It's time

Below is the prepared version of the remarks I made tonight at the 2010 Honors College Banquet. Naturally, I departed from these slightly. Posts on today's student presentations and on the banquet itself will follow soon.

It’s time. It’s time for the Honors College class of 2010 to graduate. It’s time for all of us to take time to think about time. When you think about time, there are two ways to look at it and both of them are evident here tonight. The first and older way to think about time is as a cycle, a never-ending circle; one that can be entered at any point and where the same events will re-occur, perhaps forever. Tonight we intersect that cycle once again and mark an important event. Our honorees have previously cycled through this event three times; but tonight marks something new for them, they are exiting this cycle. Their exit testifies to the existence of the other, newer way of looking at time, seeing it as a line, the arrow of time. Like them, we all live within two versions of time.

Quite often, we notice the circularity of time. We mark birthdays, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. In the Academy, we note the first and last day of school. In the Honors College we matriculate in August, feast in April, and graduate in May, or December, or even August sometimes. More personally, as in my family, May is the month for dance recital and for Blossom Festival, June means the kids are home ALL DAY long, July brings fireworks, August is for back to school, October brings Halloween, November ends with all the trimmings, and Christmas is a special time. After the New Year, those annually recurring events seem harder to come by. In Arkansas, Spring is not marked by the first robin. No in Arkansas, we know Spring is coming when the robins leave! We also know Spring has arrived when every last thing is covered in fine yellow-green powder. After the pollen has all been washed away and after the last cold snap is long gone, guess what? We have turned yet another cycle.

The cycle is eternal but we are not. It turns out we are just passing through the cycle. Our children tell us that. How did that babe grow taller than I? The sparseness of our hair tells us too. We look at old pictures and wonder, was my hair really that full? Our bodies betray the passage of time as well. Can that scale truly be accurate? All of us are visitors to the eternal cycles of time. We course through them all to quickly, it seems.

I know that our honorees are wondering how did four years pass so quickly? Our younger students, on the other hand, are probably thinking that their turn to be honored is oh so far away. Some of us may be wondering just how much more time we have left.

By now you may be feeling just a little depressed. Maybe you don’t want to think about time any more. Cheer up. There’s a way out. We create our versions of time too, both cyclical and linear. One hundred and one years ago an arrow of time began here nearly on this very spot, our school was founded. Since then, a cycle of time has persisted hosting both ourselves and thousands of others. Very soon we will dress up in silly clothes and hats, march, listen, and cheer. One hundred and one years from now people yet unborn will be doing the same. (But I can’t tell you if they’ll be marching by colleges or by seniority.)

In 2003, Dr. Lynne Belcher and Dr. David Rankin created another, new linear and circular version of time, the SAU Honors College. Tonight, we celebrate those who most recently have passed through our short cycle of time. Look at their pictures. Already you can see how they have changed a little on the outside. What you cannot see is how much they have changed on the inside. Only they can tell you that.

So, our Honors College is a line and a circle of time. Students, faculty, and staff travel through it. Our Honors College will last through time. As you soon to graduate leave us, remember the courage and initiative of those who took the time to set up small circles of time. Were it not for the founders of the Third District Agricultural School, none of us would be in this room. Most likely there would be cows here instead. If not for the foresight and hard work of Dr. Belcher and Dr. Rankin, we might be at SAU, but we would not be eating together tonight and celebrating the success of our honors graduates. So, as you leave us be on the lookout for opportunities to create your own small circles of time. Look to create those eternal places where others can spend a part of their time. Now, I fear, I’m out of time.