CGI U: Closing Remarks

I love hearing President Clinton speak, and this occasion was no different. His remarks were poignant and, as always, articulate. If you want to see a master public speaker at work then make sure you hear him speak in person at least once in your lifetime.

I can do little justice to his speech by trying to pull out some of the things that I connected with, but I will remark on a couple of things. It would be best, however, to watch it for yourselves at the link I provided in my last post. It lasts about 30-35 minutes but is well worth it.

He started the address by talking about a recent scientific finding about the human genome. It is now under question that instead of humans being 99.9% alike, they are more like 99.5% alike. All the differences in the world - our skin colour, eye, hair, nose, teeth, gender, moles, birthmarks - all separated by .4%. It is that .4% that we focus on, sometimes exclusively, it is what divides us, and it is in some respects tearing us apart. However, it is also that .4% that makes the world so interesting to us. It is in our differences that we find meaning and how we relate. It is that .4% that we can either choose for interconnectedness - to bring us together - or we can chose for it to destroy us - to tear us apart. That .4% difference is more important than the other 99.5% that is alike. This is the choice that confronts us. We either come together to to solve what is wrong in the world - to find peace and happiness - or we use it to divide and conquer us. It is a choice he sees that must be made because if we refrain from choosing then we automatically allow apathy and division to find a home. We must stand one on one side or the other.

The answer seems clear to me - but in reality we have thus far made a very different choice. The challenge is before us to find a way to overcome the monumental .4%. To come together for our collective betterment. The choice is yours, but I hope you do indeed make it. It is not one you can make flat footed, or subconsciously, it must be acted. Silence and inaction are the wedge.