We are not merely in the business of engineering, nursing, family therapy, or any other major. Our education has given us these skills as our tools, but we are in the salvation business—first and foremost for ourselves and our families and then for whomever else we can lift around us.
I am humbled and honored to stand before you today as the representative of the April 2001 graduating class of Brigham Young University. First of all, I wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to those who have guided and encouraged us as we have struggled to reach this day of celebration and commencement. We honor our families, our professors, our friends and classmates, and the staff and administration of BYU. Thank you for all that you have done for us.
In preparing for this opportunity to speak to you and for you, my fellow graduates, I have spent the past few weeks reflecting on my experiences as a BYU undergraduate and on my goals and personal aspirations as I graduate. The word graduation connotes moving from a lower to a higher level, and the word commencement means a beginning. As we begin new careers or pursue higher educational degrees, I invite each of us to pause in self-evaluation to consider this afternoon what our education here has trained us to do and be and what our responsibilities are “in the tasks of home and family life, social relationships, civic duty, and service to mankind” that we now embark upon (The Mission of Brigham Young University [4 November1981]).
The diplomas we receive here today certify that we have achieved a certain level of knowledge in terms of a broad, general education and a focused exploration of a particular field, as well as in terms of a religious education because we graduate from an institution supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I hope that we graduates live up to that high standard! We have fulfilled the first half of our school motto, “enter to learn,” leaving us to face the further challenge, “go forth to serve.”
I vividly remember attending one of my first BYU devotionals as a freshman. I was thrilled to be in the Marriott Center to listen in person to our prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. In his charge to us as BYU students, he said:
A vast amount of the tithing funds of the Church is required to make it possible for you to receive an education at this remarkable institution. How great is your responsibility, how compelling your trust. . . .
. . . You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others. . . .
If this university meets the purpose for which it is maintained, then you must leave here not alone with secular knowledge but, even more important, with a spiritual and moral foundation that will find expression to improve the family, the community, the nation, even the world of which you will be a part. [“Stand Up for Truth,” BYU devotional address, 17 September 1996]
If we would be the kind of graduates this university is designed to produce, we cannot simply “be good” in our respective professional or academic fields. We “must be good for something.” And the world’s greatest need in this day of degeneracy and self-indulgence is for moral leadership. The greatest service we can give as we “go forth” is to uphold truth, integrity, virtue, charity, and morality wherever we are—in essence, “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9), whether that be in the business office, the university, the laboratory, or our homes.
The difference lies in our attitude. This past fall I had the opportunity to serve as an intern in the Church music division. The experience enabled me to observe firsthand how my particular field—the arts, and especially music—contributes to the efforts of the Church. As I served with members of the general music committee, I noticed that the responses to criticism of music in the Church and the perspectives used to approach new artistic projects were basically an expression of the same idea: We are not in the music business; we are in the salvation business. And music is our tool in that endeavor.
I think the same can and should be true of our efforts in any discipline. You may have studied math, biology, education, law, or music, as I did, but as disciples and followers of Christ, we cannot be solely mathematicians, scientists, teachers, lawyers, or musicians. Instead, we too “must be about [our] Father’s business” (Luke 2:49), which is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of [His children]” (Moses 1:39).
Every good and worthy skill we have gained in our education can be used in that service. The danger of education is that we may become “puffed up because of [our] learning, and [our] wisdom” (2 Nephi 9:42) and the resulting riches that may later come to us. Yes, we must go out into the world and work to provide for our families. Yes, we can and should seek to excel in whatever is our field. But we must never lose sight of the ultimate goal, our most important priority: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
As graduates of Brigham Young University seeking to “go forth to serve,” we are not merely in the business of engineering, nursing, family therapy, or any other major. Our education has given us these skills as our tools, but we are in the salvation business—first and foremost for ourselves and our families and then for whomever else we can lift around us.
May we live up to President Hinckley’s charge to “be good for something,” that it may be said of us as it was of Him who is our Master and Exemplar, even that we too “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), I pray, in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
© Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.
Bonnie Marie Ashby spoke as the representative of her graduating class when this commencement address was delivered on April 26, 2001.
