Tis the season for commencement speeches.
Do you remember how boring your commencement speech during high school was? I don't. I was too bored. Have no idea who gave it. I remember Sister Bonnie D. Parkin from the General Reflief Society President gave my college one in 2006. I remember that because she is fantastic. And my mom took notes that she gave to immediately afterwards. I have them somewhere.
Paul Hawken a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books gave the University of Portland Commencement Speech on May 3, 2009. A blogger that I receive RSS Feeds from for work recently blogged about it. I read the speech this morning. I was very enthralled and inspired. I'd like to share parts of it.
Do you remember how boring your commencement speech during high school was? I don't. I was too bored. Have no idea who gave it. I remember Sister Bonnie D. Parkin from the General Reflief Society President gave my college one in 2006. I remember that because she is fantastic. And my mom took notes that she gave to immediately afterwards. I have them somewhere.
Paul Hawken a renowned entrepreneur, visionary environmental activist, and author of many books gave the University of Portland Commencement Speech on May 3, 2009. A blogger that I receive RSS Feeds from for work recently blogged about it. I read the speech this morning. I was very enthralled and inspired. I'd like to share parts of it.
"Literally you are breathing molecules this very second that were inhaled by Moses, Mother Teresa, and Bono (must interject here: bono? really? in the same sentence as as moses and mother teresa? Love it.). We are vastly interconnected. Our fates are inseparable. We are here because the dream of every cell is to become two cells. And dreams come true.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course. The world would create new religions overnight. We would be ecstatic, delirious, made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night and we watch television.This extraordinary time when we are globally aware of each other and the multiple dangers that threaten civilization has never happened, not in a thousand years, not in ten thousand years. Each of us is as complex and beautiful as all the stars in the universe. We have done great things and we have gone way off course in terms of honoring creation.
You are graduating to the most amazing, stupefying challenge ever bequested to any generation. The generations before you failed. They didn’t stay up all night. They got distracted and lost sight of the fact that life is a miracle every moment of your existence. Nature beckons you to be on her side. You couldn’t ask for a better boss. The most unrealistic person in the world is the cynic, not the dreamer. Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful. This is your century. Take it and run as if your life depends on it."
I loved how he inspires this call to action. I'm by no means a hardcore enviornmental activist, but I think it is our duty to take care of our earth and all that is in it. I do think the world, not just the enviornment, does need help. I think it's the best of times and it is the worst of times. And I think we have the power to change this.
Last night I participated in a focus group sponsored by the the General Reflief Society Board. Ten single females from Chicago between the ages of 18-25 were asked to participate. It was such a good experience. The focus was Setting Goals. We discussed what motivates us to make goals, how we should be focusing our goals at this time in our lives. The thing I took away most from it was something my friend, Gretchen, said, (this may or may not be verbatim) "We have the power to change the world and I don't think that is stressed enough in our culture. Instead of being told that a woman's role is to grow up, get married and have babies, let's teach them that they have the power to change the world for good."
I thought about this statement. No doubt the most important role that a woman can have in all of time and eternity is raising a good, solid, happy family. Because it's through this role, she influences generations. But, this is just one of the ways. We have other roles too. As visiting teachers, in our jobs, as friends, as a sibling, as a daughter, in our community, as neighbors, as citizens. I think we need to remember these roles. And as we are teaching children and others, remember to place emphasis on all roles, to make goals and plan our lives around them. To reach out to people outside of our circle of family and church. If we really want to make a difference, we need to step out of comfort zones and teach children and others to do the same. I think it's this way that we will individualy and collectively change and influence the world for better.
Those are my many thoughts. Thanks for reading.
Last night I participated in a focus group sponsored by the the General Reflief Society Board. Ten single females from Chicago between the ages of 18-25 were asked to participate. It was such a good experience. The focus was Setting Goals. We discussed what motivates us to make goals, how we should be focusing our goals at this time in our lives. The thing I took away most from it was something my friend, Gretchen, said, (this may or may not be verbatim) "We have the power to change the world and I don't think that is stressed enough in our culture. Instead of being told that a woman's role is to grow up, get married and have babies, let's teach them that they have the power to change the world for good."
I thought about this statement. No doubt the most important role that a woman can have in all of time and eternity is raising a good, solid, happy family. Because it's through this role, she influences generations. But, this is just one of the ways. We have other roles too. As visiting teachers, in our jobs, as friends, as a sibling, as a daughter, in our community, as neighbors, as citizens. I think we need to remember these roles. And as we are teaching children and others, remember to place emphasis on all roles, to make goals and plan our lives around them. To reach out to people outside of our circle of family and church. If we really want to make a difference, we need to step out of comfort zones and teach children and others to do the same. I think it's this way that we will individualy and collectively change and influence the world for better.
Those are my many thoughts. Thanks for reading.
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