Magazine - summer 03 - St. John's College

{Commencement} 23
david trozzo
but a way of
responding to a
genuine question.
When you are at
your best of bests,
you slowly build an
account with one
another, which
though it may have
the fragility of a
sandcastle, resonates
as an image
of the soul itself—
not some abstract
soul, but your
particular souls.”
This development
can be witnessed
in class, and
also in senior orals,
said Burke. “All of
us have something
to say and we
become who we are
by attempting to
articulate it,” Burke
said. “It’s overwhelming
to be in
the presence of
someone telling this
story, whether it be
Odysseus or a
david trozzo
stranger on a long bus ride. It’s tremendously
difficult to say what dwells most
deeply in us, and we are rarely satisfied
by our utterances. Sometimes we are
embarrassed by these moments.
Dostoevski was painfully aware of this.
“You are able to listen, not without judgment,
but with passion and fairness, with an openness
that will encourage others to seek you out.”
Tutor Chester Burke, A74
His characters expose themselves in the
most outrageous situations, expressing
themselves in ways which often appear
ridiculous and even monstrous. It’s very
difficult to say the things which need to
be said.”
This fall, tutors will greet a new group
of students, and the voices
of students who have
moved on will be somewhat
lost. Students will also forget
many details of their
time at St. John’s, but
Burke is certain, he told
them, that “all of your lives
will be spent remembering
and nourishing the words
that you have spoken with
us and with one another…
As he closed his address,
Burke read a passage from
Pascal’s Pensees: “Man of
Christopher Nelson congratulates
Bryson Finklea,
who won a prize in mathematics.
President Nelson
presided at ceremonies in
Santa Fe and Annapolis.
Real conversation
can be hard to find
outside St. John’s,
tutor Chester
Burke said.
the world. We must
be in a position to
say, not: this person
is a mathematician,
a preacher, or eloquent,
but that he is
a man of the world.
This universal
quality is the only
one that appeals to
me. It’s a bad sign if,
on seeing a man, we
remember his book;
I should prefer not
to be aware of any
quality until we
actually meet it, and
the moment comes
to make use of it
(nothing in excess),
for fear that one
quality might be
preponderant and
give a man a label;
we do not want to
feel that he is a good speaker except when
it is the right moment for good speech;
but let us be sure to recognize it then.”
Burke challenged the graduates to
consider the meaning of honnête homme,
which he translated as “man of the
world.”
“In Pascal’s century, an honnête
homme referred to a cultivated man of
the world, graceful and distinguished by
his comportment, his spirit, and his
knowledge,” he explained. “All of this,
though interesting, is not essential to
my intention, nor is the fact that Pascal
indicates in another Pensée that one
cannot learn to be an honnête homme.
“I want you to supply your own
translation, as I believe that all of you are
men and women of the world, abundantly
endowed with diverse qualities, but
fundamentally human beings, respectful
and in awe of the world, and overflowing
with the desire to engage the world. You
are able to listen, not without judgment,
but with passion and fairness, with an
openness that will encourage others to
seek you out.”
{ The College • John’s College • Fall 2004 }