Dare to be, dare to do*

(Second of three parts)

Whatever the challenge, Toynbee pointed out two fundamental principles: first, that it is difficult rather than easy conditions that produce human achievements — which probably explains why your professors chose to throw various discomforts along your way; and second, that the extreme challenge — whether too tough or too easy — does not necessarily produce the best response, for if too harsh, the challenge could suffocate growth, and if too undemanding, the challenge fails to invite an adequate reaction. This second principle, which Toynbee called the “golden mean” of challenge, is one that we professors practice (or attempt to practice) in class.

While I find Toynbee’s thinking sensible, my reservation is that he relied too heavily on external stimuli to motivate human response. Do we always need to depend on an external drive in order to develop? Is it not better, and more satisfying, to be internally driven, to act on our own out of our beliefs and a shared commitment to the betterment of our people and all of humanity and the planet we inhabit? In my years of teaching I have found that my best students have not been the brightest in class but those internally driven to learn and enhance themselves, even as they make mistakes along the way and despite the limits of our learning environment here in UP. With little prodding from me these students have progressed, glistening like precious rare gems. So if you will allow me to preach a little, my first bit of advice is to develop your internal drive.

Some of you might ask, but isn’t it human to steer away from involvement out of fear of making a mistake? Of course it is. In this world of imperfection mistakes have a natural dwelling. It is common to make mistakes; it is less common to accept that we make them, to learn from our errors, find ways to correct our wrong, and to emerge better human beings as a result. Besides, certainty can be dull and perfection, lifeless and unreal, while uncertainty offers the promise of excitement and imperfection, the never-ending challenge to learn and grow. Faced with the most difficult circumstances, amid failure or loss, we summon our best capacities to surmount challenge, or minimize failure, undo it if possible or avoid repeating it, and sometimes, to accept the realities we cannot yet change with the openness of mind and perseverance of heart to keep trying to change those realities for the better. Political satirist and humorist Russell Baker put it this way when he advised a graduating class in 1995: “When you get out there in the world try not to make it any worse than it already is.” My advice to you, UP College of Science batch 2010, is to make the world better, infinitely better. That is every parent’s dream, to bequeath to one’s child a better life and a better environment for living, and that is why your professors labor in UP, to create opportunities that make the betterment of the future real.

The second thing about the power to create is that we are responsible for every choice we make, whether action or non-action. It is easy enough to blame others for our own weaknesses, this tendency being a function of both humanness and youthfulness. But as Harry Potter’s creator told the Harvard graduating class two years ago, “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” And J.K. Rowling is right. You can blame your parents — and teachers — for what you have become, to a point. Beyond that, the power is yours entirely to become your own person, to make or unmake yourselves.

(To be continued)

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Maria Serena I. Diokno is a professor in the Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, UP Diliman. She was former vice president for academic affairs of the UP System. E-mail her at [email protected].

* College of Science Recognition of Graduates, UP Diliman, April 23, 2010.

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Russell Baker, “10 Ways to Avoid Mucking Up the World Any Worse Than It Already Is,” Commencement address at Connecticut College, 27 May 1995. Accessed on 15 March 2010 from http://www.humanity.org/ voices/commencements/speeches/index.php?page =baker at connecticut.

J.K. Rowling, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” Commencement address at Harvard University, 5 June 2008. Accessed on 15 March 2010 from http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination.