Opening of the 2016 Academic Year

 

“Generating trust in everyday life”

We owe a lot to Don Vicente [Pazos González]. He was our first Vice Grand Chancellor and we are sure that now, with the interest he always showed, he helps us more effectively from heaven.

His Excellency Vice Grand Chancellor of the University, Father Emilio Arizmendi;

Worthy academic authorities, faculty of professors;

Graduates, students, parents, gentlemen and ladies, very good evening:

It is truly a pleasure to address these words at the most important event held each year by the University of Piura: the Opening Ceremony of the Academic Year. Favorable occasion in which the Faculty gathers to join in the joy of our graduates and their family and friends who are joining us tonight. Without a doubt, you, dear graduates, have arrived at a transcendental moment, which gives rise to new aspirations, commitments and achievements that will not be without difficulties, but that - we are sure - you will know how to face with initiative and solidarity, characteristics that distinguish the graduates of our University.

A special greeting to the first class of the Master's Degree in Mathematics Didactics, sponsored by Pronabec, whose members, from all over Peru, are graduating today.

To all, my most sincere congratulations.

Now, I wish, first of all, to briefly refer to an event that occurred on May 26. As many will remember, that day Father Vicente Pazos González left us, who received from Saint Josemaría the commission to study the convenience of launching a University in Piura. After investigating the topic in depth, the decision was positive and today we see this company become a reality, which was a milestone in Peru's education and its decentralization. We owe a lot to Don Vicente. He was our first Vice Grand Chancellor and we are sure that now, with the interest he always showed, he helps us more effectively from heaven.

Likewise, on October 27, our good friend Nikolai Ezerkii went to heaven. Although he was not a pioneer at UDEP, he did come with his family from his distant Ukraine many years ago, he fell in love with our University and stayed with us forever. . I would like to take advantage of this moment to remember another pioneer –Eng. Ramón Múgica-, who left us 25 years ago. His memory, perhaps more distant for some, encourages me even more to mention him, since he was one of the great pillars on which the University grew in its first years. To all of them, thank you for your dedicated life and for the invaluable help you gave us; From here our tribute and affectionate memory.

We are gathered again on this campus, which in the last year has been substantially renovated. Thanks to the extraordinary effort and planning of a UDEP team, in collaboration with professionals in the field, we have seen the birth of a new classroom building, communication routes and accesses, which respond to the need to provide better service to students and University workers.

Last year, in the Opening speech he mentioned the new classroom building project along with two others – the new university Chapel and a new library – as part of the emblematic works of the golden anniversary. Today, the first objective has been met and the other two projects continue. It is our hope that, with everyone's help, these will soon become a reality.

Remember that a good professional must first be a good person, and not only seek a technical solution to problems but also delve into their ethical dimension: in the care and service of the person and in the permanent search for the common good.

On such an occasion, in 2005, an American writer, David Foster Wallace, was invited to address a group of graduates from a college in Ohio. He presented them with a metaphor: At the bottom of the sea, two young fish come across an older one, and the latter asks them how is the water?; When the older one walks away, one of the young fish asks the other: “What the hell is water?” With that metaphor, Wallace wanted to highlight the strangeness that sometimes the most obvious produces in us, what we take for granted and that prevents us from deeply understanding the reality that surrounds us.

Wallace said (I quote): “The fact is that you graduates have no idea what day-to-day life truly means. It turns out that there is an important part of adult life, which no one talks about, but which involves boredom, routine and small frustrations…” And he asked himself: “where is the happiness in this experience?” (end of quote). Indeed, no matter how exciting our professional goals and challenges may be, very likely throughout our lives we will also have to face less extraordinary and seemingly inconsequential moments... What attitude should we take towards them? There is no point in trying to live today and now with a promise of future happiness, if you do not learn to live the daily path, sometimes monotonous and dull, that leads to it. [1].

Dear graduates and graduates, I encourage you to try to live happily always and especially in everyday and inconsequential circumstances. To do this, they must put into practice everything they learned during this cultured and enriching coexistence, which must have been their time at this university. They have learned in the classrooms and also outside of them; not only with the classes and evaluations, but also with the treatment, the example and with the different activities made available to them so that they are fully formed. Remember that a good professional must first be a good person, and not only seek a technical solution to problems but also delve into their ethical dimension: in the care and service of the person and in the permanent search for the common good.

I want to take advantage of this moment to also address, especially, the teaching staff, our beloved teachers, so that they consider among their most important challenges and objectives the generation and cultivation of an essential element of daily life that directly helps personal and professional: trust.

Everyone, absolutely everyone in the country, has witnessed, for more than four months, the climate of mistrust and lack of unity that has covered up, and still does, what should be a democratic celebration. Why does this happen? What is the origin? How to change it?

I am convinced that we are all part of the solution. We must feel the commitment to become protagonists of change. This task is especially the responsibility of those – like you – who have been privileged with quality education and, even more so, of university professors who can (and should) be catalysts not only of science but also of the development of people and society.

Our future depends on how we deal with everyday problems that can lead to a decline in confidence. Many, ironically, defend the thesis that there are plenty of reasons to distrust almost everything and almost everyone. Even popular language includes it in the sadly widespread saying: “think wrong and you will be right.” And, indeed, in all areas and in many moments of our ordinary existence, it is possible that reasons to distrust arise: such as when parents are not consistent in the example and teachings to our children; or when the teacher or a manager does not fulfill their role of educating or directing well... Distrust is sown at work when the worker does not carry out his or her duties responsibly; or when hasty decisions are made or personal good is put before the common good; In short, when concern for the other disappears.

Our future depends on how we deal with everyday problems that can lead to a decline in confidence. (…) In fact, popular language includes it in the sadly widespread saying: “think wrong and you will be right.”

To what extent, and since we are still in an electoral climate, do those who govern generate trust? Do you believe that this is generated when the goal is to increase the wealth of a country? Shouldn't we remember that wealth is only a means for the population to achieve its true individual and social development?; Is it right to raise the flag of the country's economic development, without asking ourselves if people are really going to be happier than before?

Martin Seligman [2], leader of the so-called positive psychology, defines the idea of a person's happiness as their well-being or flourishing. To make it a reality, he points out that five variables must coexist: the ability to achieve difficult goals; dedication, passion and loyalty for what is carried out; the meaning of what is done; its social dimension; and, finally, the temporary positive emotions that arise. The first four are structural and stable and are the result of personal effort; However, positive and fleeting emotions are easy to achieve and do not require much effort: a restful sleep, a culinary pleasure, the latest Smartphone model.

Achieving people's development requires effort, day by day, in moments of daily and routine work, so as not to remain in the emotions that lock us in individualism. Although today's consumer society presents this model of life as the best, falling into this error leads to selfish behavior that sooner or later affects the climate of trust and facilitates that “think wrong and you will be right.”

The same thing that happens in our society can happen in our organizations. We must realize the obvious: we all respond better in a climate of freedom and responsibility. When trust in an organization suffers, people think that no one cares about them and that their efforts are not well rewarded. Identification with the institution and love for the task entrusted to them is resented. The vision of the forest is lost and everyone concentrates on the nearest tree, which also prevents visibility. It is the responsibility of management to recover this kind of mystique. As? ensuring that each day's managerial decisions focus on the good of the person and are the result of the contribution of the different actors. This, which seems obvious, is what we must discover today.

For a manager to make coherent decisions for the good of the person, it is necessary to learn to obey before commanding. Governing well is not exercising power for power's sake, but exercising authority with prudence. We know well that authority is not achieved through one's own merits: in the case of organizations, it is granted by those who are directed. In the case of the rulers, the people; and in the case of teachers, students. Authority is then revealed to us as the recognition, by others, of high professional and human capabilities. How dangerous it is that those who govern or direct are not worthy of authority, either because they do not have the professional capabilities or, worse still, the moral capabilities to lead.

But it is far from me to want to incite pessimism and think that we are immersed in an irreversible path. Fortunately, mistrust has not become so widespread, despite the fact that most media outlets would have us believe otherwise and are responsible for presenting, for the most part, negative cases.

You yourselves, graduates and graduates (...) have been forging a series of virtues typical of everyday life, which may have gone unnoticed but which now, in the day-to-day work you do, will represent your best and most solid support ( …). I hope they can reverse the popular saying, as someone suggested: “think well and you will be right.”

A fundamental element in creating trust is precisely communication. Properly using the appropriate channels to say things in the right way and at the right time; knowing how to listen, taking the time to explain, correct, inform and even apologize... All of these are essential means for trust to be generated. If this daily dedication to communication is neglected, then distrust spreads like a virus, through rumors, assumptions and the so-called logic of suspicion.

What must be done then to trust and sow trust? Purify memory. The (supposed) experience is not always enough, since, explains Dr. Enrique Banús, “he who continually resorts to the past has simply become old: the old man is the one who lives by memory. The child always starts from scratch. It is not about infantilizing oneself, but about not aging prematurely. "He who distrusts, grows old."

This attitude does not appear overnight. In general, it has been cultivated in people who have received good academic and human training; and demonstrated (previously) in the family and social environment. How many heroines and heroes we find among so many ordinary people! You yourselves, graduates and graduates... The routine of classes at 7 in the morning, of weekly practices, of work done against the clock, have been forging a series of virtues typical of daily life, which may have gone unnoticed but that now in the day-to-day work they do, they will represent their best and most solid support; They will contribute to the climate of trust in the company where they work. I hope they can reverse the popular saying, as I once heard someone suggest: “think well and you will be right.”

Returning to Wallace's speech in Ohio, he asks: how to set a life purpose that will lead us to our full development? If we focus on money or power, we will never reach our full development. These purposes are “sick”, “weak”, because they are external goods that never satisfy. Only what he calls a healthy purpose and the construction of personal virtues lead to the development of a full life, which inspires others. A healthy purpose dismisses the pleasure of the moment, to focus on something more lasting and internal like virtue or truth. It is more spiritual than material in nature. [3].

In this sense, for university students, teachers and students, the search for truth as an absolute value can and should be a healthy purpose. It is the reason for being of a university. This, in the field of scientific knowledge, is important to clarify because the search for truth has different paths and shortcuts, admits different positions, which give rise to schools... And it is good to be so. This healthy academic and research freedom is not absolute because it rests on the tradition of each science; but in addition, it is strengthened when - leaving so many scientific achievements of particular sciences up for discussion - it is supported by some - few - absolute truths of a philosophical, moral and also religious nature, which precisely give it its deepest meaning.

Being aware of this, we cannot fall into moral relativism and think that everyone finds their own truth. This not only comes from individualism but deepens it, and prevents happiness: it focuses on receiving rather than giving, and identifies it with the individual good rather than the common good. This creates a climate of mistrust.

According to [don José Agustín de la Puente], we have done it in Peru and we continue to do it every day. It is a long-term task that must be accomplished with a positive attitude, values, knowledge and adequate communication that fosters trust.

Returning to the electoral climate and concern for the fate of our country, let us take on the challenge of regaining trust, and invite others to do the same. Let's not wait for the authorities to solve everyday problems, because many times we create these and we have the responsibility to solve them. Not recognizing it is denying the obvious.

This protagonism of women and men who give importance to everyday life, the search for happiness in the ordinary and the creation of trust in common circumstances, even routine, but decisive, is a theme that our history recognizes very well. . And it is not me who affirms it, but the authoritative voice of our great historian, Don José Agustín de la Puente, so close to this house of studies, who develops the relationship between Citizens and the State. In it, Dr. De la Puente points out (I quote): “Peru, as we understand it today, was not born by the decision of any superior man, nor as a consequence of a war, or some extraordinary event. Peru was born as a result of daily life…” That is to say, “day by day a way of living was born, which is the root and explanation of what is Peruvian. Peru emerged in the silent but certain transformation of daily life” (end of quote).

According to the illustrious historian, each of us has done it and we continue to do it on a daily basis. It is a long-term task that must be accomplished with a positive attitude, values, knowledge and adequate communication that fosters trust.

Finally, everything said also coincides with the teachings of our first Grand Chancellor, Saint Josemaría Escrivá, who in many different ways expressed daily life as the place where the Christian must find God. Before an assembly of university students, he stated on one occasion: “there where your brother men are, there where your aspirations, your work, your loves are, there is the place of your daily encounter with Christ. It is, in the midst of the most material things on earth, where we must sanctify ourselves, serving God and all men” (CONV, 113) and Pope Saint John Paul II did not hesitate to call him: “the saint of the ordinary.”

Not only our teachers, but also you, graduates and graduates of the different master's degrees, have all the knowledge and sufficient training to be protagonists of the great change that our country needs, through a daily commitment to regain trust, strengthen ties, promote solidarity and mutual support, to achieve common objectives of well-being, economic growth and sustainable human development.

I reiterate my congratulations to the graduates and my fervent hope that they also look to the future with the certainty that their work well done will contribute, without a doubt, to building the Peru that we all long for, where trust, responsibility and freedom prevail. .

Thank you so much!

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[1] Leadership for the common good. Luis Huete, Javier García. Pages 105-107.

[2] Leadership for the common good, Luis Huete, Javier García, Pages 99-101

[3] Leadership for the common good. Luis Huete, Javier García. Pages 107-109