POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE AND A SPEECH 

May 10, 2006  

Once again the season of commencement speeches is upon us. All the important people are in demand. The President, members of his cabinet, senators, representatives, and celebrities are fanning out across the country to colleges and universities, big and small, to congratulate and inspire the nation’s graduates. Similar events with lesser-known dignitaries will take place at thousands of high schools across the land.

Commencement speakers do not lack topics they can draw on to address today’s young men and women. The nation is at war. Terrorism, rising oil prices, increasingly devastating natural disasters, and the threat of pandemic disease, not to mention finding the right job, are challenges new graduates must deal with. Unfortunately, graduates have a lot of other things on their minds as they prepare to set out on their life’s course, and they don’t always pay close attention to or long remember what commencement speakers say.

No one has invited me to give a commencement speech this year, but I’ve given some thought to what I might say to the class of 2006 if I had the opportunity. After thanking the head of the educational institution for inviting me to speak and attempting to impress the assembly with borrowed humor, I think my speech would go something like this.

Every commencement speaker has two goals. The first goal is to use up thirty minutes or so of the commencement program. The second goal is to attempt to impart some bits of wisdom the graduates might appreciate and remember. By just being here I will accomplish the first. You must judge if I accomplish the second.

The wisdom I wish to share with you today can be summarized in six words, common sense, good instincts, consistency, and loyalty.

Common sense, most of us learn as children from our mothers. I doubt that there is a common sense gene, although the way researchers are going, they will probably discover one. Nevertheless, by this point in your life, you either have common sense or you don't. Creative people seem to have less of it than others. But the more creative talent you have, the more it appears people are willing to overlook your lack of common sense. It’s almost as if you are expected not to have any.

Still, I’m not aware of a reliable guide to who is more likely to have common sense and who is less likely to have it. If you possess the gift of common sense, you are most fortunate. If you are among the common sense challenged, however, my advice is that you marry someone who has it, because without it, or a spouse who has it to guide you, you are destined to spend much of your life getting into trouble. You will be easy prey for unscrupulous sales people. You will make many decisions you will later regret. And I’m willing to bet that if a valid scientific study were conducted, you would find that people with common sense live longer than people without it.

If you do not have common sense, or don’t marry someone who does, all is not lost. You can compensate for the lack of it if you develop good instincts. Basic instincts, our animal instincts, are hard wired in our brains. Others are learned. They are a cousin to common sense, but are acquired later in life, the result of experience, of trial and error. People without common sense can develop good instincts, although it may take a bit longer. We develop them as we become proficient at our chosen professions. The doctor, the lawyer, the truck driver, the policeman, the soldier, the politician rely on them to help them make the right choices. And it is the choices we make that define us.

Increasingly, as you gain experience, if you trust your better instincts you more easily confront new and different challenges with greater self-confidence because your inner voice helps you make decisions about probabilities and consequences that are not easily rationalized.  But you have to learn to trust your instincts. Making judgments based on them often involves risk, and many people are too risk averse. But trust me. Ten or twenty years from now it is your instincts and how you use them more than anything else that will determine how successful you are at whatever you do. Trust your better instincts. Rely on them, and be consistent.

Consistency is a little harder to define. I’m not talking about showing up for work on time every day, or ordering the same drink every time you’re out with friends. I’m talking about consistency of belief and consistency of action. If you’re a conservative, be a conservative and act like a conservative. If you’re a liberal, be a liberal and act like a liberal. That doesn’t mean you have to be on either extreme. While civil discourse is increasingly rare these days in our society, you should not let that deter you from practicing it. You should not be afraid to let people know what you believe and act consistent with those beliefs. People will judge you in any event, often on less than complete information.

Only you will always know if you’re being consistent in your actions. It's not easy to be consistent. It takes work. Time and time again the pressure of the situation, those around you, will make it difficult. Failure to be consistent over time, however, will take its toll. Some people think that inconsistency is a symptom of a lack of moral courage. Frequently it is. Just as often it is the path to the loss of moral courage.

Finally, above all, be loyal. Be loyal to yourself and those you love, and be loyal to what you believe in. You can lack common sense, you can ignore your instincts and be inconsistent from time to time. True happiness, however, only comes to those who believe in someone or something enough that they give much of themselves to the object of that belief. Like being consistent, remaining loyal also can be very difficult. The people and things you are loyal to do not always live up to your expectations. Nevertheless, I urge you to be fiercely loyal. Your loyalty will not go unrewarded. The people you are loyal to will be fiercely loyal to you.

Now, if by chance, you are one of those rare people who has common sense and good instincts, that you listen to, you are consistent in your beliefs and in your actions, and you are loyal, keep a diary or some record of your life. You will accomplish great things, and people will want to read about you and what you have done.

Finally, if you haven’t been paying close attention to what I have said today because you have other things on your mind, don't worry. One day, if you’re lucky, you may figure all this out for yourself.