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<\/a>Carrie Hessler-Radelet (CAS\u201979), director of the Peace Corps, delivers the address at the 143rd Commencement Baccalaureate Service at Marsh Chapel. Video by BU Productions<\/span><\/a>. Photos by Mike Ritter. <\/span>\n<\/em><\/p>\n
As the current director of the Peace Corps<\/a> and a former volunteer, Carrie Hessler-Radelet (CAS\u201979, Hon.\u201916) has long been a global citizen, witnessing deprivation, displacement, and trauma. But as she addressed those gathered at Marsh Chapel Sunday morning for the traditional pre-Commencement Baccalaureate service, Hessler-Radelet shared a message of healing and hope. After a call to worship by Rev. Robert Allan Hill, dean of Marsh Chapel, and readings by Jean Morrison, University provost, and President Robert A. Brown, Hessler-Radelet took the podium to share heartening stories and to reassure graduates in the standing-room only chapel that \u201cthe world you are inheriting is a much better place than the world your parents inherited.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, that is not to deny the fact that violence is all too real in our world or to diminish the importance of growing income disparity in our own country,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I would urge you to take a fresh look at the incredible progress humankind has made by almost every measure of development over the past few decades and embrace the cause of humanity with optimism and enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n Hessler-Radelet was sworn in as Peace Corps director in June 2014, after being acting and deputy director since 2010. She began her career in international development as a Peace Corps volunteer, one of four generations from her family to serve, teaching secondary school in Western Samoa with her husband, Steve Radelet, from 1981 to 1983. She went on to a career in public health, focusing on HIV\/AIDS and maternal and child health.<\/p>\n \u201cLike you, I am here today because Boston University changed my life,\u201d said Hessler-Radelet, who came to BU as a transfer student. \u201cI grew up in northern Wisconsin, in a small upper-middle-class town where just about everyone looked just like my family and me. And I loved my hometown.\u201d But she knew there was a \u201cgreat big world\u201d out there and that she had a lot to learn. She found that world at BU, \u201cone of the most diverse and globally connected communities that I could have ever imagined. It was a place that not only encouraged me, but challenged me to step out of my comfort zone, to grow, intellectually and spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n She dived in, studying religion, comparative politics, international relations, Chinese language, and African studies. She attended lectures by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel (Hon.\u201974), Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, \u201cwho reminded us that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.\u201d It was at BU that Hessler-Radelet \u201cbegan to see that my intellectual and spiritual development was tied up with my personal development.\u201d She spoke of her BU years volunteering with low-income students, many of them deeply troubled, at a school in Charlestown, Mass. \u201cI needed to apply what I was learning in the classroom in order to make a difference for others.\u201d<\/p>\n While acknowledging the conflicts and violence dominating today\u2019s headlines, Hessler-Radelet shared her belief that this is one \u201cof the most promising, interesting, and important times of human history.\u201d She chose to recount from her long career in public service the kinds of inspiring human stories that often escape news coverage, like South Sudanese refugee Peter Ter, orphaned as a child after his family was slain by Arab militants, who found his way to the United States after a meandering odyssey through several countries. \u201cWhen Peter applied to the Peace Corps, he requested specifically to go to a Muslim country, because he did not want to live his life hating the people who shared a faith with those who had killed his family,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only way he knew to, in his own words, seek reconciliation and to learn to love Muslims, was to live among them in service.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike you, I am here today because Boston University changed my life,\u201d Hessler-Radelet told the 2016 BU graduates and their families at Marsh Chapel Sunday morning.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Peace Corps director put forth several challenges to this year\u2019s graduates: \u201cNumber one: I challenge you to choose optimism. Winston Churchill said, \u2018A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.\u2019 If we are to address the world\u2019s greatest challenges, we need to see the opportunities. Challenge number two: I challenge you to make relationships your priority.\u00a0Whether we\u2019re talking about family or diplomacy or business, the most important moments in life are defined by relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n To illustrate the power of relationships, Hessler-Radelet offered a story from former Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, later US ambassador to Afghanistan. \u201cHe told me that when he was ambassador, there was a terrible, bloody battle in Helmand Province that had cost many lives. But in the end, the US-Afghani forces were victorious, and they were able to reclaim a key district from the Taliban. Ambassador Eikenberry decided to visit the reclaimed territory to establish relationships with the local chieftains, so he drove out to Helmand Province in a huge convoy, with his bulletproof vehicle and dozens of armed soldiers.\u201d When he arrived, he was greeted joyously by the village elders. One approached the ambassador\u2019s vehicle and peered inside. \u201cRick, Rick,\u201d he cried in Pashtun. \u201cAre you there? Are you there?\u201d Through his translator, Eikenberry learned that Rick was a Peace Corps volunteer who lived and taught English in their village 40 years ago. \u201cHe was like a brother to me,\u201d the headman said. \u201cWhen I heard the Americans were coming, I was hoping it was Rick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was then,\u201d Eikenberry said, \u201cthat I understood the transformational power of the Peace Corps.\u201d The relationship of friendship and trust between this Peace Corps volunteer and this village elder clearly transcended time, geography, war, and politics, said Hessler-Radelet. \u201cA relationship this deep could only have been built through lives shared, day in and day out, in mutual toil and celebration.<\/p>\n \u201cRelationships matter,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are the only things that last. Make them your priority.\u201d<\/p>\n Her third challenge was \u201cto make service your mindset. Service is not an activity,\u201d she said. \u201cService is a mindset.\u201d She reminded them that they don\u2019t have to go halfway around the world to make a difference in someone\u2019s life. \u201cWhatever field you choose, whatever line of work, whatever your circumstances, you can find ways to help others. And when you define your lives with a service mindset, miracles happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The Baccalaureate service concluded with a benediction by Marsh associate and graduating senior Jaimie Dingus<\/a> (CAS\u201916).<\/p>\n Hessler-Radelet received an honorary Doctor of Laws at BU\u2019s 143rd all-University Commencement ceremony Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n![\"Peace](\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/today\/files\/2016\/05\/h_butoday_16-9984-BACCA-363.jpg\")
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