『甘肃龙网摘要_威海学为贵：【听力】耶鲁大学校长2018年耶鲁大学本科生毕业典礼（六）』He also supported scholarships for underprivileged high school students and established a fellowship for students of color at Yale Law School. It was in the course of this work that he met Murray and...
He also supported scholarships for underprivileged high school students and established a fellowship for students of color at Yale Law School. It was in the course of this work that he met Murray and initiated their correspondence, hoping to bridge the gulf that separated his experience from hers.
Bill Beinecke’s life was made up of different circles. He led efforts to improve New York’s Central Park, he supported environmental causes, he was dedicated to the game of golf, and he remained an ardent champion of Yale and its students, among the other interests.
And what about Pauli Murray, who as a young person promised to “draw a larger circle” in her life? One month after writing her last letter to Bill Beinecke, she participated in the historic March on Washington, which she helped organize. While finishing her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree here at Yale, she drafted an influential legal memo, helping to ensure that “sex” was included in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Murray’s other circles included writing poetry and teaching. At the age of 67, she became the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest, continuing her lifelong commitment to reconciliation and understanding.
Enlarging our circles is far from easy. It requires courage, but also imagination and curiosity about our fellow human beings. It rejects fear and suspicion. It demands that we listen to each other. It measures the limits of our humanity.
Both Pauli Murray and Bill Beinecke drew such large circles and so many circles that their lives intersected. I urge you to do the same. Draw many circles; make them large in all kinds of ways. You will find life richer, fuller, and more meaningful, and you will bring to the world the empathy and understanding we so desperately need.
Members of the Class of 2018, it is time to leave the garden and go into the woods (worlds), please rise.
