Torch bearers

Farmer told the assembled freshmen that they were in a place like Boston College in part due to an “accident of history. Think about it. Think about what this land mass looked like and who lived in it 300 years ago, 200 years ago, 100 years ago. I think that’s why I ended up, in addition to studying medicine, studying anthropology. It’s because I think it’s important to understand how the current social arrangements from which we benefit came to pass, came into being. The down side of this of course is if we’re the beneficiaries, who are those who are paying the price for our protected status? And I think that’s something each of you is going to have to answer for yourself.”

He added: “I encourage you to resist the temptation to not know the world, and resist the temptation to amnesia and forgetting, and resist the temptation to close off those who are less fortunate than we are.”