SALEM — When a 15-year-old Deval Patrick mistakenly boarded a Chicago city bus without enough change to pay the fare, the driver didn't demand he get off.
He allowed Patrick to ride, but he made a simple request that has always stayed with the governor of Massachusetts.
"Pass it on, son," the driver said.
The "small gesture of grace" taught Patrick a powerful lesson in "generational responsibility," which he described yesterday during the commencement ceremony for Salem State University's School of Graduate Studies as "that old-fashioned idea that each of us in our time is supposed to do everything we can to leave things better for those who come behind us."
"We need you to make your life about more than just you," Patrick told the 380 graduates sitting before him in the Rockett Arena at the O'Keefe Athletic Center. "Earlier generations did no less for us, that's how we got Salem State and a whole host of other great public universities."
Patrick was the featured speaker during the first graduation Salem State has held since it became a university. The governor also received an honorary degree along with Elaine Marks, who helped found the university's master's degree program in social work, and Ralph Kaplan, owner of Kappy's Fine Wine and Liquors and a "consummate fundraiser" for charity and a supporter of local Jewish causes.
The graduates, who range in age from 23 to 67, received master's degrees in a variety of fields, including education, business and social work. Salem State University President Patricia Meservey said that only 10 percent of the country's adult population had advanced as far in their education as the graduates had.
The ceremony, she said, was the ending of one journey and the beginning of another.
"Please remember, education is the most powerful tonic man has ever created," Meservey said. "It is the tonic that can change a single life and, in turn, move the entire world in new ways. I challenge you to use your new knowledge, use your newly found position of power and share it with the world."
Patricia Hughes of Watertown gave the student address. A recipient of a master's in social work, she eloquently pondered the "gift of failing," explaining that it was her difficult choice to leave another university without graduating that led her to Salem.
"I would never have had this experience had my original plan succeeded," Hughes said. "It feels so true to me that we do not know how our lives will unfold, that our judgments about what is happening, as good or bad, as successes or failures, are often far more fluid and unknown than they may first appear."
Patrick said the concept of a "self-made man or woman" was a myth. Behind every graduate was a support system — parents, a teacher, a spouse or someone else — who made his or her accomplishment possible.
"As you take the opportunity that you received here to pursue your passion," Patrick said, "honor the people who have helped you achieve this milestone by passing it on."
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