alvarez 2008-2010. All rights reserved. No further duplication, downloading or distribution permitted without written agreement of the author (please contact my agent, Susan Bergholz).
|
|
recommend this page to a friend |
 |
to the Top |
find Julia Alvarez on:
|
looking for something? try the site map or search: |
|
send website feedback to the Julia Alvarez webster website by Sienna M Potts: Siennese.com many thanks to Alex Chapin for the original design this website generated with 100% recycled electrons last updated 16 April 2010 :: 10:40 am Caspar (Pacific) time unless otherwise noted all website content copyright © 2003-2010 Julia Alvarez & website design copyright © 2003-2010 Sienna M Potts all rights reserved, thank you |