Grads get advice — and inspiration
Edwin M. Lee,
mayor of San Francisco, at San Francisco State University: “It’s up to you and you alone to decide what you’re going to do with this education and with this opportunity and not to waste it. But don’t ever be afraid to ask for help. . . . And along the way to your success, don’t lose yourself and your values amidst the distractions and challenges of life. Don’t forget where you came from amidst the successes you may achieve. Look to your own communities and ask yourself, ‘How can I give back? How can I use my education to add to the valuable work that is going on all around me in my neighborhood or in my city?’ Because if there’s one thing I see in this new economy that is emerging, . . . it’s that success does not come from going it alone. Success comes from collaboration, from interaction, from bringing diverse backgrounds and skills towards a common vision and goal.”
Eric Schmidt,
Google chairman, at Boston University: “I believe fully in the power of technology to change the world for the better. And I believe even more fully in the ability of your generation to use that power to great effect — to rule technology. But you can’t let technology rule you. . . . Take your eyes off the screen, and look into the eyes of the person you love. Have a conversation — a real conversation — with the friends who make you think, with the family who makes you laugh. . . . Life is not lived in the glow of a monitor. Life is not a series of status updates. Life is not about your friend count. It’s about the friends you can count on. Life is about who you love, how you live. It’s about who you travel through the world with. Your family, your collaborators, your friends.”
Rick Stengel,
Time managing editor, at Butler University: “Information is everywhere, and it’s largely free. Knowledge is scarce and valuable, and you might just have to pay for it. The cliché is that information wants to be free. Information doesn’t want to be free; people want free information. And we’ve trained people to expect free information. But, you know, you get what you pay for. A comment on a blog is free. But you will have to pay for the insight of a Joe Klein or a Fareed Zakaria, for there is a deep investment that has been made in their experience, their talent, their contacts, their perspective.”
President Obama,
at Barnard College: “Every day you receive a steady stream of sensationalism and scandal and stories with a message that suggests change isn’t possible; that you can’t make a difference; that you won’t be able to close that gap between life as it is and life as you want it to be. My job today is to tell you don’t believe it. Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher. I’ve seen your passion, and I’ve seen your service. I’ve seen you engage, and I’ve seen you turn out in record numbers. . . . I’ve seen a generation eager ... to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course. And that defiant, can-do spirit is what runs through the veins of American history. It’s the lifeblood of all our progress. And it is that spirit which we need your generation to embrace and rekindle right now.”
Jamaica Kincaid,
novelist, at Grinnell College: “You must bite the hand that feeds you. Yes, you are instructed to do the opposite. The instruction is, as I say, ‘You must not bite the hand that feeds you.’ And that is said to you with severity and reverence, and to do the opposite is among the unspoken commandments. Certainly among one of the famous 10, this idea is delicately secreted. ‘Honor your immediate progenitors.’ But it seems to me that you must bite that hand, for how else will you know who you are, who you truly are?”