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If you went to university – and you made it to graduation – chances are you had a graduation ceremony. If not, here’s the graduation 101: you get a musty, black cape that won’t go superhero no matter how you ride it, and a tight-ass hat that funnels your face into unfounded shapes that will garnish your parents’ living room walls forever, no matter how you balance it. And then there’s the actual graduation bit, which involves so much sitting that the boredom almost outweighs the intense fear of going on stage in front of hundreds of people, and possibly tripping over on stage in front of hundreds of people.
To ease the eternal pain of sitting in a musty cloak in between two strangers who happen to share the same first two letters of your surname, universities try their hardest to get inspirational speakers on stage to fluff your synapses. And one that certainly didn’t fail this summer was Syracuse University, in the US state of New York.
Syracuse bagged best-selling author George Saunders, who gave the speech you’ll wish you had at your graduation. In his speech he bigged up kindness, especially in the face of inherent human selfishness; backed up with some sweet stories about a girl named Ellen, and some monkey poo.
In case you’re not in the Syracuse Class of 2013, here it is, courtesy of The New York Times. And here are a couple of the best bits.
So here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny, and I don’t quite know what to do with it:
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.
Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me, suffering, and I responded…sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly.
Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in your life, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings of warmth?
Those who were kindest to you, I bet.
It’s a little facile, maybe, and certainly hard to implement, but I’d say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than: Try to be kinder.
…..
So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up. Speed it along. Start right now. There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf – seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.
Do all the other things, the ambitious things – travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness. Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial. That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality – your soul, if you will – is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. Bright as Shakespeare’s, bright as Gandhi’s, bright as Mother Theresa’s. Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.
And someday, in 80 years, when you’re 100, and I’m 134, and we’re both so kind and loving we’re nearly unbearable, drop me a line, let me know how your life has been. I hope you will say: It has been so wonderful.
Congratulations, Class of 2013.
For the full speech, head to The New York Times. And in the meantime, hurry up and graduate from the school of unbearable kindness, you gorgeous, global Class of 2013.
Inspired? Search and give to kindness causes now.
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Filed under: Culture, Kindness, Mind Image may be NSFW.
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