Peggy Dettwiler, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities delivered the Convocation Address at Straughn Auditorium on the campus of Mansfield University on Friday, August 19, 2022. Following the address, members of the Mansfield University Concert Choir performed “Look to This Day, for it is Life” arr. Greg Gilpin.
Here is a video of the speech followed by the speech’s text.
LOOK TO THIS DAY!
Greetings to Mansfield University administration, faculty, staff, and students and a special welcome to the Class of 2026!
This convocation inaugurates another academic year for all of us who are members of the Mansfield University community. I am happy and honored to share thoughts, which I hope will inspire you to move forward with courage and commitment for this new academic season. University calendars with their two semesters, winter and summer breaks, always offer the opportunity for reflection and renewal.
For those of you who are new to Mansfield University, I have been Director of Choral Activities here for 32 years. It is highly possible that I may have had your parents in my classes! Before Mansfield, I received my doctorate in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, lived and taught in San Antonio Texas, and grew up in the Midwest.
In 1981, long before most of you were born, I experienced a major illness called Guillain-Barré Syndrome, commonly named French Polio. It is an autoimmune disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system causing paralysis. Within days of coming down with what seemed like a common cold, I experienced weakness in my muscles so acute that I became totally paralyzed. I was hospitalized for two months and on a respirator for three weeks, unable to speak because I was intubated. During this period of time, I was fully conscious, which offered a lot of time to think about life!
I became fully aware that we live our lives through three realities: the past, the present, and the future. As I lay on the hospital bed, I reflected on memories of my childhood, growing up on a farm, riding horses, going to college, and teaching high school. I also dreamed of what I would do when I had recovered and hoped for a bright future. At times, fear overtook those dreams because of my illness. So, I had to focus on the moments in the present time to gather the energy needed to get well. My caretakers reminded me that a positive spirit aided in healing. Fortunately, I gradually recovered, gaining more movement with each new day. I had entered the hospital in September and went home on crutches two days before Thanksgiving.
And here are the life lessons I learned:
- Despite the fact that my body was completely “out of commission,” I felt like a whole person with the full range of emotions of a normal human being. I came to the conclusion that our bodies are our houses, not who we are.
- From day one, the doctor told me I would get worse, but then, the disease would go into remission. Having hope makes all the difference when facing any difficulty!
- There wasn’t a day that I didn’t receive a visitor or a get-well card. Remember this when others are ill or struggling!
- I found my inner strength through this illness. Life is unpredictable. There will be good and bad days. Strive to make something positive rise from the ashes.
So after physical therapy, speech therapy, yoga, acupuncture, electro-stimulation, cranial-sacral massage, Thermage, and healing touch, I recovered almost fully; to this day, however, I am still left with permanent facial and vocal-fold weakness, something I deal with on a daily basis in my choral conducting career. Yet, I don’t believe I would be where I am today without that illness. From growing up as a farm girl to conducting on the Carnegie Hall stage and leading nine European concert tours, I discovered a fearlessness to take risks, to stand up for the truth, and to seek joy in what life might offer.
A poem that inspires focus on daily work: To be of use by MARGE PIERCY
“The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.”
In his best-selling book “The Power of Now” author Eckhart Tolle suggests the means of living life fully lie in our capacity to dwell in the present, or in the now. He states: “the more you are focused on time, past and future, the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
In music-making, an aesthetic experience, can best be described as the “wow” experience; a moment when your breath is taken away; when chills travel up and down your spine. Whether this “wow” occurs in a concert or simply by looking at a beautiful sunset, it is always an example of living in the moment.
My wish for you today is summarized in this beautiful Salutation to the Dawn, attributed to Kalidasa, a classical Sanskrit author of the 5th century.
Salutation to the Dawn
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty.For yesterday is already a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision
But today, well-lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.Look well, therefore, to this day!
