2. Some of your worst days lie ahead. Graduation is a happy day. But my job is to tell you that if you are going to do anything worthwhile, you will face periods of grinding self-doubt and failure.
— Wheelan, 2012: 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You in The Wall Street Journal
Charles Wheelan provides an excellent perspective on what should be important in a commencement address.
I particularly like this warning about the danger of working only for rewards:
8. Don’t model your life after a circus animal. Performing animals do tricks because their trainers throw them peanuts or small fish for doing so. You should aspire to do better.
— Wheelan, 2012: 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You in The Wall Street Journal
And this point on conservation and the real meaning of being conservative:
3. Don’t make the world worse. I know that I’m supposed to tell you to aspire to great things. But I’m going to lower the bar here: Just don’t use your prodigious talents to mess things up. Too many smart people are doing that already.
— Wheelan, 2012: 10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won’t Tell You in The Wall Street Journal