Commencement Quote

Here's a truncated transcript of the graduation talk given at the University of Southern California. I have to say, this may be the best graduation speech I've ever heard. Great three questions to ask of them - one would hope that a Good education would prepare them to answer them.


Steven B. Sample, president of the University of Southern California:

What I should like to do today is pose three questions. ...

The first of my questions is: How do you feel about money? Oh, I know, you like money, and so do I. But how do you really feel, deep down, about money? How important is money to you? And to what extent can making, accumulating, and spending money satisfy your deepest desires? ...

I have no particular ax to grind here. I am not suggesting that you should turn your back on money and material wealth—far from it. ... Remember, the question I am asking here is not how should you feel about money, but how do you feel about it, in fact. ...

The world is full of unhappy people who have never figured out how they really feel about money. There are multitudes of priests and teachers, artists and public servants, who, deep down, would be much more fulfilled by the pursuit of wealth, and who, in following that inclination, would probably make much more significant contributions to society. Similarly, there are many, many people caught up in profit-seeking jobs, where the principal reward and measure of success is money, but who would be much happier and more productive if they were engaged in more-altruistic occupations. ... If a person can discover early on how he feels about money, he will be able to address many of life's choices in a more definitive and satisfying way.

My second question ... is this: How do you feel about children, both those you will someday call your own, and those of your neighbors as well? Let me suggest that, before you conceive or beget children of your own, you ask yourself what commitments you are willing to make to your child and what sacrifices you are willing to make on his or her behalf. As you move into positions of authority and power, ask yourself to what extent the welfare of our children should affect the formulation of public policy and the allocation of public resources. Ask yourself to what extent you see yourself as a teacher and protector of the young. ...

My third question is the most difficult of the three, and by far the most personal and embarrassing. No, it has nothing to do with sex. Rather, the question is: How do you feel about God? ... The vast majority of people duck this question altogether. It is simply too scary or too overwhelming for them to address in any serious way. There are millions of people in this country who regularly attend religious services and yet haven't the foggiest idea of how they feel about God, or what kind of relationship they have with God, or what they expect of him, or what they believe he expects of them. And similarly, there are millions of agnostics who have concluded that questions pertaining to God are simply unanswerable or unimportant, and yet who find it impossible to fully suppress their concerns for the spiritual and transcendent aspects of their own existence. ... You may be able to run from your true feelings about God or non-God, but it is very difficult to hide from them in the long term. ...

I can't say that addressing these questions will make you any happier, in the conventional sense of that word, or protect you in some talismanic way from life's pain and disappointments. But I do believe that giving careful consideration to these three questions in the years ahead will prove beneficial to you. For in so doing you will learn a great deal about yourself. You may even come to like and accept yourself a little better. ... You will almost certainly gain a better understanding of the meaning of life, of your place in the universe, and of how you might live in productive peace and harmony with your fellow human beings. And that, after all, is what living well is all about.

Source: http://chronicle.com/article/On-CompromiseGreat/65979/