If you got asked to do a graduation speech, what would you say? I will never be distinguished enough to be asked, but every year at this time I allow myself to play this game. A graduation speech is no easy thing. In fact, there’s a lot of pressure – to be clever, to be funny, to be memorable… The main point of the speech is to give advice to scared and excited kids entering the Real World. The first thing I wonder is how helpful my advice, drawn from 30 years of experience, would be to new grads. They are entering the working world under totally different circumstances; company cultures and work itself are very different. I’d like to think there is some advice that stands the test of time and social change – but that’s the unimaginative, trite stuff. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams....see, can’t use that.
I also start off thinking, “What do I wish I had known when I was graduating?” But I can’t think of anything anybody would have told me that I would have listened to. I mean, years of parental advice and I still just had to learn things for myself. What could Obama say that would be life-altering in a twelve minute graduation speech that he hasn’t said in the past eight years? We’ll find out…Obama is speaking at Rutgers’ commencement this coming Sunday (thank God it’s not a weekday since I work in New Brunswick!).
Still, giving advice to others is rather irresistible. Here’s my top piece of advice – Be optimistic. Old people like me are depending on you to be optimistic because the world still has many problems and we need to fix them and we can’t do that without optimism. And pessimists are not fun to be with.
I also start off thinking, “What do I wish I had known when I was graduating?” But I can’t think of anything anybody would have told me that I would have listened to. I mean, years of parental advice and I still just had to learn things for myself. What could Obama say that would be life-altering in a twelve minute graduation speech that he hasn’t said in the past eight years? We’ll find out…Obama is speaking at Rutgers’ commencement this coming Sunday (thank God it’s not a weekday since I work in New Brunswick!).
Still, giving advice to others is rather irresistible. Here’s my top piece of advice – Be optimistic. Old people like me are depending on you to be optimistic because the world still has many problems and we need to fix them and we can’t do that without optimism. And pessimists are not fun to be with.