A C H A P E L TA L K
by Peter Erichsen ’74, Trustee January 17, 2014
The Myth
of the Mainstream voces
I
believe it is customary for those of my ilk who find themselves standing in this pulpit to begin by remarking that they are “out of their comfort zone.” But until this moment, I had no idea how inadequate a phrase that really is. I fear that in the months and years to come, a dream in which I am standing here with no prepared remarks will be added to my already not infrequent dreams of appearing at college exams having read nothing and attended no classes. But at least those dreams don’t include an audience. Speaking of the audience, I do have one significant advantage over many of my trustee predecessors in this role of Chapel talker—no children in the audience to embarrass. No children at all, if it comes to that, though I fear that as a non-parent, I have just retained all that capacity for embarrassment myself. Fortunately for you, I am taking advice from Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the Sixth Form of 1900, who famously offered this wisdom to all public speakers: “Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated.” Speaking of advice, it won’t surprise you to know that I sought advice from several people—some Grotonians, some not—about what topic I might address this morning. One dinner table conversation over Christmas with an old friend led to a rather detailed conversation about A Separate Peace, which I confess I didn’t really follow, and since I hadn’t read the book in 40 years, I moved on. A Groton formmate suggested “service” as a theme, and as Mr. Maqubela’s kind introduction suggested, I have been privileged in my life to be given several opportunities to perform public service at high levels. But being a bit closer to the Groton of today than my friend is, I am impressed by how thoroughly service is already
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Groton School Quarterly
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Spring 2014