The real world

Graduation. Every one of us graduating seniors is now receiving earloads of "sally forth, lad (or lass), into yon Real World and use The Things We Have Taught You" speeches. And sally we must. Unless we are going to grad school. In any case, the world we are entering today is a radically different place from the world we left when we matriculated here at Tufts University.

There are reasons to be concerned. This world is not as easy or happy as the other one. This great nation is a troubled one. Here are some reasons to be afraid of leaving Tufts:

Increasingly Americans are segregating themselves based on their political beliefs. There is less and less tolerance and desire for opposing viewpoints. People are liable to lash out against people with whom they don't agree. CDs are being burned and invitations canceled because of political views. We're not talking about treason here. We're talking about expression of opinion.

The source of these outbursts, I think, is because even the most fervent nationalist, or the most sarcastic dissident, really isn't sure what's true anymore. So much mud being slung by world political leaders, so many people dying every day from starvation and bombardment, so many disasters happening and waiting to happen, that it's hard to understand why the world is such a difficult place. It is easier to trust in America, or blame all the world's ills on it. It's either all good or all bad. It brings simplicity to a world that is actually complicated.

This is why people become not only argumentative when their views are challenged, but downright combative. The world loses its simplicity and it is disturbing. The easier alternative is to lean on social settings and media outlets that support what we already believe. And this is true of both sides of the political spectrum, whether they burn Dixie Chicks CDs or American flags.

This is the world that we are entering. What's more disturbing: it's getting worse. Political views are affecting more and more dimensions of our lives. Dissension from the prevailing view in your circle is increasingly difficult. I'm not saying the right to free speech is gone-that would be the kind of alarmist statement you might hear from a sheltered leftist. The right is still there. It just takes more courage to claim it. How far will this go? We're not far away from job decisions being made based on political views, even for non-political jobs.

Speaking of jobs, there's one more reason to be worried. This year already, 500,000 people have been laid off. Far fewer jobs are being created to replace them. There is no end in sight. Fears of a "double-dip" recession have returned. The Federal Reserve is almost out of gas, running dangerously close to zero percent interest rates and deflation panics.

International political discord is threatening to ruin world free trade. As the US plans to "punish" its political adversaries with higher tariffs, Europe will likely respond with the same. As the world's richest countries set bad examples, smaller countries will wonder why they have to follow the rules when America and Europe don't. A return to this kind of 30s-style competitive macroeconomic policies could lead to... well, 40s-style war and destruction.

So we may be headed towards world war. But I don't want to tell you that it's all bad. There really are reasons to be excited about graduating in 2003. We are a troubled nation, but not a nation in crisis.

Where some see chaos, confusion, and division, others see opportunity. As I said before, people are really unsure, whether they admit it or not. They're just waiting for someone with a clear vision to unite the country for a common cause. And the world is looking to America for the same thing. It is the opportunity of a century.

What if, for instance, we really did build a decent Iraq? What if we created a Palestinian state that honored its obligations to Israel? What if we brought North Korea back into the real world (it has been in college for the last 50 years, I think), relieved the great suffering of its people, and removed a great threat to South Korea and Japan?

There is no shortage of challenges. And there is no better place in the world to take on a challenge than America. In America, we have access to the most talented people and most recent technology in the world. We have the freedoms to use those resources to produce goods, services, and most importantly, ideas. Even through the division of our society today, there is no country in the world that has the power and the will to change the world.

The world may be disappointed with America these days. But that is only in part because we have acted differently than they would have wished. It is also because their expectations of us are high. What little hope the world has is vested in the United States of America.

The world knows what America and its people are capable of doing. This is the country that fired the Shot Heard 'Round the World, the country that has taken the dregs of the world's population and turned them into heroes, the country that saved Europe from genocide and then protected the free world for 50 years when communism threatened destroy it. This is the country that invented baseball.

Before you leave Boston, go to Fenway Park one last time. Remember that green grass, that aged, beautiful building, that drunk guy yelling at Trot Nixon. Consider the absolute geometric perfection of the field.

The game is utterly American, and a fitting allegory for our current role in international affairs. The game is a series of one-on-one confrontations, all of which depend on the skills of other team members, completely individual and completely collective at the same time. The seventh inning stretch is nearing, the dreaded Sox bullpen is starting to warm up. Look up at the flag. By the time Ramiro Mendoza enters the game, you'll realize: that flag is ready.

That flag is ready to lead people. It has determination. It has conviction. It has flown over more than 80 heartbreaking seasons of Red Sox baseball. But here are over 30,000 desperately passionate Red Sox fans who come to sing the national anthem before every game. That flag knows the meaning of dedication through hardship, of still being there through the bombs bursting in air. That flag is ready to lead. Are you?