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NSHE Notes
by Chancellor Dan Klaich
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Children in Connecticut. Moviegoers in Colorado. Now worshipers in a sanctuary in South Carolina. Carnage wrought by intolerance, ignorance and hate.
Today, we pause with all decent people everywhere in disbelieving horror as we pray for the victims, families and friends of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church tragedy.
In Nevada's system of higher education we believe that wisdom banishes ignorance as surely as light chases the dark. We believe that knowledge opens hearts, minds and spirits to tolerance. Indeed as Helen Keller said, "The highest result of education is tolerance."
Speaking on the subject of tolerance, Nobel laureate and statesman Nelson Mandela taught, "No person is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
While he did not specifically say, I am sure Mandela charged us all to be teachers of tolerance and love. If we teach well, starting with everyone around us and all we touch, we can and will make this a better world - a world where we do not shudder at today's headlines.
These are the values we profess and pass along.
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