— by Steve Stern 
The passing of Elie Wiesel, coming just a few weeks after the 30th anniversary of his commencement speech to my graduating Class of 1986 at Tufts University, brought me back to his words and their impact on my decision, a year or so back, to open up a business to help aging seniors. One of the world’s great moral voices shared some memorable guidance during that commencement address which has stayed with me all these years.
Back before social media, it proved quite a challenge to “hunt down” a transcript of the speech. In 1994, I reached out to Tufts’ Office of the President, and it took several months to find a copy.
Over the years, I have periodically re-read the speech and Wiesel’s words always re-energized me–and I feel that my decision to open up the FirstLight HomeCare office “sees the advice through”.
I share with you now the two sections of the speech which have been the most impactful to me:
“We have learned the importance of involvement and commitment. Individuals do have an effect on history. Small gestures do matter. During the war it was enough for simple men or women to open a door, to offer a piece of bread, to have the courage to care, and human lives were saved. We may not be able to alter the course of destiny, but we can change the life of a person.”
Wiesel concluded the address by sharing a story–what he called his “favorite for some time.”
“An emperor sent for a Talmudic sage and told him: I have heard much about you. I am told you are a great scholar, an expert in many fields, a teacher of many students. I am to believe that you are endowed with secret powers that enable you to read other people’s minds. Prove it. Tell me whether the bird in my hands, behind my back, is alive or not. Afraid that because of a word he might say, the bird, if alive, might die, the old sage kept silent for a long moment. Then he turned to the emperor, looked him straight in the eyes, smiled and said, ‘Majesty, the answer is in your hands.’ Well–that goes for all of us. The answer is in our hands.”
And, I do believe the answer is in my hands.
Read the Complete copy of Elie Wiesel’s Tufts 1986 Commenencement Speech.
Steve Stern is President & Owner of FirstLight HomeCare of West Suburban Boston.
