Professor H. L. Bray
Personal
Lorna Jean Bray (1939-2023)
"Enjoy making the world a better place, in every possible way, no matter how small, as best you can."
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!