Should we read the Harvard arms if we took another look the letters of Veritas
tossed across three open books like eight simple seeds I'd say we can read
this Creed not just in the words but in the deeds of the man we celebrate today
a man of exemplary mind who is also exceptionally kind yet before these
accolades in degrees he grew up in Pontiac Michigan the son of two refugees
who immigrated to America two fighters who came here looking shoreward to
survivors dreaming higher looking forward at the new opportunities the son
could seize its apparent Larry got the best from both his parents like his
mother he's characteristically optimistic like his father he speaks
with integrity sincerity clarity he is both outstandingly honest and
marvelously modest being raised by parents who witnessed oppressions worst
is what makes Larry so well-versed in the American dream it speaks to his
personality but also the fact that this dream is his reality I only needed to
speak with him for two minutes before I knew why he is in it tikkun olum to
repair the world he knows that to a parent is to share its freedoms and
dreams especially at a university dedicated to excellence due diligence
daring in diversity Larry knows Harvard is not a 'place' it's an idea which can
also be the face of higher education where every day we make the unknown
perceivable and the impossible achievable we know if we are to be the
school with a purpose we teach for we must ask for more from ourselves in our
world because great idea don't just unfurl they must be sought
out not just thought out they need to be brought out of the best of ourselves
because in fact Veritas is to act it's this commitment in everything we do that
makes a work here both tremendous and true our motto for heard at Harvard
pushing us forever forward toward the pursuit of truth at its most
transformative and tenacious dangerously seeking it not just in Widener shelves
but also in all wise ourselves if you ask Larry's wife Adele you'll hear her tell
that he'll always be ready for the next adventure
that's not simply a gesture when he says call me Larry he understands we were all
comrades who carry the very weight and getting to create the world here this
extraordinary gathering of legendary luminaries and visionaries Larry knows
now is not the time to back out as a Bacow he knows the present is to act
out of purpose allow a service to serve us and greater than the yard the
question is as hopeful as it is hard how should we read our schools Creed when
the mind is free when we take another look we see that the books are open the
silence of a blank page broken by truth being shared written spoken meaning we
can both learn new truths as we are teaching we can give answers even as you
are seeking for questions a suggestion that Veritas is not in the knowing but
in the growing and to both a truth seeker and the truth speaker meaning we
can make mountains as we run as long as we climb towards that as one meaning we
can shape the sea as we sail and the only way to fail is to not learn from
the journey and the only way to triumph is to share what we know to be true and
so I ask you to join me as we witness and welcome the man who reminds us of
all the veritas we can all find the man who loves Harvard but whose love is not
blind the honest the very brave in an exemplary mind the man whose truth will
change a community our country and our kind Lawrence S Bacow 29th President of
Harvard University