It’s that time of year where many HU seniors start to take a closer look at a career, family, travel and graduate school. Before I go on, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to some very important members of The Oracle. I first met Jena M. Felsheim last year in a great class taught by a professor who is no longer at HU, but should have been to see what he created…it was good. Jena, aka Batgirl, is the hardest-working academic and professional writer I have ever met. I will miss her as will as the rest of The Oracle staff.

My second goodbye is to my roommate on The Oracle opinion page for the past year, the one, the only, Erin D. Derwin.  Erin gets it. She sees through the cracks of unstable processes, lack of thorough investigation and effectively marks her targets in the crosshairs of her keyboard. Needless to say, having Erin share—and sometimes take over—The Oracle  opinion page was a great relief. Together, we never missed a beat. (By the way, the novel is dead.)

For me, at The Oracle, Jena and Erin are role models. I was fortunate enough to have real-time life experiences of working with two exceptional colleagues with the integrity of the Mother Mary and endurance of Lance Armstrong—before the performance-enhancing drugs. To Jena and Erin, “I see you” (Avatar. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Sam Worthington. Twentieth Century Fox, 2009).

 The old folks have a saying: “I’m closer to where I’m going than where I came from,” meaning to reach your destination is close. Usually there is never an option to turn back, because time cannot be redistributed. The journey, or what some call an adventure of being a student at HU is filled with meeting new people who are just as interesting as you. HU professors stand out as an institution unto themselves: confident, worthy and connected the creed of John Wesley’s quote: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can as long as ever you can.”

There is a story that might make sense out of this…

On his deathbed, Alexander the Great supposedly summoned his generals and told them his three ultimate wishes: 1. The best doctors should carry his coffin. 2. The wealth he has accumulated (money, gold, precious stones) should be scattered along the procession to the cemetery. 3. His hands should be let loose, hanging outside the coffin for all to see. 

One of his generals who was surprised by  these unusual requests asked Alexander to explain. Here is what Alexander the Great had to say: 1. I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that, in the face of certain death even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal. 2. I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that material wealth acquired on Earth stays on Earth. 3. I want my hands to swing in the wind, so that people understand that we come into this world empty handed and we leave this world empty handed after the most precious treasure of all is exhausted and that is TIME. 

In this story, Alexander the Great showed that time is our most precious treasure because it is limited. He showed we can produce more wealth, but we cannot produce more time. He also, in his death showed that when we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back. 

Hamline University administrators have given the student body a small peek at what they need to see. While I am convinced the Hedgemen Center needs a reset on behalf of a healthier HU, the university must provide access in the form of eyes-on experiences. In simple clarity, you cannot have one of something—in one discipline or department while claiming to enrich the experience of the normative HU student. It speaks volumes to the human condition when a student, no matter what his race, color or national origin is hard pressed to find professors, athletic department administration or coaches who are culturally relevant to the student. In the latter, we have plenty of work to do.

To those graduating HU seniors, congratulations, you have given your time. Hopefully, you have seen who you want to be remembering you cannot be what you do not see; and seeing is believing.