“Follow your bliss,” was the by- word  in the ‘60s and some of us did just that.  We have Joseph Campbell to thank for the phrase –  or to blame, depending on the results. Now it seems that Campbell’s idea is being displaced by a crescendo of advice to the young --  get a job, any job,  and make some bucks, as many as possible.

There are several missing terms in these words of adult wisdom,. One is “satisfaction.” Another is “passion.”  But they are not totally drowned out. They are  the words I kept hearing in a  video based on conversations with Classics majors who had gone on to careers outside that  field.  They are doctors, lawyers, clergy and people from finance and  the creative arts.  They all seem to love what they are doing and to value their undergraduate work in Classics.

It’s really worth watching, and sharing with students.

The department of Classics at Princeton produced the video as an antidote, I suppose, to all the job, jobs, jobs rhetoric.  But it carries a wider message – that even now, one can  study what one cares most intensely about,  and build a career that is genuinely satisfying. It’s OK to be passionate about something.

The  video  is worth watching –no, it’s worth imitating.   It’s not just good PR for a department. Similar conversations with alumni can open up a dialogue that needs to take place in many departments right now. “Passion” is the leitmotif. “You can do it,” is the message.  Satisfaction in college and beyond is the not-impossible goal.

 
On December 16 1988 Ronald Reagan visited the University of Virginia for a major address, which he began by paying  tribute to its founder Thomas Jefferson: “  … all you do here, indeed, all of higher education in America, bears signs, too, of his transforming genius. The pursuit of science, the study of the great works, the value of free inquiry, in short, the very idea of [the] living the life of the mind -- yes, these formative and abiding principles of higher education in America had their first and firmest advocate, and their greatest embodiment, in a tall, fair-headed, friendly man who watched this university take form from the mountainside where he lived, the university whose founding he called a crowning achievement to a long and well-spent life. “.

So, Republican friends, here’s an opportunity for you.  We have heard nothing like that from your party for years.  “Life of the mind?”  “The study of the great works?”  How refreshing it would be to hear such language again, from the right or from the left. So, here’s my advice  – plagiarize. Take Reagan’s words, repeat them or restate them in your own way. But no speaking out of both sides of your mouth.  Back the words  up with moral and financial support.  We’re listening, and waiting.