I remember that in the weeks and months after I left college I was struck by the notion that much of what my parents had been preaching to me and which, of course, I had been ignoring, turned out to be true. It was kind of humbling, and humility was not one of the virtues I wore easily.

In fact, what I most easily wore was a set of masks.

Until one day I must have left that mask at home because I did raise my hand and say, "I don’t get it." And guess what? Nobody laughed. A hole did not open in the floor and swallow me. In fact, several other people joined in and said, "We don’t get it either." Wow! What a relief.

And with each passing year I have been able to retire more and more of my masks as I discover that those fears I feel often are common to most people. It has been quite liberating to discover that I really don’t need masks. That truth and honesty are the best defenses for a quivering stomach.

That hard-earned document that you will pick up this afternoon marks an exciting beginning for you. There have been few times in our history when it has been more propitious to join the pay-for-work world. But it is also a time when the challenges of keeping the job, advancing in the job and enjoying the job have never been greater. And the person who keeps, advances and enjoys will be the one who works every day to learn more, who understands the need for and value of continuing education, who creates a positive environment in all aspects of his life, and who regularly and routinely takes responsibility for what happens to himself.

A great many of you will become print and broadcast journalists. All of you must become print and broadcast journalism consumers. And in each role nothing will be more important than the skill of critical thinking.

Journalists serve our democratic society by vigilantly protecting the people’s right to know. News consumers serve our democratic society by demanding that news be fair, balanced, in perspective and unfettered by special interests.

And it is not particularly easy for either of us.

The great philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: "Every person takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world."

It’s like the story of the six blind people feeling different parts of an elephant and being certain that their part describes the whole.

As trite as it is, truth or beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder.

And that is why critical thinking is so vital.

We had two relatively minor instances at the Post recently when editors and reporters turned off their crucial thinking buttons. The incidents are of no great moment but I hope illustrate how even the mundane must be carefully examined.

During Thanksgiving week, The Denver Post reported that 750,000 people would pass through Denver International Airport on the day before Thanksgiving -- the busiest travel day of the year. The story compared the crowd to that which would be at Chicago’s O’Hare Field, a mere 250,000 people.

Before the story was published I asked the city desk to make certain of their facts. After all, O’Hare is roughly twice as big as DIA. The story ran. It was wrong.

If the reporter, assistant city editor and copy editor had critically examined the issue, or done some basic math, they would have discovered that it would have taken 2,500 airplanes with 300 passengers each to achieve the level predicted.

Since on its busiest days it only handles 1,300 planes, and a quarter of them are freighters or small civilian planes, the math doesn’t really work. So cut it in half and say the rest of the visitors came in automobiles. That would require 90,000 cars each with a minimum of five passengers. Since parking would only handle about a tenth of that, that too wouldn’t work.

But without jumping through all of those hoops, it should have struck the reporter that since O’Hare is the world’s busiest airport and DIA isn’t even in the top 15, it couldn’t possibly have 500,000 more visitors in one day.

Two weeks later we almost ran a story that said 300,000 people would be in downtown Denver for the annual Parade of Lights. Since the state only has 3 and a half million people that means that one out of 10 Coloradans would be in downtown Denver for the parade. Not likely. Even more puzzling: Where would they park?

I said at the outset that these weren’t real crucial stories. But the lack of thought behind them is very serious. A great deal of it is accepting at face value what one is told. Journalists simply can’t do that. And when journalists screw up and don’t critically examine an issue it is up to those of us who are journalism consumers to say, "Wait a minute, guys, that’s goofy."

And these kinds of errors help explain why journalism and journalists continue to be held in fairly low regard. We must take responsibility for that. We have been guilty of excesses, sloppiness and laziness more often than we should. We too often mistake smart-alecky stories as wit. We too often do not think of the human consequences of our words and pictures. We do not often enough err on the side of caution.

And as consumers we too often think talk radio and supermarket tabloids represent journalism. We allow into our homes smarmy, tasteless exploitation without protest. We too often fail to use our ultimate weapon: lack of patronage.

It is time for you as journalists to take your constitutionally protected obligations more seriously. And it is time for us as consumers to say, "Enough!" to that which degrades and lessens human beings and our vital institutions.

We are at a critical juncture in our society. We can’t continue to blame "them" for our problems without recognizing and accepting that "we" are "them." We can’t continue to blame politicians for all the ills of society when we fail to vote. We can’t continue to let politicians merely represent political parties when they were elected to represent us. We are blessed to live in a representative democracy. It is our views that are to be voiced by our elected representatives. And when that doesn’t happen, we have the ultimate responsibility to vote them out of office and to put in those people who truly represent our views and interests.

And when we fail to register and to vote we give up the right to complain or to shape the debate.

Ronald Reagan, one of our most popular recent presidents, was elected by less than a third of the eligible voters. And turnout in congressional, state legislative and local elections is even more dismal.

After you get that new job, settle in your nifty apartment, find out where the cut-rate movies are, sign up at the aerobics class then go register to vote. And at every opportunity, vote.

Our voices cannot be heard if we do not talk.

And that’s one of the glories of journalism. We provide platforms for ideas, debate, controversy, probing and simple explanation. We are the megaphones and pamphlets. We provide serious, compelling information. And we also provide mirrors on our quirks and foibles, our mishaps and triumphs, our laughter and tears.

It is a heady responsibility for those of you who will pursue print and broadcast journalism, for as Justice Benjamin Cardozo wrote: "Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom."

Please accept our congratulations on the achievements that are being recognized at this celebration today. And a special congratulations to the parents and the husbands and wives who have helped get you here.

As you go forward today, I’d like you to ponder the words of the great American sports broadcaster, Red Barber, who said: "You can accomplish anything, if you don’t care who gets the credit."