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Four years ago your friends
congratulated you and your father talked big continuously. Four years ago you
walked among the gothic towers and weathered traditions that sew our community
together. But what's next, will I make friends, or I will measure up? And maybe
you quietly wondered why a place like Yale, a place that sparked the drive of
presidents, a place that raised the world-famous scholars, a place that trained
Pulitzer Prize winners, would ever want you? I hope you had these questions
because otherwise I might have embarrassed myself. I admit I asked all of these
and more.
I took an unconventional path to Yale. Five
years ago I was working the evening shift at a clothing store in the suburbs of
Virginia. My family had moved every year for the past five years and our
finances were so consumed that retirement was not a possibility. Worse yet, my
son was a junior at an Ivy League college in New Jersey and hearing about his
privileged friends often reminded me of all the things I wanted to give him but
couldn't.
When I told him this he relied, “If you
really want to spoil me, spoil yourself. ”Then he took my hands and told me I
had a brilliant mind and deserved better than everything I had ever known.
That summer I started community college
while working full-time. Education was my second chance. I awoke my curiosity,
vitality( 活力)
and dignity that I never knew I could feel. When I read Eliot, Miller and
Morrison, it was as if I were the first person to have ever read them, as if
they were secret insights into the human soul and situations and I knew I
couldn't stop.
Walking among these gothic towers, among
these traditions, and among this brilliant, vibrant and unapologetically
eclectic Class of 2014 has been inspiring. Whether debating issues in class, or
chatting over coffee, I have enjoyed, learned and loved every moment I have
shared with you. You have made me a better person and I only hoped I have
helped in some way to do the same for you.
And yet even now this is dreamlike. Four
years ago I was convinced no one would want me, I wouldn't measure up and as
far as knowing what was next, I supposed I had resigned myself to more of the
same. But I've come to learn that nothing great can really be accomplished
without a healthy dose of terror. No one ever wrote epic(史诗般的) poems, built monuments or told
bedtime stories about people who played it safe.
I was terrified when I came to Yale. A big
part of me thought I wasn't good enough. But a big part of life is ignoring the
naysayers(反对者)
especially the one inside you. Most people are stopped from doing great things
by no one but themselves. I learned to tell myself to shut up. Sometimes in the
mirror in the morning and others times in the dark before I went to bed. I came
to realize once I could overcome my own fear I could overcome just about
anything. If you haven't felt this yet I recommended it: it's the greatest joy
you'll ever know.
You've likely all met your own fear and
misgivings(担忧、害怕).
I charge you to tell that voice to shut up when necessary because in the end
your greatness will not be about IQ but about the sincerity of your ambitions,
the toughness of your character and your unwillingness to compromise in the
face of difficulty, fear and uncertainty.
And should someone tell you that it can't
be done, or you're not good enough or it's not worth the trouble? Should others
ask you to take the safe route, or stick to the path of least resistance?
Should people say it's too late or your dreams are impractical? Look them in
the eye, laugh a little and let them know “Nothing is impossible”.
