Good morning, God! I will try to get things right today–again! Thanks for the support, and thanks for life. Help everyone, everyday, to recognize you.

Commencement speech at a Northeastern High School, June 2011.                       by Michael Alexander

When I realized I would be speaking at this graduation ceremony, I had to think a lot about what to say. Because when giving a speech, especially a graduation speech, you want it to be interesting, and relevant, but it can’t be too complex–you have to consider your audience. And I’m speaking for the most part to High School students. There are others in the audience, but I’m for the most part talking to you.

So, I’m going to talk tonight about–graduation… and the origins of the universe, whether or not we have souls, and the universal rights of man. And I’m sure you are mature enough to hear these facts of life.

Listening to my speech tonight may be a little bit like playing “connect the dots,” except tonight, in this speech, the dots will be moving.

Just about one month ago, a famous physicist declared that human beings are just machines, computers; and when the hard drive crashes, that’s it. There’s nothing.

Wouldn’t that be a joke?

But before I get into that topic, I want to say to all of you “Congratulations.” So I will: Congratulations.

Congratulations? For what? Graduating? Is that a good thing? Says who? What’s so good about it? Is there such a thing as good? As opposed to bad? Are there rules, truths, or is everything meaningless–or “relative?”

Now I may be dating myself here, but about 14 billion years ago–and I think only your principal and I are old enough to remember, but about 14 billion years ago there was a tiny object the size of an atom–and there was nothing else… there was a formless void. And within a trillionth of a second that tiny object expanded maybe a hundred yards or so. And within 30 minutes it had expanded many light years across. And shortly thereafter it was really gigantic.  And after a while it started to cool; and clusters formed which became galaxies, and stars, and solar systems, and planets…. And the earth.  And us.

So what. Who cares. Whatever.

What’s so good about that? And what does it have to do with graduation?

Well, we only know about this stuff because there are laws. Physical laws which we have discovered rule the universe.  And we have used these laws, these rules, to gather all this information about what happened 14 billion years ago.

There are rules of science: physics, astronomy, mathematics, medicine. You do something this way, it works. It’s good. You deviate, don’t follow the law or rule, It doesn’t work. It’s bad. There’s a right way and a wrong way. A good way and a bad way–and these laws are observed, obeyed, every day.

What else do we observe? Some things are observed annually: Anniversaries, Birthdays, Passover, Christmas–graduation.  Every year we do these things. Every year.

If we are just hard drives that crash and burn and disappear then all of this observing is a great big bad joke.

FACT: There are people here today who have shed tears of joy and sorrow over you graduates; who have laughed with each other and hugged each other over you.

How is it possible that from the expansion of a tiny particle14 billion years ago there are now such things as a tear drop, a smile, a kiss, the healing touch of a hand?

How is it possible that it led to some of the joys of you hiding in the darkness at 3 a.m. with a huge water gun playing a game called “Assassin?”[1]

When did communication begin?

Do you know that they have found the first written communication of one human being to other human beings? And this is going to blow your mind, but this is what was said: “Good morning, young people, parents, and staff. Due to the inclement weather, all schools in our district will be closed.”[2]

QUESTION: Why are decisions made to close schools when the weather is bad?

ANSWER: Because it’s the right thing to do.

We are here tonight because there is good in the world.

Thomas Jefferson was a scientist. We know him as a founding father and great political figure, but he was fascinated with science, and particularly with paleontology–the study of fossils. He studied nature. He was a student of the scientific method.

But when it came to human beings, and human rights, he threw science out the window; because he didn’t need it.

He wrote “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” It’s better than science.

“All men are created equal, and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” And he insisted that we must respect those rights, because they are good.

What the heck am I talking about? What do I mean?

QUESTION: If you were going blind; if you were deaf, very sick, getting old, no wife, no kids–would you be happy?

Beethoven, Beethoven found himself in that exact same situation and he wrote his last symphony, the ninth symphony, under those circumstances. And the Ninth Symphony ends with the magnificent “Ode to Joy.” Not “Ode to the end of my sucky life.” Ode to Joy.

Why?

Because life is good.

You are good. L’Chaim. To life. Here’s to you.

In the Bible, which some call “The Good Book,” in Genesis God looks at all he created and he saw how good it was.

Beethoven, Jefferson, and many others recognized it, too.

If you become cynical, if you become bitter, if you become relativistic… if you do that you will be missing all the good, all the self-evident joys in the world.

Look around you. No, I mean it literally: take a few moments to look around this room. Look at each other’s faces.

You love each other. We all do.

Machines don’t.

Only beings infused with a knowledge of the good brought to you by a Creator who endowed you with unalienable rights–one of these rights being the pursuit of happiness–only we do.

You are important to us. We are proud of you. We love you. And if you’re not sure, look around again.

It’s self-evident.

So this graduation ceremony is most definitely in order. We acknowledge the good in you and the accomplishments you have achieved. We are here because there is good in the world. So to all of you wonderful students of the graduating class of 2011: you have done a good thing, and you know it, and we know it. And it is real.

Congratulations, continued success, and God Bless all of you.

DESPITE MY DOUBTS

I am certain that most people who believe in God have doubts–at times. I am also certain that many very religious Catholics have doubts. I am speaking of doubts concerning the existence of God. Forget about Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Apostles and all the Saints: some days an inquiring mind, or a troubled mind, or an educated mind, or any human mind will wonder about it all. And sometimes, while wondering, they will find themselves praying.

This blog is dedicated to re-affirming the power of prayer, the message of the man named Jesus who lived and walked on this earth. It is about the Catholic Church, the Sacraments, attending Church services; it is about Christianity, Judaism, science, law, democracy, faith, and the acknowledgment of one individual’s (i.e., any individual) unique relationship with God. It is written by a doubter–who prays constantly and has every reason to believe fervently in God’s love and the message of Jesus. It is written by one who has had all of his prayers answered (the really important prayers, anyway–and a couple of real doozies which were totally unimportant and, clearly, coincidence–God could not possibly be solely a Yankees fan?), and who, for most of the 24 hour day, believes. Yet it is written by one who, despite every evidence to the contrary, continues to have moments when he says “there probably is nothing, or if there is something, it has nothing to do with us. We are just advanced evolutionary biological products who got the big brain and opposable thumbs first and took control. There is no God, Jesus never performed any miracles, he did not rise from the dead, and the entire Bible is one gigantic fairy tale. We don’t need it. It’s a hoax.”

I have these thoughts, these doubts, often. They do not prevent my beliefs, they are doubts. Yet despite my doubts, I will, in this blog, discuss the power of prayer, the validity of the argument for God, Jesus, and the Catholic Church. I can say without reservation that there is evidence of God and the necessity for the message of Jesus Christ in everything I see–particularly the horrible things in the world. The violence, the hatred, the anger, the misunderstanding, the jealousies, the sins people commit every day–these are the things that convince me that God exists and he is a loving God–and he sent us a messenger, his son, at precisely the correct moment in history to deal with all of this. Despite my doubts, I believe this. And I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth and all that is seen and unseen, because, despite my doubts, this is the only belief which, ultimately, makes any sense–not just religiously, but scientifically as well. And I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God eternally begotten of the father because upon considered examination and reflection my soul, my heart, tells me this is fact.

I have thought of these things, meditated on them, contemplated them, for many, many years. This blog, hopefully, will be a place for examination into many aspects of our faith; and my examination of my Catholic faith has lead me to affirmation. I will be as honest as I can before you, the reader, but mostly before God, my creator. I owe him that much–despite my doubts. And I will pray for his guidance, as should everyone. Why? Because it works.

I hope you find these writings affirmative. Michael Alexander

Next up: There is Good, There are Laws.

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