"It's your world now."

That was the final statement of one of the first graduates of Wilson Community College as he addressed the WCC Class of 2008 Friday evening at Fike High School.

The auditorium was packed with wives, husbands, siblings and proud parents as 265 Wilson Community College graduates representing 283 degrees and diplomas walked across the stage to receive hard-earned diplomas.

Marvin Ray Joyner, who along with 19 other graduates, made that same walk on May 28, 1962. And he kept walking across stages to pick up his bachelor's, master's and finally his doctoral degree.

Joyner was the one who told the graduates it was their world now, taking a line from his favorite band: the Eagles.

After graduating, Joyner was former vice president of instruction, dean of development and administrative assistant to the president of Wilson Community College, president of Central Carolina Community College and interim president of Nash Community College.

Joyner said his commencement at Wilson Community College was his most important.

"It was the graduation that opened all the other doors for me," he said.

"I always experienced feelings of renewal and reaffirmation of the worth of my labor as I observe the happiness, pride, optimism and the season of accomplishment on the faces of graduates," he said. "Graduation always leaves me with feelings of hope -- hope that the world can be a better place than it has become -- hope that in a very real sense now rests in your hands."

Commencements are significant not only for the graduates, Joyner said, but for the community as a whole. It is a tribute to the "American ideal of equal opportunity," to the citizens who support the college with taxes, and the people who have helped them along the way.

Joyner said it seems education has at least two basic purposes: one personal and one social. He quoted Plato to emphasize the individual, saying "one should be turned about by his or her education, to see the good, the true and the beautiful, to become better human beings, to stop chasing shadows and echoes."

One of the changes education will bring is an increase in the graduate's ability to have a positive influence on society, Joyner said.

Joyner used examples from corporate scandals defrauding investors and destroying the pension plans of trusting employees, rap music that advocates rape, TV and movies glorifying violence and sexual promiscuity and abuse of public office, as a testimony that we are becoming a morally bankrupt society.

"I am afraid that the philosopher, Lin Youtang was correct in his observation that 'We have become afraid of simple words like goodness and kindness. We don't believe in good old values any more and that is why the world is sick,'" Joyner said.

Values are now more like merchandise: convenient, lightweight and disposable, he said.

The consequences are obvious with one out of two marriages ending in divorce; suicides at an all time high, especially among youth; homicide is the number one killer of young blacks followed by AIDS, Joyner said.

"Obviously, this moral decay and pursuit of false "good" denies Americans the very joy, peace and happiness we are desperately seeking; and it is severely damaging us as a nation," he said.

Joyner said he hoped the graduates would seek good, truth, justice, mercy, kindness, courage and integrity.

Borrowing a quote from German psychologist Carl Menninger, Joyner said, "The fundamental purpose of life is to dilute the misery of mankind."

Those graduating Friday night have an excellent opportunity to do that, Joyner said.

He challenged them to use their training to make the world a better place.

Although there is no magic formula to success, Joyner said there were several characteristics common to all who succeed. One of the most important is that successful people accept responsibility for their own destiny, he said.

Another characteristic is enthusiasm, believing in one's job and viewing work as a celebration of life rather than simply working for a living, he said.

A third factor is a sense of pride that causes one to strive for excellence.

And the last characteristic is plain, old hard work, Joyner said.

"If education has a single goal, it is to teach people how to ask questions and go about getting answers," Joyner said. "It is not enough to look straight ahead and never look around. It is not enough to breathe a sigh of relief and figure that your learning days are over. The wise person is one who never stops learning. Learn well. We are depending on you."

eddie@wilsontimes.com | 265-7820