SZAFRANSKI: A call for innovation

I was waiting a table at a restaurant on the Boston University campus, and there was a family whose son was deciding where he wanted to go to college. BU was among the colleges that had admitted him. We had a conversation about BU’s ups and downs, and I ended it by telling the prospective student, ‘Make the most of it. It goes by faster than you realize.’ And it has.

It is difficult to assess whether we have made ‘the most of it’ until after the time has passed. Making the most of one’s time in college is accomplished through academic achievement, extracurricular programs, social activities and other opportunities. I often question whether I have realized the full potential of my time at BU.

That time is quickly coming to an end, however. Many in the class of 2009 will be lucky enough to have jobs. Others will go on to graduate school in the fall. Countless others will not find jobs or continue in whatever employment they have and/or have had while in college. For a class that was praised throughout its education and from whom much was expected, this is unfortunate.

I would argue, however, that this may not be all bad. As the economy ails, recovery on the horizon or not, experts across the board have suggested that it may lead America to rediscover what is really important at life. Here at BU, where stereotypes of spoiled rich kids are not unheard of, that could not be more important.

A reassessment of our lives’ priorities will lead us to focus less on material goods and encourage us not to define ourselves based on our possessions. This will be critical, as iPhones, BlackBerrys and other products take over our lives. However, concerns over the march of technology and consumerism, although incredibly important today, are as old as time.

The challenge I lay before the class of 2009 and future classes is this: Innovate for the good of humanity. What this world needs is people of all intellectual stripes to think beyond their own needs to those of their friends, neighbors and people they have never met before.

This call may be difficult to fully digest and may sound familiar, but I would consider mine more nuanced than others. Although very few people will pursue lifelong careers that are devoted to whatever their undergraduate or even graduate degree is, let me offer this guidance.’

If you are a humanities major, use whatever skills you have acquired to assist, teach and enhance humanity’s understanding of itself. If you are a science or engineering major, develop and discover innovations within our natural world so that humanity is improved and not replaced nor made more monotonous. Management majors, channel your leadership skills into businesses that are successful but also mindful of the people that make that success possible. Communications graduates, work to expand and develop the means by which institutions interact with us. Art students, continue to offer the insight, criticism and creativity that is necessary for a better understanding of the world.

There is another, more basic side of my call that has less to do with college and more to do with life in general. Those high school antics and politics do not go away as many of us have discovered in our time in college. Gossip, rumors, prejudice, vanity and more exist and will pervade our lives until our time in this world is up. I cannot expect that we will eradicate these things, but we can make a stand against them. In addition to reassessing ourselves and our goals, we must reevaluate how we interact with others for the good of humanity.

With all the talk of discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc., we forget other forms of exclusion. The quiet, the shy, the socially awkward are often relegated to the recesses of our minds. Perhaps a little bit of reaching out beyond our crowd and past our own self-erected barriers could truly make a difference in somebody’s life.

How we behave toward other people is one of the most important aspects of our lives. It defines our relationships with our friends, family and loved ones. When you strip away the consumerism and technology, it is these relationships that matter most and guide us through life’s trials.

I leave with these words, which I first wrote in the senior/final issue of my high school newspaper: Live for the moment, but not at the expense of the future. I cannot say that I have lived this advice very well, if much at all. Still, I hope I shall do better in the future and that all my fellow classmates and present underclassmen consider it as they move forward and onward with their lives.