Professor H. L. Bray
Personal
Lorna
Jean Bray (1939-2023)
is the mission statement that I try to live my life by. It is an
axiomatic command to oneself, not advice: you must make the world a
better place, and you must have a good attitude about it. In my
experience, this approach is also a major key to long term happiness
as contributing to the world, to whatever extent we can, is
extremely fulfulling. I've taught this mission statement to my
children, who can recite it upon request, and I recommend it to
everyone, including my students when we get into deep conversations
outside of class. Over the years, my mission statement has changed
as I have changed, and I fully expect it to continue to improve. In
fact, if you have an idea how to make my mission statement better,
please share your ideas with me!
To be clear, the above statement is really just a framework, since
what "a better place" means is complicated, and will probably vary
from person to person. The idea that virtue is simple is at odds
with my life experience. The world is increasingly complicated, and
making the world even better is becoming increasingly complicated as
well. For now, I'll point out that "the world" is clearly much
larger than oneself, and certainly includes family, friends,
colleagues, the community, etc. - all the way up to the literal
world. On the other hand, our ability to impact the entire world is
much more limited compared to our impact on those around us, which
is yet smaller than the influence we have on our own lives. Hence,
my advice for young people is to develop yourself first, so that as
you get older you can maximize your net contribution to the world.
There are hundreds of different paths a person could take, all
necessary for the greater good. You get to decide how you think you
can make your greatest net contribution to the world which, as
others have said, will be the adventure of your life. Good luck!
Hubert Bray
May 15, 2023