THE EDITOR Letter from By Debby Zelman Rapoport With graduation just behind us, I surfed the Internet to find some words of wisdom to inspire graduates as they move forward with their ntro Text education or careers. The following 2014 graduation-speech excerpts are powerful, and can benefit us in all stages of life. I “I learned many great Callout lessons from my father,” not the least of which is, you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.” – Jim Carey Naval Admiral William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, at the University of Texas-Austin: “If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made – that you made – and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.” Adm. William McRaven shared ten lessons learned from basic SEAL training that, when followed, will be of value to graduates as they move forward in life. If you have not yet read these lessons, check them out at www. utexas.edu/news/2014/05/16/ admiral-mcraven-commencement-speech. Jennifer Lee, director of “Frozen,” at the University of New Hampshire on May 17: “If I learned one thing, it is that self-doubt is one of the most destructive forces. It makes you defensive instead of open, reactive instead of active. Self-doubt is consuming and cruel. And my hope today is that we can all collectively agree to ban it. Think to the moments of your life when you forgot to doubt yourself. When you were so inspired that you were just living and creating and working. Pay attention to those moments because they’re trying to reach you through those lenses of doubt and trying to show you your potential.” José Andrés, chef, at George Washington University: “Get a cocktail shaker, if you are over 21. Add your heart, your soul, your brain, your instinct and shake it hard. Serve it straight up. But let me give you a secret ingredient. Add a dash of the criticism on top, because those naysayers play an important role too.” Charlie Day, writer and comedian, at Merrimack College: “I think the lesson is this: Had I worked at Fidelity, I am sure they would have fired me eventually. I can barely do long division. But I didn’t want to fail at Fidelity. And I did not want to fail in Boston. If I was going to run the risk of failure, I wanted it to be in the place where I would be proud to fail, doing what I wanted to do. And let me tell you something, I did fail. Over and over again. I was too short for this or too weird for that. I had one casting agent say this man will never work in comedy. But I was in the fight. I was taking my punches, but I was in the fight.” Jim Carey, comedian, at Maharishi University of Management: Carey shared Charlie Day’s sentiments. He spoke of his father and the lessons he learned about failure and success in life. Following are individual excerpts from his speech. “You can spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about the pathway to the future, but all there will ever be is what’s happening here, and the decisions we make in this moment which are based on either love or fear,” Carey said. “So many of us choose our paths out of fear disguised as practicality.” “What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never dare to ask the universe for it,” he continued. “I’m the proof that you can ask the universe for it.” “My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him, and so he made a conservative choice,” Carey said. “Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant, and when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could to survive.” “I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is, you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance doing what you love.” “You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world. And after you walk through those doors today you will only ever have two choices. Love or fear. Choose love, and don’t ever let fear turn you against your playful heart. “ Congratulations to the class of 2014. I wish you success in your future endeavors! July 2014 n Beachwood Buzz 3