Commencement 2008

I like to do this every year as kind of a tribute to my school, but also as an inspiration to myself.  Commencement is one of those times you really feel like there is a golden opportunity right outside your door and over the years, that opportunity seems more and more tarnished.  To re-polish that shine and re-live that non-jaded-ness, I re-visit the commencement speeches and each has been as equally golden as the years before.  Last year, Steve Jobs spoke of finding what it is that you are passionate about.  This year, the speaker was the most famous of syndicated TV mavens, Oprah Winfrey.  Although her speech wasn't as powerful as Mr. Jobs', it was still effective.  Let's take a look at a few of her talking points.

"The world has so many lessons to teach you. I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school and our life the classrooms. And sometimes here in this Planet Earth school the lessons often come dressed up as detours or roadblocks. And sometimes as full-blown crises. And the secret I've learned to getting ahead is being open to the lessons, lessons from the grandest university of all, that is, the universe itself."

Oprah's opening remarks mostly concerned her goddaughter and graduating senior, but the heart of her speech is summarized in this statement.  Superficially, life is a series of lessons, but what I take away from this is that we are meant to be prepared for these lessons.  Not just prepared, but active in finding solutions for the "full-blown crises" that arise in our lives.  Specifically, Oprah proceeds to talk about three lessons she's learned in life:

"The three lessons that have had the greatest impact on my life have to do with feelings, with failure and with finding happiness."

Feelings.  This one is perhaps the most simple of all, but also the most difficult to deal with.  Her point in this lesson was that you shouldn't be afraid to let your emotions dictate your decisions.  Pointedly, doubt is what drove her to make many decisions, imploring each graduating student, "Even doubt means don't."  Of course, if every decision was this easy, we'd all be incredibly happy.  But why not follow our emotions? I tend to agree with her, in most senses, what we feel with our gut ultimately leads to the right decision the majority of the time.

Oprah continues:

"And what I've found is that difficulties come when you don't pay attention to life's whisper, because life always whispers to you first. And if you ignore the whisper, sooner or later you'll get a scream. Whatever you resist persists. But, if you ask the right question—not why is this happening, but what is this here to teach me?—it puts you in the place and space to get the lesson you need."

This passage is in reference to the difficulties that she has had starting her new all-girls' school in Africa.  Unfortunately, failures are a fact of life, for everyone. I've come to terms with this in my own way, but it doesn't make me less afraid.  Her statement that you must learn from your failures is key.  What does it teach us when we fail?  More importantly for me, what does one learn about one's self and one's goals?  Oprah herself has already established her own goals, but this has lead to much more than being a television personality:

"Be a part of something. Don't live for yourself alone. This is what I know for sure: In order to be truly happy, you must live along with and you have to stand for something larger than yourself. Because life is a reciprocal exchange. To move forward you have to give back. And to me, that is the greatest lesson of life. To be happy, you have to give something back."

This is especially significant, because the overall message of her speech is about service.  In essence, she claims that you can find yourself through service.  You can find your happiness, you can find your "greatness," and you can define your success.  She mentions a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, and this is only a portion,

"You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love." 

I believe this is a powerful message to the graduating class and perhaps even to those of us in search of something more.  Many of us are wide-eyed and looking for our potential.  Some of us have found it, but others are constantly searching, but utterly impotent in the fear that we do not have what it takes to succeed.  Oprah claims that none of this matters.  As long as we have the love and devotion not only for our craft, but for our world, we should be able to succeed at anything.

Again, I believe that the school has picked well in providing a wonderful parting note for all those who have passed through its halls.  For all the people who have achieved more than they could hope for, it is a confirmation, but for those still looking, it is a catalyst.  Here's to them!