As an idolizer of E.L. Doctorow, a fellow graduate of the Bronx High School of Science (albeit 15 years later), and a writer who, like Doctorow, aims to blend fact and fiction until they are indistinguishable, I was delighted and encouraged to read the commencement address he gave to our alma mater’s class of 2011. Among his words, still resonant nearly a decade later: “The human quest for knowledge, for knowing everything there is to know, will always face that expanding circumference of darkness. That is what makes learning such an adventure. You will find that in the world great progress is made in some ways, like curing disease, like inventing robotic devices, going into space, while in other ways, as in our wars, our brutalization of others, our pollution of the natural world, we are faltering. It is possible that our great technical achievements notwithstanding, our moral natures are not keeping up, that we have the brains but not always the hearts to do the right thing. But there is always hope, and there is always the next generation coming along to make things better. We older folks are waiting for you. … If I were a clergyman, I’d cast a blessing. But I’m a writer, so I say: Be brave. Be kind. Take good care of yourself. And carry it on.” Read Doctorow’s entire speech A Master Storyteller’s Advice for Graduates: Be Brave. Be Kind. reprinted in The New York Times. See more quotes from some of my favorite authors in REFLECTIONS.
