Esteemed colleagues and dear students,
With the end of the year approaching, I would very much like to wish you a wonderful Christmas holiday in the company of your loved ones, and also good health and joy in the New Year. Given my medical profession, and due to the ongoing pandemic, I place particular emphasis on health.
We have had another challenging year, one in which we have all had to deal with a number of difficult situations – far from being solely due to the coronavirus. For the pandemic itself has exposed many more societal problems and uncovered human characteristics whose collisions have encroached upon the lives of all of us. Society is becoming polarised: people are getting into conflicts, even friends and acquaintances are turning away from each other. Negative attitudes and aggression are escalating, even towards those who have been doing their best to help others.
It is precisely at the time of Christmas and New Year’s reflections that each of us should pause for a moment and think about the situation we find ourselves in. This thought was inspired by the words of His Excellency, Mons. Jan Graubner during the Advent gathering at the Archbishop’s Palace in Olomouc, where I had the honour to be present. “What is good and what is evil is something everyone is deciding for themselves, since they have already elevated their own self to the place of an infallible god. And since logically there can only ever be one supreme being, all others become competitors. Then friends and associates are missing. Relationships are at stake. As love and trust form relationships, they also become scarce commodities. Without love, we lack happiness. Without trust, nothing works,” said Father Archbishop.
Let us put our trust in one another. Who else should put their trust in science and scientists than we at Palacký University? We, who take part in research and scientific discoveries – and also in developing leaders and other great experts. Let us trust one another, and with this trust and love we will build and maintain mutual relationships. Without them, we are nothing. All we have to do when looking back and evaluating the past year is to focus on this theme, and enter into the New Year with the determination to make a personal investment and contribute to making this one better than the last. This is something we can surely accomplish.
I would like to thank all of you for everything that you have done and do for Palacký University. For representing it successfully, for helping to maintain its good name, and strengthening its position and role in education, scientific research, and in society. I’m looking forward to seeing you in 2022.
Martin Procházka, UP Rector