Are you Brave? A message to this year's MCM graduates from Dr. R

Hi MCMers,

Well, commencement celebrations have concluded; the last bit of academic regalia has been turned back in and the tents are all folded and trucked away. What remains are lots and lots of photos of happy and joyous graduates and their families, some trampled lawn, and a gaggle of new Trojan alumni. It was, as all commencements are, fabulous.

I want to share with you some bits from Melody Hobson's commencement address given at the main university ceremony. Hers was one of the best I have heard and kept me spellbound even as I sat in the rain under a dripping tree.

Let me start with a personal anecdote. Twelve years ago, after my first chemo treatment, my then-seven year old granddaughter asked me,"Bekka, were you brave?" I told her I was and I am.

I loved that question. I have asked it of myself a lot over the intervening years. So, when Hobson began one section of her speech by saying she wanted the graduates to remember three words, "Just be brave" I felt as if she read my mind and my history.

She went on to give the grads three equations to live by and these I want to share with you.

1. Hard work plus bravery equals success.

2. Imagination plus bravery equals creativity.

3. Love plus bravery equals happiness.

What wonderful equations to live by. Here's my take on them.

It takes bravery to to turn hard work into confidence and a willingness to stand up for what you believe in. It takes hard work to have at your finger tips the data, the analysis, the arguments for your point of view. It takes bravery to fight for what you believe in when faced with doubters and detractors.

It takes bravery to turn what lives in your imagination into something that will be seen, felt, evaluated, and judged. It takes bravery to risk rejection, rise above it and continue. It takes bravery to absorb and learn from critique and criticism and use that learning to move above and beyond into new heights of imagination and creation. It takes bravery to create.

It takes bravery to love, be loved, share love. To open your life and your heart, to make room on your calendar for people, not just projects and PowerPoint presentations. To have your heart be touched and changed and to touch and change another's heart takes great bravery. To find the person who loves you not despite of who you are but of who you are is, perhaps, the truest definition of happiness, but it begins with bravery.

And I will add one more equation, "Commitment plus bravery equals Grad School." It took bravery to fill out that application. It took commitment to make every live session. It took bravery to learn about methods and theories. It took commitment to be at every group meeting. It took bravery to turn down invitations for fun outings in favor of writing a literature review. It will take commitment and it will take bravery to master each and every module of each and every course in each and every semester on your way to earning that MCM degree.

So, my MCMers, let me ask you, "are you brave?"

Although, I think I already know the answer.

Have a wonderful, and brave, summer semester.

take care, work hard, have fun, and Fight On!

Dr. R