by
[Music]
we are the changemakers right and it’s
actually a good thing because wouldn’t
you agree the world is in need of a
little bit of change right now in fact
sometimes it feels like everything is
changing so what kind of change maker do
you want to be what kind of change do
you want to make in the world do you
want to be the kind of person who makes
life better for yourself and for those
around you do you want to be the kind of
person who makes meaningful lasting
change do you want to be the kind of
person that looks at an empty field and
sees the potential for beauty that’s
what we’re going to talk about this
morning so I’d like you all to join me
in imagining a time where technology is
changing the way people communicate
where suddenly it’s possible to
communicate with more people with more
accuracy in more ways than ever before
can you imagine that time I want you to
imagine a time where the spirit of
technology leads to inventions where
people are inventing devices that allow
us to know ourselves and the world
around us in new and exciting ways where
people are able to understand the way
their bodies work how they can be
healthier how they can heal what’s wrong
and understand the way the world works
around them even to the point of
understanding and predicting nature and
I want you to imagine a time of
exploration where there’s no corner too
far to get to
and even if we can’t quite get there yet
people believe they will can you imagine
such a time all right I can see you well
enough to know that you’re smiling and
nodding at me sort of knowingly yes yes
she’s talking about the modern days but
no I’m talking about the early modern
period that’s the time when our lives
today really began this is the beginning
of modern Commerce of modern economics
of modern science and modern medicine
this is the beginning of modern
communication and even modern espionage
the early modern period was a time where
technology changed the way people
communicate the technology of the
printing press was a watershed moment in
the human experience suddenly you were
able not to have to copy by hand each
letter or paper you wanted to send you
could have an idea and have it printed
over and over and over again and
distribute it widely and as there began
to be more printed documents the
literacy rate rose exponentially there
was more to read so more people learn to
read and the more people learn to read
the more they printed so they could read
it changed everything
there were also inventions that allowed
people to understand their bodies
themselves in the world around them
now our medicine is quite different than
medicine in the early modern period but
it really did begin then that they began
to invent instruments to monitor the
body to figure out what was wrong and
needed healing so that people were able
to be healthier and inventions something
we take for granted the clock but
imagine what it was like were suddenly
you were able to track time everyone
could agree on what time it was
this clock also tracks the days of the
year the months of the year
and very importantly begins to monitor
the phases of the Moon and the resultant
change in tide if you lived in London
during the early modern days your main
means of transportation would not be the
road it would be the river the River
Thames that runs through London was the
most reliable the safest way to travel
except for those pesky tides you know
when the tides were up-and-down you
could navigate the world more
successfully it was a time of
exploration and I want you to imagine
the Golden Hind not on a London Street
but in the middle of the ocean where
there was no corner of the world that
was suddenly off-limits where people
went further and what they could see in
front of them was not all there was
people were exploring and discovering
new lands
new plants new animals new food sources
think of the difference that would make
even new people now one thing that
happens with all of that new exploration
discovery invention is there really
aren’t ways to share all those ideas
there aren’t even words to describe them
and that’s where Shakespeare comes in in
a time where everything is changing
Shakespeare did more with language than
anyone has before or since for one thing
he started with words he gathered words
from all kinds of lost sources he put
them together he changed them when he
needed to he invented them he created
words that we still use today and that
allowed people in the early modern
period to explore all the changes that
were around them he also captured the
essence of the human experience that was
changing through his plays he wrote
about exploration he wrote about the
creation of a different kind of family
and a different kind of power he wrote
about how to heal people in different
ways Shakespeare created worlds out of
words that defined the human experience
and that still inform us more than four
hundred years later
Shakespeare was a changemaker and he
teaches us some ways that we can make
the kind of meaningful lasting change
that he did so I’d like to explore three
ways the first he teaches us to ask true
sometimes painfully true questions when
julia asks what’s in a name she thinks
it’s a fairly simple question
she’s a Capulet Romeo’s a Montague
that’s the reason they can’t be together
so if they can simply give away their
names everything will be fine that which
we call a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet
but what Juliet discovers tragically
through the course of the play is that
what’s in a name includes suspicion
anger hatred and violence today when our
civil discourse has deteriorated into
name-calling and labeling those we don’t
agree with when people are tempted to
dehumanize others by making them less
than a person we have to remember that
what’s in a name can include suspicion
anger hatred and violence
Shakespeare demands we consider these
kinds of questions he also points out
questions that don’t work in the
beginning of King Lear King Lear goes to
his daughters and asks a false question
which of you shall we say doth love us
most and then his daughters begin to
sort of two of them at least tell him
what he wants to hear Lear is turning
relationship into a transaction tell me
what I want to hear and in return I’ll
give you land and money and power when
the transactions over the daughter’s two
daughters have told him what he wants to
hear and he’s given them land money and
power they’re finished they go off and
Lear begins to realize that’s not quite
what I wanted to happen so he surrounds
himself with a hundred soldiers because
he still needs someone outside of
himself to make him feel good and
powerful and worthy so he walks around
with these hundred soldiers and you know
the daughters who were sort of done
don’t really want to take care of these
hundred soldiers they don’t wanna close
them they don’t want to feed them they
don’t want to house them and so they say
to him why do you need a hundred
soldiers you don’t need that many people
you’re not really doing anything anymore
why do you need even fifty soldiers why
do you need even ten and then the
daughters managed to ask Lear the true
painful question what need one it is
only when all of the external sources of
value are stripped away from Lear that
he is able to see himself and the world
around him with clarity in our lives we
need to be the kind of people who carry
our Worth and value with us and don’t
rely on everybody else
Shakespeare teaches us to ask these
kinds of questions
the second thing Shakespeare does is he
reminds us that the world and people are
messy and complicated but you still need
to pay attention Hamlet is one of
Shakespeare’s most famous plays in fact
even young schoolchildren can recite the
line to be or not to be that is the
question they don’t really know what it
means they know it’s something about
carrying a skull we think we know Hamlet
but actually when we look closely we see
that Hamlet is sort of a messy
complicated play about messy complicated
people there’s Hamlet he’s so devastated
by the loss of his father he can barely
function and yet without much thought
and certainly no regret he kills
Polonius and then blames Laertes
Polonius’s son for mourning the death of
his father the same thing he’s been
doing
that’s pretty messy and complicated we
have the ghost of Hamlet’s father who
comes to his son and wouldn’t you think
a father coming to a son in mourning
would give him comfort or encouragement
no no not this ghost he comes right up
and says avenge my foul and most
unnatural murder
Hamlet’s doomed from that point on there
are no good outcomes from Hamlet and
then we have a philia the only truly
innocent character in the play who never
tries to hurt anyone but its Ophelia
people aren’t sure really deserves a
Christian burial
so Hamlet’s messy and complicated in the
people become so distracted by all of
that complication they don’t see the
corruption creeping in until we have
something really rotten in the state of
Denmark and in fact a stage littered
with corpses in our lives it’s probably
not quite that dramatic but we can get
distracted by the messiness and
complication and forget to pay attention
and do our part to make things better
the third thing Shakespeare reminds us
whoops is the power and beauty of great
language Shakespeare used language in
ways that no one ever has he created
stories that have lasted and informed
our lives for years he explores the
totality of the human condition from the
very personal to the completely
political he explores families and
dynasties nations and enemies he
explores everything through language
Shakespeare teaches us to speak the
speech he explores the winter of our
discontent and the glorious summer that
follows he asks us to lend him our ears
and then shows us how to ask other
people to lend us theirs he warns that
uneasy lies the head that wears the
crown and he reminds us and demonstrates
to us that all the world’s a stage and
because of that we have the ability to
change the scene to change the players
and to change the script we have the
ability to use powerful language to
create the new reality that we want so
if you want to make meaningful lasting
change
ask the true sometimes painful questions
that really demand an answer remember
that yes life and people are messy and
complicated but we still need to pay
attention we still need to do our part
and use powerful language that has the
ability to create worlds out of words
that bring happiness beauty joy
opportunities to yourself and those
around you worlds that solve problems
and build communities so if you want to
be that kind of a change maker start
with Shakespeare thank you
[Music]
we are the changemakers right and it’s
actually a good thing because wouldn’t
you agree the world is in need of a
little bit of change right now in fact
sometimes it feels like everything is
changing so what kind of change maker do
you want to be what kind of change do
you want to make in the world do you
want to be the kind of person who makes
life better for yourself and for those
around you do you want to be the kind of
person who makes meaningful lasting
change do you want to be the kind of
person that looks at an empty field and
sees the potential for beauty that’s
what we’re going to talk about this
morning so I’d like you all to join me
in imagining a time where technology is
changing the way people communicate
where suddenly it’s possible to
communicate with more people with more
accuracy in more ways than ever before
can you imagine that time I want you to
imagine a time where the spirit of
technology leads to inventions where
people are inventing devices that allow
us to know ourselves and the world
around us in new and exciting ways where
people are able to understand the way
their bodies work how they can be
healthier how they can heal what’s wrong
and understand the way the world works
around them even to the point of
understanding and predicting nature and
I want you to imagine a time of
exploration where there’s no corner too
far to get to
and even if we can’t quite get there yet
people believe they will can you imagine
such a time all right I can see you well
enough to know that you’re smiling and
nodding at me sort of knowingly yes yes
she’s talking about the modern days but
no I’m talking about the early modern
period that’s the time when our lives
today really began this is the beginning
of modern Commerce of modern economics
of modern science and modern medicine
this is the beginning of modern
communication and even modern espionage
the early modern period was a time where
technology changed the way people
communicate the technology of the
printing press was a watershed moment in
the human experience suddenly you were
able not to have to copy by hand each
letter or paper you wanted to send you
could have an idea and have it printed
over and over and over again and
distribute it widely and as there began
to be more printed documents the
literacy rate rose exponentially there
was more to read so more people learn to
read and the more people learn to read
the more they printed so they could read
it changed everything
there were also inventions that allowed
people to understand their bodies
themselves in the world around them
now our medicine is quite different than
medicine in the early modern period but
it really did begin then that they began
to invent instruments to monitor the
body to figure out what was wrong and
needed healing so that people were able
to be healthier and inventions something
we take for granted the clock but
imagine what it was like were suddenly
you were able to track time everyone
could agree on what time it was
this clock also tracks the days of the
year the months of the year
and very importantly begins to monitor
the phases of the Moon and the resultant
change in tide if you lived in London
during the early modern days your main
means of transportation would not be the
road it would be the river the River
Thames that runs through London was the
most reliable the safest way to travel
except for those pesky tides you know
when the tides were up-and-down you
could navigate the world more
successfully it was a time of
exploration and I want you to imagine
the Golden Hind not on a London Street
but in the middle of the ocean where
there was no corner of the world that
was suddenly off-limits where people
went further and what they could see in
front of them was not all there was
people were exploring and discovering
new lands
new plants new animals new food sources
think of the difference that would make
even new people now one thing that
happens with all of that new exploration
discovery invention is there really
aren’t ways to share all those ideas
there aren’t even words to describe them
and that’s where Shakespeare comes in in
a time where everything is changing
Shakespeare did more with language than
anyone has before or since for one thing
he started with words he gathered words
from all kinds of lost sources he put
them together he changed them when he
needed to he invented them he created
words that we still use today and that
allowed people in the early modern
period to explore all the changes that
were around them he also captured the
essence of the human experience that was
changing through his plays he wrote
about exploration he wrote about the
creation of a different kind of family
and a different kind of power he wrote
about how to heal people in different
ways Shakespeare created worlds out of
words that defined the human experience
and that still inform us more than four
hundred years later
Shakespeare was a changemaker and he
teaches us some ways that we can make
the kind of meaningful lasting change
that he did so I’d like to explore three
ways the first he teaches us to ask true
sometimes painfully true questions when
julia asks what’s in a name she thinks
it’s a fairly simple question
she’s a Capulet Romeo’s a Montague
that’s the reason they can’t be together
so if they can simply give away their
names everything will be fine that which
we call a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet
but what Juliet discovers tragically
through the course of the play is that
what’s in a name includes suspicion
anger hatred and violence today when our
civil discourse has deteriorated into
name-calling and labeling those we don’t
agree with when people are tempted to
dehumanize others by making them less
than a person we have to remember that
what’s in a name can include suspicion
anger hatred and violence
Shakespeare demands we consider these
kinds of questions he also points out
questions that don’t work in the
beginning of King Lear King Lear goes to
his daughters and asks a false question
which of you shall we say doth love us
most and then his daughters begin to
sort of two of them at least tell him
what he wants to hear Lear is turning
relationship into a transaction tell me
what I want to hear and in return I’ll
give you land and money and power when
the transactions over the daughter’s two
daughters have told him what he wants to
hear and he’s given them land money and
power they’re finished they go off and
Lear begins to realize that’s not quite
what I wanted to happen so he surrounds
himself with a hundred soldiers because
he still needs someone outside of
himself to make him feel good and
powerful and worthy so he walks around
with these hundred soldiers and you know
the daughters who were sort of done
don’t really want to take care of these
hundred soldiers they don’t wanna close
them they don’t want to feed them they
don’t want to house them and so they say
to him why do you need a hundred
soldiers you don’t need that many people
you’re not really doing anything anymore
why do you need even fifty soldiers why
do you need even ten and then the
daughters managed to ask Lear the true
painful question what need one it is
only when all of the external sources of
value are stripped away from Lear that
he is able to see himself and the world
around him with clarity in our lives we
need to be the kind of people who carry
our Worth and value with us and don’t
rely on everybody else
Shakespeare teaches us to ask these
kinds of questions
the second thing Shakespeare does is he
reminds us that the world and people are
messy and complicated but you still need
to pay attention Hamlet is one of
Shakespeare’s most famous plays in fact
even young schoolchildren can recite the
line to be or not to be that is the
question they don’t really know what it
means they know it’s something about
carrying a skull we think we know Hamlet
but actually when we look closely we see
that Hamlet is sort of a messy
complicated play about messy complicated
people there’s Hamlet he’s so devastated
by the loss of his father he can barely
function and yet without much thought
and certainly no regret he kills
Polonius and then blames Laertes
Polonius’s son for mourning the death of
his father the same thing he’s been
doing
that’s pretty messy and complicated we
have the ghost of Hamlet’s father who
comes to his son and wouldn’t you think
a father coming to a son in mourning
would give him comfort or encouragement
no no not this ghost he comes right up
and says avenge my foul and most
unnatural murder
Hamlet’s doomed from that point on there
are no good outcomes from Hamlet and
then we have a philia the only truly
innocent character in the play who never
tries to hurt anyone but its Ophelia
people aren’t sure really deserves a
Christian burial
so Hamlet’s messy and complicated in the
people become so distracted by all of
that complication they don’t see the
corruption creeping in until we have
something really rotten in the state of
Denmark and in fact a stage littered
with corpses in our lives it’s probably
not quite that dramatic but we can get
distracted by the messiness and
complication and forget to pay attention
and do our part to make things better
the third thing Shakespeare reminds us
whoops is the power and beauty of great
language Shakespeare used language in
ways that no one ever has he created
stories that have lasted and informed
our lives for years he explores the
totality of the human condition from the
very personal to the completely
political he explores families and
dynasties nations and enemies he
explores everything through language
Shakespeare teaches us to speak the
speech he explores the winter of our
discontent and the glorious summer that
follows he asks us to lend him our ears
and then shows us how to ask other
people to lend us theirs he warns that
uneasy lies the head that wears the
crown and he reminds us and demonstrates
to us that all the world’s a stage and
because of that we have the ability to
change the scene to change the players
and to change the script we have the
ability to use powerful language to
create the new reality that we want so
if you want to make meaningful lasting
change
ask the true sometimes painful questions
that really demand an answer remember
that yes life and people are messy and
complicated but we still need to pay
attention we still need to do our part
and use powerful language that has the
ability to create worlds out of words
that bring happiness beauty joy
opportunities to yourself and those
around you worlds that solve problems
and build communities so if you want to
be that kind of a change maker start
with Shakespeare thank you
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