The Dust, of Course, is a Must

The Dust, of Course, is a Must
"Remember the ground your feet call home, it is where your roots are."

It is an honor to stand before you today. This weekend is the last little chapter on an important story within the longer story of your lives. Stories. Stories are the stuff of life aren’t they? I was not sure what I might have that felt important enough to share with you at this point in your education. Graduation weekend is either the great send off, or last shot we have for giving you just one more dose. Neither felt quite right. So I thought stories. Why not just a spattering of stories with a few interludes of wisdom mixed in? I am not sure it is really wisdom, but stories I have.

My guess is you are only half listening anyway, your minds full of graduation thoughts, plans for the summer, the last chance at a date with that cute…well I know that’s how it was for me. My most memorable graduation was from Hesston High School, that must have been about a century ago. In my graduation story what I remember is this…

Lederach, John Paul. “The Dust, of Course, Is a Must.” Baccalaureate Address presented at the Eastern Mennonite University Baccalaureate Service, Harrisonburg, Virginia, April 29, 2000.

read

Once downloaded, PDFs can be translated via Google Translate

connect

situate this material in the web of John Paul's vocational reflections

explore

related items you might be interested in

The Challenge of Terror: A Traveling Essay

Written while stranded in Guatemala after September 11, an essay suggesting a number of lessons learned from peace initiatives where terrorism was employed as a tool of struggle and calling for new approaches to combating the challenge.

A Wish For The Future

An article imagining a courageous alternative to the then pending U.S. war with Iraq.

How the United States Can Step Back from the Brink

A message co-written with Melanie Greenberg in the lead up to the November 2020 elections in the United States offering ways to deescalate and counteract mounting polarization in the country.