by. Jason Burkett (US Army veteran and M.A. in Peace & Justice student) I joined the Army twice. The first time (1989-1996), I was a junior in high school, the summer before my senior year. My dad was a truck driver, my mom was a teacher, and we didn’t have much money. I knew my parents couldn’t afford to send both my sister and me to college, and back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was all anyone talked about: college, college, college. My dad had served in Vietnam. My

My guiding motto is simple yet life-giving: “There is no peace that can be brought to earth through the barrel of a gun, but only by sitting around the table, deepening our understanding of the ‘other,’ pulling down the walls that divide us, and building bridges that connect us.” True peace can never be won through fighting, but only through dialogue, compassion, understanding, and reconciliation.

These words, penned by Kat Armas in her opening “Liturgy for Resisting Empire,” echo the beauty of what I have found to be true, first as an SSU student and, in an ongoing way, as a member of the alumni community.

I want to congratulate you all, every single one of you, students and friends, spouses, alumni, teachers, administrators, children, parents, all of you. Everyone. Congratulations to all of you who are graduating on the hard work and the met deadlines and the missed deadlines, and the anguish and the joy and the, “What am I doing this for?” And the, “I’m not good enough,” and, “What do I do with it now?” And, “What comes next?”