In September 1974, Kingman Brewster, then president of Yale, spoke to members of the Class of 1978, seated right where you are now. He told them, “Many of us have just been on a ten-year trip of moral outrage: anti-Wallace, anti-War, and anti-Watergate. We have been so sure about what we were against that we have almost forgotten how difficult it is to know what we are for and how to achieve it.”
Does this sound familiar? Today, perhaps more than ever, it is easy to know what you’re against. And it’s far more difficult to say what you’re for.
What we’re against is going to be different for each of us. Maybe you’re against border walls and I’m against guns; your neighbor is against trade wars and your cousin is against abortion. For some, capitalism is the problem, while others fear the specter of socialism. By this point, I bet all of you are against sitting in old buildings with no air conditioning, listening to a long speech! So, I’ll get to the point…
How many of you have ever seen a Marx Brothers movie? [Right, pretty good.] So, although I’m not mistaken for Groucho Marx as often since I shaved my moustache, I…I still do…do have a weakness for his humor.
And one of Groucho’s best performances, of course, is when he plays a college president. (It is a funny role!) So, in the opening scene of the movie Horse Feathers, Groucho, the new president of Huxley College, is told that the trustees have “a few suggestions” for him. Then he breaks into this song:
“I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it
No matter what it is or who commenced it
I’m against it
Your proposition may be good
But let’s have one thing understood:
Whatever it is, I’m against it.”
因篇幅问题不能全部显示，请点此查看更多更全内容