Annual Day is a day to rejoice about what we have achieved; at the same time to revive our dreams not realized so far; and to take courage and confidence to realize them as we walk into the future.
College life is punctuated with celebrations:
On the academic front, we have convocation to celebrate our academic excellence. In the USA it is known as ‘Commencement’ as it is the beginning of real life after holistic formation in an institution.
We celebrate sports and EnGenia. It is to nurture in concrete, the multifaceted talents of students to build up the spirit of teamwork. The Jesuit pedagogy promotes sports, games, and cultural activities. And LICET has done well, especially on the sports and games front.
And today we express our honour and respect to this temple of learning through this annual day. The report of the Principal brings out in nutshell what we have done and indicates what is yet to be done.
We rejoice about our achievements – In the light of our success, we also learn what could we do more. We take courage, based on our success, to go ahead – We pick up confidence to take road less travelled in life. I would like to share with you a few lines from the poem of Robert Frost with the title The Road not Taken:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Have the courage to take calculated risk as creative entrepreneurs. And you would emerge as victors.
Now and then, amidst our busy life and heavy schedule, we stop and reflect on what we have learnt from the academic school and also from the school of life. We think how we can put to meaningful use what we have learnt. If we possess the enlightenment to know what to do with what we have learnt, we would be the happiest persons in this world. LICET has taught you the way forward. In the light of our success, we learn what we could do more and we take courage to do our maximum – Put on courage to take road less travelled as Robert Frost said.
One of the outcomes of higher learning is humility. On the 70th birthday of Sir Isaac Newton people praised him to the skies saying he is the father of Science, especially of Physics. But Newton humbly said: I am like a baby collecting conches or shells on the seashore. Now the child finds a small shell – It takes it with pride and would not give it to anyone. But a little further, the child finds a bigger and more beautiful conch, immediately the child discards the one in hand and takes in the newer one. But the child does not realize that there are more beautiful conches are there inside the sea. What I have discovered is, Newton said, mighty little but there is a lot to learn and to find out. He was right: His deterministic classical world was replaced, though after a couple of centuries, by probabilistic quantum world. Let us have the same spirit as we leave the portals of this great institution.
Annual day is a day to count our blessings – We could count them not all together but one by one. The annual report brings to us such blessings of God to the institutions and to us – staff and students. But let us realize that we are the blessing to others and all others are blessings of God to us today, tomorrow, and everyday to come. Let us today thank the Lord and thank each other and realize that our further journey needs the presence and accompaniment of others, our classmates, our staff as mentors, and our parents and friends as companions in our life journey.
Let us think of our parents – You can buy anything in the world, if you have enough money. But you can never buy your parents. They are the biggest blessing of God forever. Recall to your mind how your parents have been keeping the balance between home atmosphere and college demands, keeping in mind the world’s reality and your bright future. In other words your parents, along with your teachers, have been keeping their dream alive for you.
Let us gratefully think of our teachers – Our parents are the biological parents, whereas our teachers are our intellectual parents. Our faculty members and non-teaching staff have taken their time to take our hands as we began our walk in the garden of academic garden. They serve as a bridge between parents who have dreams for you, and the administrators and the management who try to form you. In this sacred process, they safeguard you from the possible harm that would emerge from the onslaught of social evils and media distractions.
It is the day to celebrate our faculty and teachers: I think of what Abraham Lincoln wrote to the teacher of his son:
“So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him – but gently, if you can. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all (men) are not just, that all (men) are not true…. Teach him, if you can, that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found (without working for it)… Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win…. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filter all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.”
I am sure that our teachers have taught you all these and they are ready to journey with you now and later as well. Keep them as your mentors for life and you would not regret your decision.
In this triangle of your parents, your teachers, and the world ahead, the Jesuit management, through its time-tested pedagogy, moulds you. The Jesuit management at times teaches you not how to lessen your burden, but very often the Jesuit administration strengthens your back to take up the burden of life with a smile, come what may. The Jesuit education is altruistic, that is, other-centered. In other words, the Jesuit education is for the society where you come from. And you are to become men and women for others.
It is a day to rejoice over our success: Some of you would be our alumni/ae soon – Signs are encouraging and you are the upstart of stars in the world. Be professional students with the hunger and thirst to learn always. In LICET you learn to scale the skies of success and to fly even beyond the clouds of obstacles. We could learn a few things from the eagle – not only to fly high but also to live with principles:
- Eagles have excellent vision and concentration: To catch their prey, they focus on it with laser like intensity, and set out to get it. You do the same with your goals. Focus on one thing to accomplish at a time. Give it your effort, time and energy. Focus and “set out to achieve it”.
- Eagles love the storm: They get excited when storm clouds gather. Why? They welcome the challenge it brings. They know the storm winds will lift them above the clouds. Above the clouds, they can rest their wings and become stronger. In the same way, you could get excited about the storms in your life. Challenges bring opportunities. Embrace your challenges and learn from them. That’s how we learn new skills, grow and get stronger.
- The eagle is a master of change management: When it is time for the eaglet to learn to fly, the mother throws the eaglets out of the nest. Out of fear, the eaglet jumps back in the nest. The mother doesn’t yield. The process is repeated until the eagle eventually starts flapping its wings, getting stronger and stronger with each flap. Then — Away it goes into the air, flying higher and higher, faster and faster, and farther and farther, rising above its challenges and pain. The life lesson is: We can only grow if we are willing to step out of our comfort zone.
(Cf. https://medium.com/@carla.ibanzo/7-powerful-life-lessons-from-the-eagle-ed1a318c1305)
Some of you would start working for companies and industries. Over there, they follow the practice of shooting the wounded – But Jesuit Education lives out the philosophy of nurturing the wounded and the weak. Industries would be profit based, but Jesuit education is people oriented. A Jesuit student or alumnus/a puts people over the profit. You are not going to be a drop in the ocean of human multitude but your are going to fall into the world as powerful meteoroid with greater impact to change the face of the world and to transform the society for the better. You should live and work against corruption in any form and you should stand for justice, peace and harmony. I am sure you would fulfill this dream of your alma mater. LICET is always thinks of you, wishes you well in life, and welcomes you back any time. All the best in your studies, jobs, and lives.
Francis P Xavier SJ
07 Mar 2020