(1) Graduation speeches are a bit likewedding toasts. A few are memorable. The rest tend to trigger such thoughts as,"Why did I wear such uncomfortable shoes?"
(2) But graduation speeches are lessabout the message than the messenger. Every year a few colleges anduniversities in the US attract attention because they've managed to bookhigh-profile speakers. And, every year, the media report some of thesespeakers' wise remarks.
(3) Last month, the following words ofwisdom were spread:
(4) "You really haven't completedthe circle of success unless you can help somebody else move forward."(Oprah Winfrey, Duke University).
(5) "There is no way to stopchange; change will come. Go out and give us a future worthy of the world weall wish to create together." (Hillary Clinton, New York University).
(6) "This really is your moment.History is yours to bend." (Joe Biden, Wake Forest University).
(7) Of course, the real "get"of the graduation season was first lady Michelle Obama's appearance at theUniversity of California, Merced. "Remember that you are blessed,"she told the class of 2009, "Remember that in exchange for thoseblessings, you must give something back... As advocate and activist MarianWright Edelman says, 'Service is the rent we pay for living ... it is the truemeasure, the only measure of success'."
(8) Calls to service have a long, richtradition in these speeches. However, it is possible for a graduation speech togo beyond cliché and say something truly compelling. The late writer DavidFoster Wallace's 2005 graduation speech at Kenyon College in Ohio talked abouthow to truly care about other people. It gained something of a cult after itwas widely circulated on the Internet. Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs' addressat Stanford University that year, in which he talked about death, is alsoconsidered one of the best in recent memory.
(9) But when you're sitting in the hotsun, fidgety and freaked out, do you really want to be lectured about the bigstuff? Isn't that like trying tomaintain a smile at your wedding reception while some relative gives a toastthat amounts to "marriage is hard work"? You know he's right; youjust don't want to think about it at that particular moment. In fact, as is thecase in many major life moments, you can't really manage to think beyond theblisters your new shoes are causing.
(10) That may seem anticlimactic. But italso gets to the heart of one of life's greatest, saddest truths: that our most"memorable" occasions may elicit the fewest memories. It's probablynot something most graduation speakers would say, but it's one of the firstlessons of growing up.
