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About Commencement:
July 15, 2002:
June has come and gone. For many of our youngsters, June is the
time of commencement. Some are graduating from highschool and
others are graduating from college. For some people, particularly
for political hacks, It is a time of honorary degrees and speech
making. The schools tend to vie, as best they can, for "successful"
people to address their graduates. It becomes a prestige contest.
We often see excerpts from these exercises on the evening news
shows. My favorite is Cosby. He at least shows a sense of humor
and addresses the main issue. The problem of gainful employment.
Now, Wesoomi Publishing is not at all successful in any recognized way. Hence, I have never been invited to address any graduating seniors. Still, I have thought about the situation. I have concluded that most of the speakers do a disservice to the graduates. So far as I can tell, even when they talk about the seniors rather than themselves, they don't tell it like it is. They lay on a coating of noble nonsense. In my opinion, that noble nonsense, along with the honorary degrees, should be trash canned.
With all of that in mind, I have outlined what I believe these young people should hear. I have assumed highschool graduates. Following is my commencement speech. It is short as these things should be. This special time belongs to the graduates, not to the ego of the speaker.
Today you have come to a pivot point in your life. Until now, your life has been mostly managed by others. Now, you are confronted with the fact that you must take your own direction. I'm sure that some of you have already made decisions regarding that. Many of you have opted for continuing education. Usually that means getting grounded for a career in some profession. At the very least, continuing education is a way of deferring the inevitable, the issue of gainful employment.
If you are not continuing your education, for whatever reason, you must face that issue more immediately. That's okay. College is not for everyone. If you want to have a good shot at middle class or upper middle class success, college is a good way to go. Very often, however, the path to personal fulfillment or even significant wealth does not pass through any university. For these things, you must have a goal or cause; a dream if you would. Then you must do whatever is necessary to learn what you must know to make it a reality.
Still, for all of you, unless you become a professional student, the time will come when you will have to get off the dime. For most of you, Pop will close his wallet. Then, you will have to go on the dole or seek employment. No matter how you talk around it or how long you defer it, the real issue is what are you going to do? How are you going to invest your life? That is what I wish to address.
First, let's dispense with a huge ogre. Your first employment is not a life or death thing. It need not be a lifelong commitment. In fact, unless you are fantastically lucky, is should not be. For most of you, your first job will be less than satisfactory. This does not mean that you should approach it carelessly or casually. When you work, you create a history. Believe me, that history will follow you, so make it a good one. As Crazy Louie would say, "There are no menial jobs, only menial people."
I am not currently an employer. Some day I hope that will change. When it does, I will have some expectations for the folks who want to work with me. Some of this concerns the relationship between an employer and an employee. Employment is a contract. It is a contract between the employee and the employer. You should get clear on that right now. If you don't, you will be jerked around for most of your working life by dishonest personnel directors. It the contract is not good for both parties, it should not be consummated.
If an employer says he is giving you a job, he is lying. That's all! It may be alright to work with him for a beginning position while you look around. It's probably not a good idea to stay with an employer who lies to you. No one will give you a job. If they try to make you feel like they are doing you a favor, keep looking for another position. No one will employ you unless they can gain by doing so. That is the truth.
So when you come into my firm, don't ask me to give you a job. If you do, you will get brief treatment. Instead, do some research. Find out what I am about. Then come in and tell me what you can do for me. How can you make me more successful? How can you improve my efficiency? What load can you assume that will make me more effective? How will you improve my profit margin? What are you willing to learn? Don't ask for a job, offer me a service, a contract.
Okay, you find employment and you go to work. Great! No more school, right?
Wrong!
If you think your education is over you are dead wrong. Your education has just begun. You don't know nuthin yet. Whether you are fresh out of highschool or college does not matter. What you learned in school is, at best, nothing more that a platform for your real education. It is necessary, but not sufficient. If you want to be effective, you must remain a student. That will never change.
Here is a thing to remember. A good employer knows that. He will challenge you and invest in you. It is up to you to make that investment pay off. You must always be prepared. Always be willing to learn however you do it. Always know the next position in your path and how to do it. Always look for new things to do and better ways to do them. If you employer will not challenge you, start a search for another position. The point is, if you are not growing, you are dying.
If you want to enjoy your life, you must be always and ever a student. When you stop being a student you become stagnant and you become deadwood. You will lose your value to whatever organization you are cheating. The boss may put up with you, but only because it's so difficult to fire people for cause. Further, if an employer is satisfied with deadwood, they will ultimately fail. You will not want to be with them.
Now, having said all of the above, let me also say this. Don't think only about income. Think about what you really want to do. What will make you happy? Most of the working people I know are not happy in their job. That is sad because we only have one life. It is definitely not necessary to spend a large part of it in an unsatisfactory position. The happiest people I know are the ones who have found ways in their work to learn and be creative.
Creativity is always possible in any job. If you are going to be a sweeper, even temporarily, be the most efficient and creative sweeper ever. Always look for ways to do a task, faster and more efficiently with less resources. You will feel better and your employer will love you. Time is important in industry. When you save time, you save costs. That's bottom line stuff. If you do that and your employer does not notice it, get out of that place. You are with a loser.
Finally, let's talk about being human. As you go through life, the most important things will involve how you act with other people. The things I still regret most about my life are the times when I was unfair or dishonest with other people. It was always the result of running my ego. If you hurt other people for any reason, it will change you. You will not like the change. Always be true to your true nature. Always be kind. Always be generous. Anything you may think you gain by being mean will turn to ashes sooner or later.
Someday you will come to the end of your life. How you face that will be determined by how you have lived your life. Believe me, there is no gain possible which would be worth even a moment of regret at that time. Looking back, I can honestly say that the only regrets I have are about my own bad behavior with other people. All of the pain I suffer in my thoughts and dreams are about those incidents, which, but for my ego, need never have happened.
One final word to those who are going to college. Please don't become one of the rowdy jerks. Don't embarrass your school and your family by getting drunk and rowdy. Go there to learn something or don't go at all.
Now, I could wish you good luck, but I don't believe in luck.
If you will remain honest and true to yourselves you will appear
to be lucky and the unenlightened will envy you. So do that. As
Shakespear so eloquently put it, "Unto thine own self be
true."
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