Share thisBolden to BCM graduates: "Follow your passion"
Lori Williams
713-798-4710
loriw@bcm.edu
HOUSTON -- (May 28, 2009) -- Major Gen. Charles Bolden encouraged the graduating classes of Baylor College of Medicine to go out and make a difference in the world, "to follow your passion because it will never guide you wrong." (See slideshow.)
The event, held Wednesday night at Jones Hall, was a joyous celebration for the 155 medical school and 46 graduate school students crossing the stage to receive diplomas. Family and friends crowded the auditorium to hear Bolden, representatives of the graduate and medical school classes, and the awarding of degrees.
Video: General Bolden's speech
Dr. William T. Butler, interim president of BCM, led the ceremony, conferring the degrees to the students after the presentation of the doctor of philosophy candidates by Dr. William R. Brinkley, dean of the Gradate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the doctor of medicine candidates by Dr. Stephen B. Greenberg, dean of medical education.
Dr. Donald T. Donovan, senior associate dean, administered the Oath of Hippocrates to the medical school students.
Bolden and his wife, Jackie, were making a return trip to a BCM graduation ceremony. Their daughter, Kelly, graduated in 2003 and is now completing a fellowship in plastic surgery in Dallas.
The former astronaut, recently named as President Barack Obama's nominee for NASA Administrator, told the medical and graduating school students that it is important to stay committed.
"While the quest for titles and great wealth are always noble goals, I found there is no more fulfilling achievement than to follow a passion and in doing so, to make life better for someone else.
Bolden spoke of being a Marine, and said the Marine Corps' values of honor, courage and commitment apply to the students as well. It might have been called something different, but "that's what they taught you here at Baylor."
"Your friends, your cohorts, your partners, your patients will follow you to the ends of the earth, as long as they believe in you. They will believe in you as long as you are honest. No one can take your integrity. Cherish it. Be courageous in everything that you do. Do not be afraid to stand up to someone who is about to do something wrong because you know it is wrong. And be committed no matter where you happen to go."
Receiving applause and laughter when he joked that some of the parents may have thought this day was "impossible," he said the students "have shown you that anything is possible through persistence and effort."
Calling Muhammad Ali his "favorite all-time person," he shared the boxer's definition of impossible: "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men, who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration, it's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
He spoke of the peaceful Earth he observed as pilot of the space shuttle Discovery in 1990 in deploying the Hubble telescope.
"The planet which always seems to be in such turmoil looks so peaceful."
And he told the story of young South African Nkosi Johnson, who never complained and always encouraged others, even as he died of AIDS. He quoted the author Jim Wooten, who wrote a book about Johnson, as describing the boy's words as he was close to death, "You do all you can do with what you have in the time that you have in the place that you are."
Concluding his speech, he challenged the graduates to follow that advice.
"No matter what it is you do when you leave here, do everything with passion. You can change the world, every single one of you, one person at a time."
Marc J. Shapiro, chair of the BCM board of trustees, presented Bolden with a Distinguished Service Award. The award is given in recognition of exceptional service and outstanding contributions to the health and well being of society.
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