Prize Day man or woman to really make much of a difference or to create a lot of change. To be very frank, we have been hearing this or reading this since the time of Herodotus. The idea makes us shy somehow, so we do not really venture into trying to do things. But we also know a century ago, they were saying that everything in physics was kind of settled—there were a few minor details to clear up—and then, Einstein came. And while it is true that today you can easily find any fact on the Internet, the truth of that fact is not any easier to find. To find the truth, or to make a difference, or to effect change is still very much of a matter of effort. Of course you are privileged. I mean you know a lot, you have finished Groton, and this is great. It is yet another privilege that you are Americans. It is not just by chance that you will celebrate the 4th of July. Being Americans, you are exposed much more than many other people to simple but very important ideas which have been stated probably in the best way in your American Constitution and in the Declaration of Independence. These documents reflect ideas people have been preoccupied with for many centuries, but they were said there very clearly. You probably know professors have this strange way of putting things on their doors, like important passages, quotations. On my door is written, “When in the course of human events…” because the most important thing about how things happen is that they happen not some place high up in the realm of ideas, but in the course of human events. And in the course of human events you can do whatever you can. Well, as Mr. Commons said, Bulgaria 20 years ago was the most rigid of the satellites of the Soviet Union. It was a communist country which nobody really believed would change. I did not believe it could change, personally. But when it started boiling, even though we did not believe change would happen soon, Elena, my wife, and I just decided to go there to be part of the effort, to participate. We were at demonstrations and meetings in barracks. I was just a 36-year-old lawyer. Nobody cared about my voice, of course, and I really did not expect it to be heard. But still, even without guarantee I tried, and somehow it happened. My voice was heard. Thinking back, the fact that it happened is not so difficult to understand. It was a situation which was very simple. You know from history, revolutions often are lead by people who do not really want to change the whole thing but just to polish it, if possible. In Bulgaria, we had the same idea. Once people began marching down the streets and shouting, “Down with the Communist Party,” which was blasphemous, there were leaders of the democratic movement who appeared on the TV and said, “Well, these were destructive, provocative, aggressive ideas, and we distance our ourselves from them.” I showed up on the TV and just said, “I don’t.” It was as simple as that, but it worked. And it worked because someone had taken the position.
Things happen … not some place high up in the realm of ideas, but in the course of human events. And in the course of human events you can do whatever you can.
Graduate Laura Naraguma is surrounded by her family after Prize Day ceremonies.
Quarterly Fall 2009
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