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Commencement Addresses

With Every Good Wish (2014 Spring Commencement Ceremony Sunday Morning)

  • Date: 05/11/2014
  • Author: Dr. Luis M. Proenza (President, The University of Akron)
  • Location: E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall

  • Today you complete an important chapter of your life. Next month I shall also, as I complete my presidency here. And so, as we both contemplate our futures, allow me to offer you one final University of Akron lesson. This one is on me.

    Human nature, and perhaps the impermanence of individual life, causes us to focus on the ending of things, rather than on their beginnings. We assign a sense of finality to endings, while considering beginnings as merely temporary.

    But that thinking, it seems to me, is entirely backwards.

    Once a thing is begun, it cannot be un-begun. You cannot roll back time and prevent its occurrence. Therefore, beginnings are, in a sense, permanent. That’s what makes them so powerful. 

    Endings, on the other hand, are secondary to beginnings. For something to end, it first must have begun. And quite often, the endings that we thought were final turn out merely to be pauses. There is a very good reason the English language includes the word, “resume.”

    So are we celebrating a beginning or an ending today?

    Let us choose to look forward, and heed the words of the great German poet Goethe:

    “Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic to it. Begin it now.”

    So allow me to see you off on your next adventure with some words of advice, and some good wishes.

    Several years ago, Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, listed the advice she would give graduates, if she were ever asked to do.[i] That column became so popular, commencement speakers often use it themselves. Here is just one example why: Schmich wrote –

    “Wear sunscreen.  If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.  The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.” 

    The same holds true for many of the following items, a collection of original observations as well as some quotes that are just too good to pass up.

    • Travel.  And try to live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.  Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.[ii]
    • You are special – just like everyone else. Remember that your planet is not the center of the solar system; your solar system is not the center of the galaxy; your galaxy is not the center of the universe. And since astrophysicists assure us that the universe has no center…you cannot be it.[iii]
    • Get plenty of calcium and be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.[iv]
    • At this point in your lives, creativity burns at its most brilliant. Young people like you often find solutions to seemingly impossible problems. Why? Probably because you weren’t aware that the problem was impossible!
    • Just as eating nourishes the body, reading nourishes the mind. So go easy on the junk food, be it Twix or Tweets. You’re adults now: eat more vegetables…read more books.
    • A sense of humor is like a suit of armor. Combine it with a healthy sense of self-respect, and you will become happily immune to life’s little indignities.
    • A corollary to that is, ““Remember compliments you receive.  Forget the insults.  If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.”[v]
    • Few things in life will determine the extent of your success more than the degree and types of risk you are ready to assume, or your ability to mentally rebound from setbacks or adapt to change. That is because…and listen closely or you may greatly misunderstand my meaning . . . “shift happens.”
    • “Don’t expect anyone else to support you.  Maybe you have a trust fund.  Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse.  But you never know when either one might run out.”[vi]
    • And finally . . . remember if you don’t ask; if you don’t try, the answer is always, NO.

    For many years I have ended nearly all of my correspondence with the words: “With Every Good Wish.” And I can think of no better way for us to part this May morning.

    And so, as you head off for new beginnings, it is my good wish that you:

    • continuously broaden your minds by actively seeking out new experiences, exploring new ideas, and embracing new opportunities; that you
    • pursue new dreams as diligently and successfully as you have pursued dreams of graduation; that you
    • become comfortable with change and ambiguity, because they will be with you throughout your lives; that you
    • strive for ambitious goals, but also have patience with yourselves and with your progress; that you
    • discern what is knowledge and what is opinion in all matters, personal and public; that you
    • keep risk and anxiety in proper perspective, and that you face challenges with reason and calmness; that you
    • have fun, laugh often, and enjoy the incredible instruments that are your bodies; that you
    • Have the courage of your convictions, and confront ignorance and prejudice wherever you encounter them…especially within your own hearts; that you
    • Take the knowledge and experiences accumulated here, and use them as the foundation for long, productive and, most importantly, happy lives;
    • And finally, it is my good wish that on some distant day, you will reflect back on your careers and lives and say with gratitude and satisfaction: "I dreamed, I dared, I did!”

    On behalf of the Trustees, the faculty, the staff and administration, your fellow students, and The University of Akron family everywhere - I salute you, the Spring 2014 graduates, together with your family and friends who have helped make your success possible.

    Congratulations!

    [i] Mary Schmich, "Advice, Like Youth, Probably Just Wasted On the Young," Chicago Tribune, June 1, 1997, Titled based on the 1999 song by Baz Luhrmann, "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)," lyrics taken from Chicago Tribune column

    [ii] Schmich, Ibid.

    [iii] B. Brown. (June 5, 2012). The Swellesley Report. “Wellesley High grads told: ‘You’re not special.’” http://www.theswellesleyreport.com/2012/06/wellesley-high-grads-told-youre-not-special/

    [iv] Schmich, Ibid.

    [v] Schmich, Ibid.

    [vi] Schmich, Ibid.

  • Topic Category: Commencement Address
  • Tags: [advice, beginnings, endings, good wishes, mary schmich]
  • Filed in: Speeches,

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