We can all do something more than we presently are, and perhaps Mr. Geldof’s greatest gift to this university was in his very loud and powerful message to commit ourselves to something greater than ourselves.  That is, there should be no doubt what a university should be doing anyway, and we all should hope that Geldof’s visit to our campus reinforces a commitment to service and doubles and redoubles our collective and individual commitments to each other and to our world

Engvall, Robert P.

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Not a single note was played

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Reason and RespectVolume 3Issue 1 Winter 2007 Article 102-8-2008Not a single note was playedRobert P. EngvallRoger Williams UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rrCopyright ©2-8-2008 by the authorsReason and Respect is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress).For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationEngvall, Robert P. (2007) "Not a single note was played," Reason and Respect: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 10.Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rr/vol3/iss1/10•• RESPECT INot a Single Note Was PlayedRobert P.Engvall, Associate Professor, School of Justice StudiesOn October 24, 2006, Roger Williams University was visited by a rock star. Bob Geldof came to campus asa featured guest in the Civil Discourse Lecture Series to speak of his efforts on behalf of famine relief for thecontinent of Africa and to share his many experiences as a result of those efforts. I went to the presentation fora variety of reasons: first, as co-editor of Reason & Respect and a strong believer in the worth of the President'smany initiatives with regard to civility and civil discourse on campus, there was a natural sense of interest.Second, Bob Geldof was a rock star for God's sakes, and it isn't every day that a rock star makes a campus ap-pearance, whether that campus is in Bristol, Rhode Island or anywhere else. And third, Geldof came to speakabout service to his fellow humans, and the theme of this edition of Reason & Respect is about service and ser-vice learning. I left the lecture with an almost staggering series of emotions and impressions that I will attemptto share in the course of this brief essay.Perhaps foremost (and perhaps I haven't mentioned this) Geldof was a rock star! We toss that phrasearound some today, and almost always inappropriately. I'm using it here repeatedly to make a point (I hope)that Geldof really was and, more importantly, really IS a rock star! Perhaps the days of the Boomtown Ratshave passed, as Geldofhimself self-deprecatingly mentioned during his speech as he acknowledged withoutsorrow or self-pity that bands come and go and his band had had its time in the sun, and it was only appropri-ate that they fade into the background. That was the only time in which Geldof and fading into the back-ground should ever be used in the same sentence. Geldof has been at the forefront offamine relief and at theforefront of perhaps the single greatest "service" effort in global history. He was here ... on campus, and I leftbelieving not only that I'd met the former lead of the Boomtown Rats, but I'd been in the company, howeverbriefly, of a truly great man.There is an on-going commitment to service at RWU, and under the direction of KC Ferrara, thatcommitment continues to make an imprint upon the RWU community. Our students do good works, ourfaculty, staff, and administration contribute to a cadre of worthwhile causes, but our commitment to servicein the global community pales in comparison to the commitment shown by Mr. Geldof. I can still hear theintensity in Geldof's words when he uttered the phrase, "The idea that a person could be less than anotherwas implausible."Geldof brought passion and intensi ty to his words ... but many can likely do that. What differentiatedGeldof was a remarkable combination of personal attributes that very few, indeed remarkably few people trulyhave, and that was a combination of passion and intelligence. How many of us see terrible things before us,globally certainly, and sometimes even locally, and do little to nothing about it? I must confess that I certainlyhave seen my share of horrific things (if only from afar and if only on the television), but I certainly haven'tstepped up and done anything about them. That's why I'm no Bob Geldof, and I presume, many of us wholeft the lecture that evening surely felt the same way ... we're no Bob Geldof. Well, maybe it's time for some-body reading this to make a better effort toward being more like Mr. Geldof. He referred to his youth growingup in Ireland as an existence in a "culture of claustrophobia," and I wonder how many of us feel the same waywhen our creative energies feel tapped and our ability to engage ourselves fully into our surroundings and ourworld seems simply like too much effort, with too little reward.Aristotle believed that we humans have a sense of the just and the unjust. That sense, in part ethics,in part instinct, makes us a whole, or a "polis" ... a common understanding of people. Aristotle believed it,many of us still believe it and even talk about it, but Bob Geldof actually acted on his better instincts and hissense of justice. While Geldof's speech was peppered with several personal anecdotes, adding flavor to whatwas a very meaningful and passionate plea to everyone and anyone listening to commit themselves to some-thing bigger than themselves, one particular anecdote effectively and symbolically spoke of his commitmentto famine relief. One evening, sitting on the couch while watching a BBe news program, in which he vividlydescribed the scene of his wife on one side and his small daughter on the other, Geldof was overcome with aneed to address the human suffering depicted before him. "Enraged and ashamed" were the adjectives Geldof1Engvall: Not a single note was playedPublished by DOCS@RWU, 2007used to describe his emotions as he watched the television. Out of those feelings was born an idea and a desireto effect positive change. Geldof, perhaps as much as any single human being, acted on his better instincts,used his significant creative abilities, and quite literally got off of the couch and went out to make the world abetter place.Many of us see horrible things on the evening news, yet very few of us commit ourselves to makingthings better, as we are, after all, busy people. Geldof is a busy man, who seemingly couldn't stand the idlenessthat was engulfing him as his musical career was slowing down. While many celebrities spend significant time"reinventing" themselves, Geldof has devoted the better portion of his life to "reinventing" the world, and hehas committed himself to bettering the whole. Aristotle would have been proud. Geldof told us that ideas andleadership stemming from ideas are largely circumstantial, created by the circumstances of our lives. His owncircumstances in which he found himself concerned about how he was now going to make a living so paled incomparison to the images he viewed on the news that any self-pity he may have been harboring was set adriftin a new and profound sea of commitment to a cause much larger than his own.It might be naive of us to assume that that scene so vividly described by Geldof in itself sent him outinto the streets to gather his colleagues and begin a new life-long journey of learning and commitment, butsurely, his life experiences and prior beliefs in social justice and a need to alleviate human suffering were crys-tallized by that moment. If a journey of a thousand miles truly does begin with one step, then the momentBob Geldof got off of that couch and went out into the streets of London was a moment in which one stepwas taken on a journey of commitment and service that must surely humble even the most giving among us.As I sat in the audience that day, I was humbled by my own laziness, and my own commitment tomyself and my own interests in the face of tremendous human suffering. Geldof got off the couch, gatheredmany influential friends and began making music to raise money for famine relief. Beyond using his creativ-ity, he had to use his intellect to navigate some pretty treacherous political waters in order to get relief to thepeople who needed it and away from the various cartels bent on maximizing their power and influence withlittle to no regard to the suffering of others. One had to leave that lecture feeling as though Geldof combinedintellect, personality, determination, and commitment that made him not only the perfect leader of thishumanitarian effort, but perhaps the only person with that combination of abilities who could truly make aheroic effort as real and meaningful as it surely was symbolic. His discussion of some of the intricacies involv-ing various subsidies, tariffs, cartels, and his work with various world leaders to break up these cartels, and liftvarious tariffs, in order to get relief to where it needed to go spoke of his intellectual gifts and his ability tochannel his passion and commitment in a most positive manner.Would we get off our own couches and really do something to contribute to service beyond the sim-ple things expected of us? Would we truly do something more and go beyond whatever present level of servicewhere each of us resides? Perhaps we cannot all be Bob Geldof, and there is no doubt that his celebrity statusand his own powerful and vibrant personality garner attention that we perhaps cannot. Perhaps he has friendswith a bit more clout and his social circle is a bit broader than yours and mine. Still, we can all do somethingmore than we presently are, and perhaps Mr. Geldof's greatest gift to this university was in his very loud andpowerful message to commit ourselves to something greater than ourselves. That is, there should be no doubtwhat a university should be doing anyway, and we all should hope that Geldof's visit to our campus reinforcesa commitment to service and doubles and redoubles our collective and individual commitments to each other,and to our world.In our increasingly interdependent world, we have seen the terrifYing power ofindividuals to do great harm (Clinton, 2006, p. 50).Indeed, and particularly after September 11, 2001, we are all aware of the truth of former PresidentClinton's words. What Roger Williams University community members witnessed on October 24th was thegratifYing acknowledgment in person and on stage that individuals can also do great things. The RWU com-munity got the opportunity to meet a man who has truly done some very great things. The night a rock starcame to RWU was a night that many of us will remember for the rest of our lives, as many chords were struck,though not a single note was played.Clinton, W]. (2006, October 2). "How the new philanthropy works" in Time, 168(14): 50.Geldof, B. (2006, October 24). Civil Discourse Lecture Series, Roget Williams University,Bristol, Rhode Island.2Reason and Respect, Vol. 3 [2007], Iss. 1, Art. 10http://docs.rwu.edu/rr/vol3/iss1/10

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Not a single note was played

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