“Can you hear me? Can you hear me? You hear me? Okay. Congratulations class of 2015. You guys and girls, and young men and women are the reason I’m here. I’m really looking forward to talking with you all tonight. I thought about what you would want, I thought about what you might need. I also thought about what I want to say and what I need to say. Hopefully, we’re both going to be happy on both accounts. As the saying goes, take what you like, leave the rest. Thank you for having me.
“Number one, and this should come up on the jumbotron, life’s not easy. Is it up there. Life is not easy. It is not. Don’t try to make it that way. Life’s not fair. It never was, it isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the trap, the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not.”
“Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”
“Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave. Take the hill. But first answer that question. What’s my hill? I got to recalibrate. Checks and balances. I got to go to church, remember to say thank you more often or something.
“So first, we have to define success for ourselves. And then we have to put in the work to maintain it. Take that daily tally. Tend to our garden, keep the things that are important to us in good shape. I mean, let’s admit it. We’ve all got two wolves in us, a good one and a bad one, and they both want to eat. The best I can tell, we just got to feed that good one a little more than the other one.”
“Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”
“Defining ourselves by what we are not is the first step that leads us to really knowing who we are. You know that group of friends that you hang out with that really might not bring out the best in you? They gossip too much or they’re kind of shady. They really aren’t going to be there for you in a pinch. How about that bar that we keep going to that we always seem to have the worst hangover from?
“Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. It tastes sweet but you will get cavities tomorrow. Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave. Take the hill. But first answer that question. What’s my hill?”
