Princeton University
Princeton Baccalaureate Address
HM Queen Noor
May 28, 2000
President Shapiro,
Dean Williamson,
Dear Friends,
And, especially, the Class of 2000While I thank you with all my heart for the enormous privilege of sharing this pivotal moment in your lives you did present me with quite a daunting challenge. Despite a quarter-century of public life and activism, dealing daily with world leaders, movers and shakers, nothing has ever been quite as intimidating for me as returning to my academic roots, to my personal history, and to the sense of awe and humility inspired by the great minds that influenced me, whether artists, thinkers, statesmen or pioneering women.
I always return with the instinctive anxiety and self doubt that characterized my search here for meaning and direction for the future course of my life -- once again the apprehensive student. In fact, this visit is, if anything, more reminiscent than usual, because while you have been relaxing after finishing your theses and exams, I have been working on what to say to you. I thus return to Princeton so long after my own Commencement, still feeling like I have a paper due!
In my search for an authentic, meaningful, perhaps even motivating message for this occasion, I looked back to the path that led me first to Princeton and then beyond .
Born and raised on both US coasts, as a young Arab-American I was conscious of the prejudice faced by my own and all minorities. My father's appointment as FAA administrator in the Kennedy administration, which broke new ground for minorities in the civil service gave me the courage to believe in myself, to have faith in the infinite possibilities offered by idealism and hard work. From his great pride in his public service, I was inspired to value work for the larger public good as the ultimate fulfillment of personal and professional aspirations. Joining the Peace Corps became my goal.
My social and political consciousness was also shaped during the turbulence of the 1960's civil rights and the anti-war movements, which disrupted even the traditional tranquility of this campus. And while for many, a tear-gas fogged protest line may seem a strange starting point for a journey to a palace, the same ideals and concerns that sparked my involvement with the movements for social justice, peace and environmental conservation here in the 60s and 70s, have motivated my work in the Middle East in the decades since.
These foundations of social commitment, inspired by family, the humanitarian idealism of President Kennedy's Camelot and *my generation of fervent activists, were strengthened here at Princeton. The University ethos, "Princeton in the Nation's Service," was more than a motto for many of us, as much as we might have disagreed at the time with some of the things the nation was doing, or perhaps it was for just that reason and our privileged status here, that we felt a special responsibility to speak up and act.
My time here offered a wealth of uncommon experiences that helped prepare me surprisingly well for the career I would eventually make. Among the most useful were the diplomacy and survival skills required by membership in the first class of women to enter Princeton thirty years ago. When I arrived, I was one of 95 women in a class of 895, of 155 women on a campus of 3200 -- a ratio of 1 to 20+. At long last the ratio for the class of 2004 will be 50/50, a highly appropriate start, I think, for Princeton's next millennium.
In many ways, however, the best preparation of all for my life and work beyond Princeton was my major in Architecture and Urban Planning, which offered a captivating, multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and resolving some of the most basic needs of individuals and communities.
These studies also provided me with some very practical skills: a reduced need for sleep and practice in thinking on my feet when faced with merciless public critiques of my work. After graduation, this training enabled me to continue/pursue my quest for public service in different cultures around the world. And, of course, I have not been alone.
There are many examples of dedicated service among Princetonians, both current students and alumni, who give not only of their funds but, more importantly, of themselves. While today's expanded global motto, " Princeton. . . in the service of all nations," reflects a larger awareness of the purpose of a Princeton education, Princetonians have always worked to help others abroad, through programs like Princeton in Asia, which celebrated its centenary last year, and now through Princeton in Africa, the new program it has inspired, which I understand is sending four of you abroad as fellows next year to, among other things, aid refugees.
One project out of many founded and managed by Princetonians takes its name, Doulos, from the Greek word for service. And while some graduates make service their careers, others choose to contribute outside their work-- all finding their own answers to the question of how best to put their values and privileges to work in the world.
Such values can be seen in the evolution of this Chapel. Originally, staunchly Christian in origin, it has now expanded its ministry to embrace all faiths. It is a beautiful symbol -- what we can see of it -- of tradition reaching out to touch the future.
The multi-faith readings we've heard here today reinforce each other; they resonate; they echo each other, and they speak to all of us. They reaffirm that the three Abrahamic faiths and all religions teach common principles which can and should be a unifying force among people. To respect both knowledge and belief, to serve the creator, the creation, and one another -- these are values that reverberate through all holy texts.
Shared faith both upholds the ideal of service and expands the idea of the community we should serve. The Golden Rule is a primary guiding tenet of every faith and spiritual belief system. In the words of the Prophet, Mohammed -- "none of you is a believer until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself". As you have been enriched, so you can and, must, enrich others.
There is a poster based on a New Yorker magazine cover, that depicts Nassau Hall and other campus landmarks in gigantic proportions, and sketches a few other US cities as small smudges, and other areas, such as the entire non-western world -- which is naturally called Princeton in Asia -- as mere dots on the horizon. It is, of course, a friendly jab at the particularly Princetonian worldview. But if there is also still some truth in the picture, let me, just for a minute, zoom in on some of those other areas on the map.
In our the world out there, the population more than doubled in the last half century, passing the 6 billion mark last year. In the developing world, more than half the people live on less than $2 a day, and the mortality rate for young children is 13 times that in wealthier countries.
50 million refugees have been displaced from their homes and sometimes from their countries by conflict, ethnic cleansing and fear of genocide. 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, nearly half women and one-third young people in poor countries. More than 11 million children have been orphaned by the disease -- with 40 million projected by the year 2010. 12 children a day are killed by handguns in this country alone, and elsewhere in the world, children are taking up arms in local militias, killing and dying for causes they barely understand. 8,000 to 10,000 children are killed by landmines every year; in fact, someone is injured or killed by a landmine every 20 minutes, the vast majority of them civilians. And while just under 40% of the US is online, only 4% of the entire world has internet access…about half the world has never made a phone call.
By contrast, in the high-tech, high-flying, highly developed world many of you will enter when you leave here, unemployment is the lowest it has been in 30 years, the economy is booming, people are becoming healthier and living longer. With your energy, your education and your intelligence, you have so much more to offer not only to the world of work, but to the world at large. Those qualities are needed now more than ever before.
In addition, there are a multitude of new ways to address these problems. As technological innovation blurs borders and increases the interconnections between people, new networks are forming, providing those with a dedication to service with a wealth of tools and opportunities to join with others of like mind. NGOs and other organizations are springing up, with their roots partly in cyberspace, and partly in the locations on the globe in which they serve. An excellent example, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, brought the fight against these insidious weapons of mass destruction in slow motion from noble dream to international law in record time. Its rapid success reflects a new equation, where humanitarian commitment plus change multiplied by cooperation equals almost infinite possibility. Never before have concerned world citizens had such unprecedented power to do good.
Today's realities, both the challenges of the world beyond the FitzRandolph Gates, and the possibilities of your world, herald a call to service. The issues that galvanized my class into action decades ago still confront us today -- critical issues such as violence, poverty, gender and racial inequality, humane economic growth, human rights and peaceful relations among nations.
The decades that separate my graduation from yours have emphasized that any one country's success in these areas is deeply intertwined with developments in other parts of the world. This is evident in the international economy and in worldwide health and environmental problems, as well as international terrorism, ethnic tensions and intolerance.
As Princeton graduates in the year 2000, you are particularly well prepared to contribute because you are empowered with an unprecedented combination of knowledge, access and global awareness. You can be catalysts for change. Ubiquitous as it seems today, change is not some natural process, overwhelming, inexorable and beyond our control. Change is the result of human ideas and actions -- the cumulative consequence of the visions, needs, fears and dreams of six billion people like ourselves around the world.
I urge you to find your own way to balance a successful career with service to the larger world. It is not easy -- I know that well -- but it is possible. King Hussein, for one, held on to his ideals in the midst of pursuing what was, to put it extremely mildly, a very demanding job. The challenge of those graduating this week is not only to develop professional skills to succeed in your own lives, but also to redefine a set of common values that can guide our global quest for progress, security, and human dignity.
There is a quote I carry with me like a well-worn touchstone, and take out whenever the tasks ahead of us seem too * discouraging/daunting.
Robert F. Kennedy, speaking in Capetown in 1966, said:
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, 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 current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
If each of us, graduating senior or professor, doctor, lawyer or executive, president, prime minister or queen, recognizes our responsibility to this larger framework, our separate efforts can meet and reinforce one another, as we work together for human progress.
Don't ever let anyone tell you you're too young to change the world. Entrepreneurs barely of driving age are becoming cyber-millionaires. How much more important it is to harness that energy, enthusiasm and alternative thinking in the service of others.
My husband assumed the throne of Jordan at the same age most of you matriculated at Princeton, and his life was, among many other achievements, a supreme example of the way a committed individual can make a difference. He was a devoted public servant, who led his country from a pre-industrial state to a modern model of political, economic and social progress in two generations -- accomplishing these extraordinary achievements by advancing universal education, an exemplary health care system, the role of women, and a participatory and pluralistic system of governance -- all within the framework of traditional Arab and Islamic principles.
By making his humanitarian ideals the hallmark of his policies, he was able, in spite of our limited resources, to promote national development and international cooperation to an extent that confounded those pragmatists and cynics who constantly predicted his failure.
He devoted his life to making the Middle East -- and the world -- more peaceful, progressive and prosperous. Time and time again he was willing to sacrifice and to risk all to achieve those goals. By personal example, he inspired the different peoples of our region to understand what he felt so deeply: that real peace is made among peoples and must grow through trust and confidence in the hearts of those who live side by side.
He understood that to build peace among neighbors, we must build peace within countries by providing the tools for all citizens to help themselves to forge new lives and to end the vicious cycle of poverty and war.
His dedication to service, both temporal and spiritual, was inspired by his grandfather 45 generations prior the prophet Mohammad, who advised, "work for life on this earth as if you are to live forever, and work for the life after in heaven as if you are to die tomorrow."
You are the first Princeton graduates of the Y2K. You are on the threshold, a critical threshold, in your lives. So is the world itself, facing real challenges to mankind's prosperity and even existence? Yes, flipping over that first digit on our calendar is purely symbolic, but that does not make it any less real.
The use of symbols is what makes the human creature unique, and symbols, from languages, to flags, to the zeroes and ones in our computer systems, have great power. The Greeks, in the millennium minus-1k, had two terms for time, chronos and kairos -- the first was the inexorable stream of chronological time, and the second was time as marked by turning points in human history, the time for action. At this moment, we are standing at a juncture of the two. Your choices as you cross this threshold will have a very real effect on yourselves, your neighbors, your nations, and the world. Let us add to those timely and timeless terms another: that of Doulos, or service. If we choose service, kairos can burst through into chronos; the individual decision can change the course of time itself.
Madeline L'Engle, who understood these concepts well, provides us with this interpretation of a Koranic verse:
Yesterday is but a dream and
Tomorrow only a vision
But today well lived makes every
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.There is no life more well-lived than that spent in service to others. In that spirit, and with congratulations, I wish you success and fulfillment.
God bless you all.