Hello – As a proud Georgetown alum of the Security Studies Program in the School of Foreign Service, I welcome you into the fellowship of alumni of this great institution. While this is far from how you imagined the final months of your college experience to be, please know that many voices around the world join me in celebrating your efforts and accomplishments in remarkably trying times.
I hope that the dire circumstances that we find ourselves in, as a community, a society, a nation, and a planet, motivate you to dedicate your talents and your efforts to improve the lives of your fellow man and woman, to make us all whole again, and to contribute to furthering the great human enterprise at the core of this university’s mission. The human spirit is indomitable, and we will persevere through this, with your support and embrace of a very changed world. We appreciate your understandable anguish and anxiety as you begin or continue your careers during such tumultuous times. But tumult and challenge can bring the best out of us, if we strive for it, and if we extend compassion and love to each other, as we never truly know the paths that we’ve all led.
As FDR once said, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor”, so move forward knowing that you, and we, will be stronger because of this uncertainty and strife. Take care of yourself and, very importantly, take care of each other. We all need it, now more than ever. Hoya Saxa
-Michael D.