graduation

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will mark exactly one year since I graduated from college. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to revisit the speech I wrote for my college graduation...since no one else got to hear or read it. I haven't read it since the night before graduation and will only be reading it after I publish this post. Enjoy.

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Good morning dear friends, family, faculty, and staff. Today, we celebrate our time here in the Gothic Wonderland, which, for me, has been filled with many “firsts”:

-The first time I realized that my acceptance letter was probably meant for someone else
-The first time I slept in Perkins
-The first time I felt unity with my peers through the spirit of Cameron Indoor Stadium
-The first time I burned benches when we won the 2010 Men’s Basketball National Championship
-The first time I took a class with a professor who fundamentally transformed the way I thought about the world (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Professor Bonilla-Silva.)
-The first time I met my best friend (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Grace Summers.)
-The first time I went to Shooters. And conquered the bull, the bar, and the cage.
-The first time I found myself – in my mentor, friend, and professor – the man I dream of becoming (Yeah, I’m looking at you, Tony Brown.)
-And finally, the first time I understood the tremendous responsibility that comes with a college education

I learned of this responsibility in the most unlikely of places. Two years ago, I was anxiously sitting in the office of a drug rehabilitation counselor at a homeless shelter on Skid Row. And no, mother, I wasn’t getting drug counseling, in case you were wondering.

Sitting across from me was a 55 year-old man who I was interviewing as part of my research project on the homeless population of Los Angeles. Unlike the 19 men before him, however, he was combative and abrasive, repeatedly denying me the opportunity to finish my questions. And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, this man, approximately the size of Brian Zoubek, rose so quickly and so suddenly, like the White Raven, and yelled at me with the passion of Coach K in his voice, but without all the expletives:

“Take yourself out of the normal thinking. Think outside the box. Education puts you inside a box. Education only means knowing…it’s somebody else’s opinion defining something. [But] knowledge is power. Knowledge is insight.”

I tell you, I got schooled by a tenth grade dropout who had spent far more years in prison than I had spent on Earth. For this wise man, knowledge is insight. It is the personal meaning we, as individuals, make of the facts, information, and skills that education provides us…even in classes like “Decoding Disney,” ”Who are the Real Barbarians?” and “Bad Girls on Stage.” Yes, dad, you paid over 200 grand for me to learn about bad girls on stages in Madrid during the 1930s. I hope you aren’t apoplectic. Hey, look! I learned that word in my Writing 20 class. See, dad, I told you it was all worth it!

But what are we actually supposed to do with all the other vocab we learned? All that knowledge of antigens, attention-blindness, and anti-positivism? All those experiences in Durham and abroad – in Brooklyn and Budapest, Beijing and Bothasig?

We must use our knowledge to transform the world, much like members of our soon-to-be Duke alumni family have done throughout history. We can be like Melinda Gates, the billionaire crusader, who has dedicated her life to the betterment of others, through the widening of access to birth control. Who would have thought her degrees in computer science and economics and MBA would make her a powerful leader in global health? We could follow in the footsteps of Ron Paul, the ob/gyn-turned politician who inspires the masses with his courage of conviction. Who would have thought his MD would lead him to the US Congress or to three campaigns for the American presidency? And maybe, just maybe, we can emulate Ken Jeong aka crazed crime lord Leslie Chow from The Hangover, whose unashamed appearances in film and on TV have filled rooms and families with laughter. Who would have thought his degree in zoology would lead him to play the role of a shady Spanish professor on NBC’s Community?

These Duke alums discovered the use of their knowledge and defined its utility in the context of their passions. That is our responsibility: to find the use of our knowledge…and to be open to constantly defining and redefining our purpose here.

To understand the use of our knowledge we must remember that it is Ultimately Situated in Experience. Remember it: U.S.E. Ultimately Situated in Experience. Through new experiences – enjoying new things, meeting new people, visiting new places, pursuing new passions – we learn how we can use what we have in our head to improve what we have around us, globally and locally. Glocally.

To do this, keep your Duke experience alive with you – wherever you go and in whatever you do.

Meet someone new every day…with the same enthusiasm and genuineness you had during Orientation Week when you used to excitedly spark up conversations with the stranger sitting next to you on the C-1.

Invest in developing at least two skills you are good at…with the same dedication of our university’s leaders, that of President Brodhead in the advancement of academics and research here and abroad and that of Coach K in his zeal for basketball and the athletic program as a whole. But beware, as is the case with Duke, if you get so darn good at two or more things, haters gonna hate. You just gotta keep playing. And winning.

Be bold, take risks, and try new things…with the same excitement you had when you tried chicken and waffles at Dame’s or climbed to the top of Baldwin.

And, ask yourself the hard questions…with the same confidence, passion, and wisdom you conjured when you had the opportunity to be the class discussion leader for a day.

I leave you with three hard questions: How will you put your knowledge to use? Will you be the next Melinda Gates, Ron Paul, or Ken Jeong? Will your life and work be cited in the commencement speeches of future generations of our Duke family?

Best of luck in your search for finding the ways you can contribute unique value to our world and Godspeed as you navigate unchartered roads.

Congratulations Duke University Class of 2013! We did it!