Dani Kusner
2008 Recipient of the Maureen E. O'Rourke Marianist Student Award
Acceptance Speech
Good evening everyone and thank you very much for gathering tonight in celebration of the Marianist family. Before I begin, I wish to acknowledge and thank my friend Gary; for those of you who know both Gary and I, you may agree that it is an honor for two such complimentary people to be receiving this award tonight—the Marianist family surely has nurtured and fostered each of our different ways of living our faith out…
It was one week ago tonight as I left our Thursday night Marianist Formation Group and I had been planning on going to the library to work on my undergraduate honors thesis. Over the past few months, some of my friends and mentors (many in this room tonight) are probably sicker of that 1 word, thesis, than I am. As I drove back to campus through a whirlwind of snowflakes along snow-crunched roads, I hit a mental wall: I could not go the library this night…there was too much on my mind. So I went home, heated up some water for tea, lit some incense and sat down to read all of the past speeches of the Lackner Award winners and O’Rourke Award winners.
In reading through all of these previous speeches, I was awed by the variety of gifts, reflections and lessons that others who’ve gone before me have gained from the Marianist Charism. That is my first point—to remember and thank all those who’ve gone before: members of the Society of Mary; Daughters of Mary; faculty, administrators and students who’ve been drawn into the Marianist spirituality and live it out, either intentionally or simply by the ways they teach, love and treat one another. It has only been by their example and their difference of gifts, reflections and lessons that we are here in this room and continue on in our understanding and growth of the Charism. A funny story about that word difference…a few weeks back, I was awoken in the middle of the night to a violent thunderstorm in February. As I lay on my back under the covers, wind and rain pounding my window, lightning glaring off the glass, trying to lull myself back into sleep, that word difference came to my heart…like god had placed it there…consider the power of difference: a high pressure weather system and low pressure weather system converge in a storm of beautiful awe, the difference of little pluses and minuses (those positive and negative charges that we learn from primary school) coming together in conflict to create the magnificence of lightening. There is so much energy fueling a thunderstorm and it is a power of difference. And God doesn’t talk to me in divine tongues, but that night God spoke to my heart that I needed to mention difference tonight in this speech. Within the Marianist spirituality, our communities are strong and vibrant because of the different gifts, reflections, and lessons that we each bring to one another. There is unity in our diversity. In our troubled world of polarized politics and religion, our Marianist family must remain a strong example to keep the dialogue open across difference. This is why we remember those who’ve gone before—who blazed the trails of solidifying our Marianist Mission despite a bounty of different persons and gifts. To me this is why we can gather here tonight, because I learn from our difference and these are humbling, growing lessons.
For as rewarding as it is to honor those who’ve gone before and recognize what I learn from difference, I think I might let Mo down if I don’t say some of my own words about what the Marianist spirituality means to me personally. So this is the tougher second point of my speech. The biggest lesson of my past four years has been one of self-love. Only until I accept and nurture this deep self-love rooted in a faith of an unconditionally loving Creator God may I ever be able to genuinely contribute back to my communities. The foundation of self-love continually fed by faith energizes me, despite my most tired days to pour that love into the broken places of our world. The Marianist family through its unconditional love of members of its communities has taught me to learn this love of self and then follow in their example of giving this love back as my gift to our God. Our personal families, friends, and communities need more love, more acceptance, more dialogue across difference and this is one of the Marianist family’s gifts to the world—in echoing the “Yes” of Mary and bearing the task of bringing Christ’s love into the brokenness.
Because you are all my family and because I wouldn’t be here without all of your unconditional love, we arrive at the fun part of the evening. I’d like to personally thank these special people for walking this life’s journey with me:
Mo, the Branches, and Brook Communities: for being my big kid friends who first taught me self-love.
Joan and AJ: for your wisdom of LOVE and dancing in the kitchen
Bro. Don Geiger, Bro. Ed. Zamierowski (not in attendance), Bro. Ray Fitz, Sheila Hughes, Chris Duncan and Dan Fouke: for challenging me to rework my idealist dreams into practical public policy proposals and research.
Jana: for grounding me and being my big sister
Erin: for helping me find my boat
Clare: for teaching me, “We don’t get through things. We grow through them.”
Jill: for believing in me that I could be a Truman scholar
Mary: for inspiring me to critically understand what intentionality means to the Marianist Charism.
Laura, Anne, Molly: for being the clouds in my sunset.
Ashley and Katie: for being new friends who welcomed me into your home…
And the two most people in the room tonight…my mother and father. Thank you mom and dad: I only ever want to make you proud. So much of what I am is a product of growing up under your influence, guidance and love for 18 years. I know that I have wandered far from your home since arriving at UD—all the way from Ohio to Tennessee to Malawi, Africa—but I hope you know that I always love you. As I am a part of your family, everyone in this room is apart of my family and I hope tonight has given you insight into this amazing blessing of the Marianist family.
My $500.00 will be going to Kampaign for Karonga, a series of awareness raising events and fund raising for the Marianist Mission and Women’s Empowerment micro-credit loan program in Karonga, Malawi, Africa. Kampaign for Karonga was initiated by Lisa Monnot and myself, in collaborative support from The Women’s Center, the SGA Marianist Involvement Committee and the AWE women’s advocacy group on campus. This money will be used to sustain Kampaign for Karonga as a yearly awareness raising event about our Marianist family and developmental projects around the world.
In closing, let us reflect upon the meaning of our Marianist Family in the words of our founder Father William Joseph Chaminade. He writes, “What is a Sodalitiy community? It is a society of fervent Christians…who endeavor by frequent gatherings to have but one heart and one soul, to form but one family…Let Christians form themselves in community and from their midst, they will shine forth as a sort of light which will make them the object of general attention. The individual will not necessarily stand out in these assemblies; it is the assemblies themselves which excite admiration.” (end quote) Therefore, let this night not be about us as individuals, but let us return to our family, friends, and communities with renewed spirit and deep love for the Marianist Charism. The most thanks and deepest peace to you all.