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On Life and Death

To the Editor:

At a certain age, one starts to think he can give advice about life’s most complex matters even if: 1) he doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s talking about, or 2) no one wants to hear it. But regardless of the likelihood one or both of these being the case, here’s my first shot at a graduation speech:

A lot of you are going to be graduating soon and looking forward to becoming successful at whatever profession you have chosen to enter. Few of us work hard at something without some desire to be successful at it. But one of life’s tricky riddles is figuring out what “success” truly is. It was only weeks ago I learned a lesson in success from my cousin, Kenny.

When the Lord made Kenneth Boyle, He broke the mold, unfortunately. A huge man, both physically and in person, he and Babe Ruth must have had the same effect on a cocktail party: it didn’t begin until either arrived. His gregarious nature, coupled with his intelligence, allowed him to thrive as an attorney, and later in Illinois politics.

He was a state representative, the chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, and the State’s attorney for Macoupin County. Kenny had the ear of hundreds of Illinois Democratic office-holders ? and likely a few Republicans. Needless to say, he was a wealthy man. He would take a fishing trip to Florida with as much forethought as any of us deciding to go to Humphrey’s on a Friday afternoon.

Successful guy, right? But I had no idea how truly successful until last month. That was when Kenny died.

The visitation was in his hometown of Chatham, Ill., a town of barely six thousand people. Arriving at the funeral home around 5 p.m., I found a line of people overflowing from the building into the parking lot, looking more like the line to the Screamin’ Eagle in mid-July. My mother saw me and led us to where family was seated.

I sat next to my grandmother – and without even saying hello – gazed around and whispered, “This is unbelievable”.

“Brett, the line has been like this since 1 o’clock!” She said. “Oh, Kenny did so much for so many people”.

A United States Senator, storekeepers, farmers, deans of colleges, hundreds of friends; all coming to this little town to wait in line for hours to pay respects. Some of them may have gotten into college with his help, or benefited from his political expertise while running for office.

He may have helped others get jobs with his many connections.

Days later my mother called to say the line stayed full until 11:30 p.m.

So now I have a new definition of success: the HMPAYFI – or – How Many People At Your Funeral Index. If you’re not in your 30s yet, you probably haven’t thought much about death. But about then, you are struck with a revelation: I’m not going to live forever. I know. Shocking, isn’t it? When you start going to more funerals in a year than weddings, it starts to hit home.

So Kenny’s lesson to me: Success doesn’t come from how much you have, but from how you use what you have to serve others. People don’t show up for 10 hours straight to see a corpse in Chatham Illinois because a guy was rich, powerful, or even the life of the party, all of which Kenny was. They do it in response to someone who used his own success to help others become successful. Someone who made a difference in the lives of others.

Driving home that night, I asked myself the tough question: “How many people would be at my funeral if I died right now?” Somewhere between Kenny’s and that of Ebeneezer Scrooge, I figured. Scary part was I wasn’t sure which end of the HMPAYFI I was tilting. But now I’m working on it.

I know it’s tough right out of school with a million loans to pay off. But somewhere down the road, start building up your own HMPAYFI. Ironically, you’ll never know the attendance figure. As long you don’t measure success by the size of your wallet, but in how many lives you touch in a positive way, you won’t need to know.

You will have already known true success.

Brett A. Boyle, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Marketing

The Ashcroft Reaction

To the Editor:

I enjoyed reading last week’s article in The University News, “Senator Ashcroft Addresses Afternoon Crowd, Draws Protest.” However, I would like to point out why I chose to protest against Sen. Ashcroft’s visit to SLU’s campus.

Ashcroft has a consistent voting record against higher education. Fact #1: Just three weeks ago, Sen. Ashcroft voted against increasing the Federal Pell Grant by $400 (SCONRES101, 4/7/00). Fact #2: Sen. Ashcroft voted against expanding student loan programs (S947, 6/25/97). Fact #3: Sen. Ashcroft voted against reducing student loan fees (S1882, 7/9/98). These are facts that cannot be argued with. Sen. Ashcroft is clearly not a friend of working students.

Sen. Ashcroft does not only have a weak voting record regarding higher education. Amnesty International chose to protest against the senator’s refusal to sign a bill that would close down the School of the Americas. Realistically, a multitude of issues of interest to the student body could have been addressed during Ashcroft’s visit to campus. For example, Sen. Ashcroft retains an honorary degree from Bob Jones University. This is the same University that calls Catholicism a cult.

In summary, last week Sen. Ashcroft attempted to befriend St. Louis University’s population by offering students Drumsticks and ice-cream sandwiches. In his speech, the senator maintained that the problems of America consist of welfare, health-care and the national debt. What about the issues of higher education, the School of Americas, or his honorary degree from Bob Jones University? How can we as Missourians instill confidence in Sen. Ashcroft when his voting record and actions can be portrayed as antagonistic towards most populations in Missouri, including students?

Jenny Masek

Calling Diversity

To the Editor:

First of all, I would like to congratulate my fellow Concert Committee members on successfully pulling off last week’s event. Hats off to Jason Sengheiser who really brought the whole thing home. It was a really successful event, and I wish that even more people had been there to experience it. At the same time, I feel that I can explain why there weren’t more people there. The lineup just did not appeal to the whole university community.

When we first started out trying to find a lineup for this year’s concert, diversity was one of our major goals. The lineup of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Citizen King were not representative of this. The amount of empty seats in the Scottish Rite was proof of this. There were a lot of people there, but the concert committee wanted an event that would draw everybody, and that did not happen. This was not the fault of the concert committee. In the end we decided that the better decision was to give the University something, instead of nothing, due to useless bickering. At the same time I know that we could not make people go to the concert. They had to want to go. And if you weren’t into ska or rock (even if it has a twist of hip-hop), then there was a 99.9 percent chance that you were not going to the concert. This is what happened last Wednesday, People who chose not to come did not stay away because they were unsupportive of the student effort, but rather because they preferred not to spend their money to listen (full blast) to music they aren’t in to.

Now, it is my firm belief that if in the future a more diverse lineup is booked (because we MUST have more concerts), a more diverse and consequently larger turn out could be expected. You cannot tell me that in the age of MTV and TRL, where hip-hop, rock, alternative rock, and other genres share top-billing, that the SLU community cannot be receptive to a similar situation. Can you imagine DMX and 311 in one night? You probably can’t, but I would go to the concert just because at least one of the acts actually resides in my CD cases (you figure out which one).

Proof will happen just down the road at Washington University this Friday. The headliner group for their annual WILD concert is OUTKAST, a major hip-hop act in the music industry. Their student populous is very similar to ours and I know for a fact the campus is abuzz with hype over their arrival (probably because the show is free). Anyone from here that is able to witness that event and compare it to ours will agree that hip-hop acts can pull as many, if not more, people than the rock and ska bands that have become the standard here at SLU.

Once again, I have to say that this is not a slam at lasts weeks concert, it was a successful start. But, I would like to see the University step out on faith and open their minds and ears to a different sound in the future concerts that will happen.

Eddie Holman

BSA President