Others have said it before me, but it is also my personal reaction as I near the end of my life; namely that there is truly little if anything “new” under the sun. Which leads me to react to some of your stories about race, and many other societal issues, discussed in the Graphic that all look very familiar to me.
During my 42 years as a part of Pepperdine’s history, I have seen these issues, with some new emphases, turn up again and again. Obviously, the very length and diversity of the contributions related to the race issue show that my generation was not able to come up with the ultimate solutions to those challenges.
But then, as I read in the pages of the Graphic, the variety of issues that representatives of your generation on the paper’s staff consider to be important, I cannot help but to once again draw a conclusion which, in years past, I tried to share with my students as being worthy of their consideration.
“Higher education” is commonly thought of as a means to prepare us for future life — by which we tend to mean “careers.” Often inadequately considered is the fact that it is not institutions that change our world, but human beings who effectively use institutions, either for good or evil. That suggests to me that the issues I read about in the pages of the Graphic, first and primarily, are HUMAN issues. In turn, that would suggest that the most important changes I need to consider are those that I, as an individual, need to make in my own life — something that Christ clearly made the center of His teachings.
Fred L. Casmir, PhD
Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Communication
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