Ilona's late night lecture about why not to cry in a corner
"Why crying in a corner is useless:
Delivering the 2006 Class Day lecture, Coit D. Blacker, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, presented graduating seniors with a roadmap of how to lead their post-Stanford lives.
"If you remember nothing else of what I've said today—and believe me, you're not going to remember much—please register and store the following for future reference," he told students and their families, who sat beneath a huge white tent June 17 on Angell Field. "Be useful. Be humble. Act honorably. And give of yourself until it hurts."
The Class of 2006 invited Blacker to give this year's commemorative "last class lecture," which is coordinated by the Stanford Alumni Association. In his welcoming speech, Howard Wolf, vice president for alumni affairs, encouraged students to join the association, which has more than 190,000 members around the world.
Blacker, 56, is co-chair of the university's International Initiative, which he described as a "multi-year effort to invigorate and extend Stanford's excellence in international studies." An expert on Soviet security policy, Blacker is the Olivier Nomellini Family University Fellow in Undergraduate Education and professor, by courtesy, of political science. During President Clinton's first administration, Blacker served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and as senior director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs at the National Security Council.
Blacker told the audience that he decided to focus his speech on four concepts—utility, humility, honor and service—because he wished someone had addressed these when he graduated from college.
Concerning utility, Blacker pointed to the university's origins and to its Founding Grant, which declared that the primary object of a Stanford education should be "to qualify students for personal success, and direct usefulness in life." In so doing, Blacker said, Leland and Jane Stanford wanted something different from the elite Ivy League colleges. They sought to create "an institution of higher learning decidedly more accessible, more inclusive and more 'practical' than was typical for the time," he said.
As a result, the new university welcomed women as well as men, and sought to train students in the professions. With its deliberate emphasis on practicality as well as erudition, Blacker said, Stanford can be regarded as the first American university. "My advice to you is to embrace this tradition; let it guide you in everything you do," he said. "Understand, accept and revel in the fact that you are, indeed, products of 'the first American university.'"
Blacker also urged students to approach the future with humility. "The older I get, the more conscious I am of the fact that I am the elaborate construction of others," he said. Although many find self-confidence—not to be confused with arrogance—an attractive personality trait, he said, one's ability to navigate life successfully is the consequence of investments made in us by others. "There is no such thing as a self-made man or a self-made woman," he said. "Take my advice: Learn this lesson now, lock it in place, and never forget it."
Blacker exhorted students to make the most of life but to live it in an honorable way. "In everything you undertake, do your utmost to conduct yourself honorably—not so that others will think well of you, but because it's the right thing to do," he said. "Trust me on this one: There is no way to live a morally satisfying life without a moral compass. Let honor be that compass."
Finally, he encouraged students to stretch themselves when pursuing public service. "I urge you to pick [an activity] that will test you to your very core," he said. "Pick one that at some level gives you the 'heebie-jeebies'—one that at first blush makes you want to bend over and throw up on your shoes."
Blacker explained that his most rewarding experiences have come from times he pushed himself beyond his comfort zone. For example, when he went to work for Clinton, he realized he didn't know what a special assistant actually did. "I had this image in my head of walking in to brief the president for the first time and suddenly losing consciousness or uttering complete nonsense, or opening my mouth and nothing coming out, or tripping on the carpet and splitting my head open on the corner of his desk," he told the audience. "I'm not making this up." Blacker reported that his work at the National Security Council did not kill him, although there were times "when I wished it would." Overall, he said, the experience made him stronger and changed his life—for the better.
"The lesson is a simple one," Blacker said. "However you choose to serve, make sure it demands more of you than you believe you are capable of giving. Because only by moving beyond our comfort zones can we access that part of us that we didn't even know existed. And it is through this process—and only through this process, as painful and disorienting as it is—that we grow, that we mature, and that we contribute to the very best of our ability."
The fact that crying in a corner doesn't help with any useful problems in the world, while writing you character would actually happinize someone and help the process of this highly valuable rpg. We are very dissapointed in you." ~ Ilonamazing
Er zijn nog geen reacties.