I came across this old commencement address given by Senator John McCain to the 1996 graduating class at Ohio Wesleyan University.
I have always thought that even the most hard-bitten, cynical politicians give voice to their deepest idealism and views of the Good when addressing commencements. Far more than States of the Union, platform speeches, or addresses to the AEI and Heritage Institutes of the world, commencement addresses bring out the best in our representatives.
So I looked at this address and found some interesting things. One, McCain is not someone we should lightly belittle and try to shame. He is a serious man with an idealism similar to many of us. Two, McCain has a religious side that may be deeper than I thought. The word "sin" shows up repeatedly, but perhaps he was catering to a percieved audience's beliefs.
What was most poignant was the mention of honor:
" I have made many mistakes in my life. I will make others. But I have not been completely undone by my failures. That is because I was once or twice, some years ago now, confronted with very hard choices. And I chose well. That I did is a tribute to my parents and the traditions they delivered me into, and a tribute to the men with whom I served far more than it is a testament to my virtue.
Their influence taught me to dread dishonor. And later in life when I was in a tough spot, I realized that anything was easier to bear than dishonor. Even if my sin was unknown to those I loved, it would have glared at me. I would be dishonored in my eyes . . . in my eyes. I would have been dishonored in the dark.
As I look at you, as I envy your youth and the experiences that will be yours and not mine, I know that your character is still being formed. We are all incomplete. I think we all die with our character not exactly what it could have been. But perfection was never the possession of human beings.
In his poem, "The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water," Yeats wrote this verse:
"I hear the old, old men say
"All that's beautiful drifts away
"Like the waters."
Although I am, happily, not yet stuck with the appellation "old, old man," I grow closer to that rank than to my much enjoyed and terribly misspent youth. And I take Yeat's point. Like most people of my age, I feel a longing for what is lost and cannot be restored. But if the happy pursuits and casual beauty of youth prove ephemeral, something better can endure, and endure until our last moment on earth. And that is the honor we earn and the love we give if at a moment in our lives we sacrifice for something greater than self-interest.
We cannot choose the moments. They arrive unbidden by us. We can choose to let the moments pass, and avoid the difficulties they entail. But the loss we would incur by that choice is much dearer than the tribute we once paid to vanity and pleasure.
I am confident that you can and will find honor in your choices . . . when the hard choices arrive at your door. You need not go to war to find them. They will find you . . . in whatever walk of life you take. You can make them. You can find honor in them . . . honor in the dark. I know you can. I know you can."
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Read the whole speech, it is worth it to see another face to the comic book villian we are busily creating.
It can be found at Project Vote Smart
http://www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=74076&keyword=&phrase=&contain=
