Tributes (^255)
• Thank those who honored you.
• Acknowledge others who helped you.
• Personalize what it means to you.
• Express appreciation for the honor.
Thank you, Professor Choi, for those kind words, and thanks to the committee for
selecting me as the Outstanding Communication Arts graduate this year. Each mem-
ber of our honor society is such a high achiever that each one deserves recognition as
well. We’ve spent four years of “quality time” together... and I’ll never forget the great
times we had at the Northwest Communication Association meetings!
Of course, we all rely on the support of our dedicated faculty—and each professor
here is outstanding. You’re not only knowledgeable and wise, but you also take a
personal interest in the life of each of your advisees and majors. Thanks, too, to my
parents for their financial and emotional support through these past four years. I
appreciate you all.
Next year I will serve with AmeriCorps and study for the LSATs in preparation for
law school after that. Watch for me on social media!
Thank you once again.
Tributes
A tribute (called an encomium in Latin) praises the qualities of a person (the Basque artist,
Jorge Oteiza), thing (a dog), idea (love), organization (NASA), event (D-Day), or group
(members of a legendary sports team). Subjects may or may not be living. A tribute for
a living subject should focus on the person’s character and achievements; tributes to
historical characters should balance the subject’s virtues and accomplishments. In 1870,
lawyer George Graham Vest gave this tribute to dogs during a lawsuit over a foxhound
killed by a sheep farmer.^6Gentlemen of the Jury: The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him
and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may
prove ungrateful.... The money that a man has, he may lose.... The people who are
prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to
throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one
that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog.
A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness.
He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives
fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food
to offer.... He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all
other friends desert, he remains....If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,
the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him
against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and
death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground,
no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the graveside will the noble
dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness,
faithful and true even in death.Copyright 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
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