My Sister’s Graduation OR White-suited Howler Monkeys, Janet Napolitano, and Fixing Our Broken World

The thing I love about graduation ceremonies is the inspirational undercurrent that flows through the day and gives rise to a collective belief, if only for that two-hour window, that anything is indeed possible. 

My sister’s graduation from American University yesterday was no exception. From my seat in the bleachers of Bender Arena, the graduates of the College of Arts & Sciences looked like an ocean of possibilities in their cobalt blue caps and gowns, distinguished only by colorful velvet hoods and, for a select few, green arrows taped to the tops of their mortarboards reminding us to please recycle. 

Families and friends buzzed around us, squealing with delight as they identified their needle-in-a-haystack graduate in the expansive sea below. Camera flashes flashed and familial tribes howled like animals and stomped their feet when their loved one’s name was called. There’s nothing quite like seeing a woman in an elegant white linen pants suit, with neatly manicured fingernails and carefully styled hair, phase into a howler monkey at the sight of her offspring walking across the long platform and raising his diploma towards her. It was so animalistic it belonged on the Discovery Channel and made me wonder if Darwin was on to something. Naturally, we had no other choice but to recruit her and her family to cheer for my sister as well.

You might think that not one, but two sightings of the rare white-suited howler monkey was my favorite part of yesterday, but you would be wrong. My favorite part (other than seeing lil’ sis receive her well-deserved diploma) was hearing Janet Napolitano’s commencement address.

Within moments of taking the podium, the arena was filled with laughter at Napolitano’s sharp humor. To illustrate the convenience of living in D.C., she remarked that she was able to do a load laundry and then walk to work before crossing the street to give AU’s commencement address. “So when you’re celebrating tonight…keep it down,” she chided. My laughter was followed by an intense desire to know a) how the Secretary of Homeland Security ever sleeps, let alone maintains such a relaxed demeanor and accessible sense of humor and b) why on earth doesn’t she have a laundress?  

Napolitano’s speech acknowledged the increasing speed of change in today’s world and the fleeting sense of security that has resulted. I found myself nodding as she said it because her words verbalized something I’ve been feeling for a long time now, a sense that no matter how carefully we plan or prepare, the next wind of change is going to sweep through our lives and force us to adapt to whatever situation is thrust upon us.

She also urged the graduates to use their newly acquired tools to help fix our broken world. It was a simple, important message, one that I hope echoed beyond the bright blue pool of graduates.

In all, it was one of the best graduation speeches I’ve heard and I assumed that Napolitano would exit the stage immediately afterwards, after all, she’s got bigger, explosive-wielding fish to fry. But she didn’t leave. She respectfully remained in her seat for the entire program and clapped for every last graduate. Even more remarkable, she didn’t pull out her Blackberry once (which is more than I can say for myself). Talk about work piling up while you’re out of the office, terrorists probably came up with 101 new ways to kill people while she sat on that stage. But I admire the gesture and am happy that, in addition to the white-suited howler monkey, Janet Napolitano also clapped for my little sister.

I left the ceremony thinking about change and fixing our broken world. At first thought, those responsibilities seemed better off in the hands of the Poli Sci majors, or the student speaker who addressed us in English, even though it was her second language, and would be starting her Master’s degree followed by her Doctorate with the goal of working for the Argentine government, or the guy who pursued three degrees at one time and got straight 4.0s across the boards. Much more capable hands, indeed.

But then I thought about these things in terms of my fiction writing dream. How is a fiction writer affected by such worldly change? It seems to me that every wind of change leaves a million stories waiting to be told in its wake. Can a fiction writer help fix our broken world? They say that the pen is more powerful than the sword, and though I’m well beyond that inspiring two-hour window, I’d still like to believe that anything is indeed possible.

Tell me, how can your dreams help fix our broken world?