DOHNANYI DINNER ADDRESS

May 14, 2001

Maestro Dohnanyi, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen… Good evening!

It is a distinct honor and a pleasure for me to be asked to address you all this evening for a brief moment before the meal begins. Let me start by telling you that I am a veterinarian. I have been in practice in Cleveland for the past 50 years. I am also a secular Humanist Minister, professionally involved for 39 years.

When I was called by the Cleveland Orchestra and asked to "give the blessing" at this function I taken by surprise. Why me? We secular Humanists are naturally skeptical about the effectiveness of "blessing" anything!

A few days later the Anti Defamation League called me and said it was OK not to worry. I did not have to "bless" anything. All they wanted me to do was give the invocation. Invocation? Imagine asking an unbeliever to say "Grace!" I do not claim to have any "connections!"

I must say everyone was kind and considerate with my so-called spiritual "shortcomings." We finally agreed that I should make some "opening remarks." "Words to live by." That sort of thing is more in my line of speaking.

Let's start in the second century BCE with an African ex slave called Terence who became a famous Roman author. He said, "I am a man: nothing human is alien (foreign) to me. ["Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto"] (*1)

One of my favorite quotations about religion comes from Benjamin Disraeli, who lived in the 19th century. The famous British Prime Minister was a convert from Judaism to Christianity at the age of thirteen. In response to the question of his religious beliefs he quipped: "All sensible men have the same religion, and sensible men never tell!" (*2)

Recently I had the privilege to spend an hour with Maestro Dohnanyi. I did not put the Disraeli question to him but talked to him about his personal philosophy. This was a rare treat. I found him to be a truly great individual, full of ideas, with a profound depth of character and a large store of natural wisdom. In a brief span we discussed, Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Dostoyevsky, Thomas Mann, Columbus, Voltaire, Oswald Spengler and Bertrand Russell, plus Weber and Mozart and Verdi to name just a few of the highlights.

When I told him one of my favorite quotations of Thomas Paine, who said, in The Rights of Man, 200 years ago: "Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are without regard to place or person. The world is my country and to do good is my religion." (*3) The Maestro shook his head.

"Beautiful words," he pondered, "but they will never come to pass!" He went on to explain how he saw the world's greatest problem as being "mankind's inability to get beyond the mere tolerance of national differences. We must reach the level of genuine friendship between totally different belief systems. We must find a way to build a human bridge and unite in the common bond of Humanity which we all share."

He put me in mind of the words of Bertrand Russell in 1954, after the first hydrogen bomb: "Remember your Humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new paradise; if you cannot, nothing lies before you but universal death." (*4)

I want to conclude by taking you back to a meeting which actually took place in October 1883 in Lincoln Hall, the largest meeting place in Washington DC. It was packed with people of many races to protest the recent nullifying by the Supreme Court of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The speeches make excellent reading to this very day. The Hon. Frederick Douglass, the two time runaway slave and famous Abolitionist spoke first. (*5) He gave an impassioned delivery and then he called on the next speaker.

It was Robert Ingersoll, the famous Agnostic, who was considered to be the finest orator of the 19th century. (*6) Douglass introduced Ingersoll with the following poem by Leigh Hunt (*7)and I wanted to share it with you:

Abou ben Adhem:…

Abou ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing on a book of gold:
Exceeding peace had made ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still: and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The Angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name lead all the rest!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is now time for me to say something about the food before we eat. Let me ask each of you, in your own way, to give thanks for the food and drink we are about to enjoy and to be truly grateful for the wonderful fellowship in which we share.

Thank you all, it is an honor to be here.

References
1. Terence; (185-159 BCE) Heuton Timoroumenos Act 1, Sc. 1, Line 25.
2. Disraeli, Benjamin (1804-1881) Endymion, (1880) Chap. LXXXI
3. Paine, Thomas (1737-1809) Rights of Man, Part 2, Chap 5
4. Russell, Bertrand (1872-1970) Quoted from obituary, London Times, Feb 4, 1970
5. Douglass, Frederick (c1817-1895) Autobiographies "The Supreme Court Decision" P966-980
6. Ingersoll, Robert G. (1833-1899) Works Vol. 11 "Civil Rights." P1-52
7. Hunt, Leigh (1784-1859) The Poetical Works. 1923 P93