Now, a certain amount of self-absorption is in our nature.As Harvard's own E.O. Wilson has recently written, and I quote him,"We are an insatiably curious species -- provided the subjects are our personal selves and people we would know or would like to know."But I want to underscore two troubling aspects of this obsession with ourselves.The first is it undermines our sense of responsibility to othersthe ethos of service at the heart of Thomas Shepard's phrase describing Harvard's enduring commitment to graduate students who are "enlarged" to be about more than themselves.Not just enlarged for their own sake and betterment -- but enlarged toward others and toward the world.This is part of the essence of what this university has always strived to be.Our students and faculty have embodied that spirit through their work to serve in our neighborhood and around the world.From tutoring at the Harvard Ed Portal in Allston to working in Liberia to mitigate the Ebola crisis,they make a difference in the lives of countless individuals.The Dexter Gate across the Yard invites students to "Enter to grow in wisdom. Depart to serve better thy country and thy kind."
