I am not half as eloquent as some of the people I have posted below for your enjoyment and reflection. All I will say is this: I am proud to leave the world in your hands. Take care of it. Take care of yourself. Take care of someone else.
Thank you for allowing me to take part in your entry into adulthood. And as always, work hard, read every day and have fun. Keep in touch.
from The Huffington Post, 5/21/09
(Some of the) Ten Best Commencement Speeches
STEVE JOBS AT STANFORD JUNE 12, 2005.
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking....
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."
GEORGE C. MARSHALL AT HARVARD JUNE 5, 1947.
"Political passion and prejudice should have no part. With foresight, and a willingness on the part of our people to face up to the vast responsibility which history has clearly placed upon our country, the difficulties I have outlined can and will be overcome."
TONI MORRISON AT WELLESLEY COLLEGE MAY 28, 2004.
"Although you will never fully know or successfully manipulate the characters who surface or disrupt your plot, you can respect the ones who do by paying them close attention and doing them justice. The theme you choose may change or simply elude you, but being your own story means you can always choose the tone."
STEPHEN COLBERT AT KNOX COLLEGE JUNE 5, 2006.
Now will saying "yes" get you in trouble at times? Will saying "yes" lead you to doing some foolish things? Yes it will. But don't be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying "yes" begins things. Saying "yes" is how things grow. Saying "yes" leads to knowledge. "Yes" is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes."
RUSSELL BAKER AT CONNECTICUT COLLEGE MAY 27, 1995. "So I will not waste my breath today pleading with you not to go forth. Instead I limit myself to a simple plea: When you get out there in the world try not to make it any worse than it already is. I thought it might help to give you a list of the hundred most important things you can do to avoid making the world any worse. Since I'm shooting for 15 minutes, however, there is no time to give you all 100. You will have to make do with 10. Short as the public attention span is these days, nobody could remember 100 anyhow. Even 10 may be asking too much.
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE AT KENYON COLLEGE MAY 21, 2005.
And I submit that this is what the real, no bullshit value of your liberal arts education is supposed to be about: how to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone day in and day out. That may sound like hyperbole, or abstract nonsense. Let's get concrete. The plain fact is that you graduating seniors do not yet have any clue what "day in, day out" really means. There happen to be whole, large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration. The parents and older folks here will know all too well what I'm talking about.
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