You Are Not All That Special....

Having highlighted one college commencement address in an earlier post and since it is that time of year, I found a high school commencement address that I believe should be broadcast to everyone!


Sometimes, we just need to be reminded that we just are not all that special! 

"David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at the school, delivered his rather unusual speech (see full text below) Friday, telling graduating seniors that they had been “pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped.” It was all said in the context of telling students that there is a big wide world out there and that they should not succumb to a culture in which everyone gets a trophy. McCullough, son of the award-winning historian David McCullough Sr., advised the students to seize the future by doing what they love, rather than taking a job for money. “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you,” he said near the end of the speech. But he wasn’t exactly kind in getting to his message. “Contrary to what your soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special,” he said."

You can read the address here in its entirety.

Life is not about what you have done but rather what you are doing.  Like the earlier commencement address, its about the world rather than about you.  Maybe what we need to do is focus less on self help books, or books that will improve you or make you successful but rather we need to focus on educating ourselves of others; other countries, other cultures, other people....

Maybe, just maybe, you are not all that special, maybe, just maybe, you might be wrong....

But if so, you have a lifetime to explore, to test, to challenge, and to move forward.....