常用英语演讲稿范文（通用32篇）
in a recent mimicking study at the university of clermont-ferrand in france, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth, when they could not mimic the smile they saw, their judgment was impaired.in addition to theorizing on evolution in the origin of species, charles darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. his theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better -- rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. in his study, darwin actually cited a french neurologist, guillaume duchenne, who used electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. please, dont try this at home.
Well, that is huge different with what I knew. Of course, I didn't think there is any prefection, but get things done in "better" way. However, I now get a clear concept to get things done in a better way, and complete jobs with a learning curve. I believe I will think of Practice Makes Permanence and re-charge myself when I get tired.
In the way of creating business or no matter what you do, did you train up yourself?
No, this is Penn. That stuff wouldn’t go over well here. Maybe at Drexel—but not here. I’m in trouble now.
I was back to square one—and feeling the pressure.
So now you’re probably thinking—if it was gonna be this difficult, why’d I even accept today’s invitation in the first place?
Well, you know my son goes here. That’s a good reason. And I always like to check to see how my money’s being spent.
And I’m sure there’s some parents out there who can relate to what I’m talking about!
And there were other good reasons for me to show up.
Sure, I got an Academy Award… but I never had something called “Magic Meatballs” after waiting in line for half an hour at a food truck.
True, I’ve talked face-to-face with President Obama… but I never met a guy named “Kweeder” who sings bad cover songs at Smokes on a Tuesday night.
Yes, I’ve played a detective battling demons… but I’ve never been to a school in my life where the squirrel population has gone bananas, breaking into the dorm rooms and taking over campus. I think I’ve even seen some carrying books on the way to class!
So I had to be here. I had to come… even though I was afraid I might make a fool of myself.
we learn that there are no monsters hiding under the bed, and not every earthquake brings buildings down. but maybe its no coincidence that some of our most creative minds fail to leave these kinds of fears behind as adults.the same incredible imaginations that produced the origin of species, jane eyre and the remembrance of things past, also generated intense worries that haunted the adult lives of charles darwin, charlotte brontand marcel proust. so the question is, what can the rest of us learn about fear from visionaries and young children?
Good Morning.
Thank you.
Well, it’s a privilege to be here with all of you.
Let me thank President Price, for the opportunity to address the 20xx Graduates. It’s certainly a privilege and my great pleasure.
To my fellow trustees, the Faculty of the University, the Administrative teams, the parents, the guardians, significant others and friends, thank you for not only enabling this occasion, but also joining us to celebrate the fruits of your labor.
And to our Honorary Degree Recipients, thank you for your incredible contributions and achievements. There’s a reason you now hold ‘Laudable Blue Devil’ status. Give them some love, ya’ll.
Now, I’m from the South, so we’re going to offer a whole lot of gratitude today. And when I call you to respond to what I’m saying, do you have me, graduates?
I love it. I love it.
And most importantly, let me start with gratitude for the graduates, thank you for the work you’ve put in and the contributions that you’ve made to Duke. We are absolutely thrilled that you had...and I quote… “the courage to start, the strength to endure, and the resolve to finish.”
Somebody say amen.
And because of that, you are about to be awarded all the rights and privileges of minted Blue Devils. So, congratulations to you! I’m going to give you some love.
I applaud Prime Minister Abe for expanding paid family leave here in Japan, an important step in addressing the modern challenges of working families and maintaining women’s attachment to the workforce.
This year, for the first time ever, the President’s Budget included a proposal to establish a nationwide paid family leave program. We know this will take time, but we are deeply committed to working with members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to get it done and deliver more pro-family solutions to hardworking Americans.
Third, in this age of rapid technology, we must also confront the challenges of workforce development.
It is critical as we look toward the future, that we don’t allow women in the United States and around the world to be left behind by the 4th Industrial Revolution – a revolution that’s integrating robotics, computer programing, artificial intelligence, social media, and cutting-edge technologies into every aspect of our society.
As technology transforms every industry, we must work to ensure that women have access to the same education and industry opportunities as men.
Female and minority participation in STEM fields is moving in the wrong direction. Women today represent only 13 percent of engineers and 24 percent of Computer Science professionals, down from 35 percent in 1990. We must create equal participation in these traditionally male-dominated sectors of our economy, which are among the fastest-growing and most lucrative industries in the world. Over the coming decades, technologies such as automation and robotics will transform the way we work, and we want to make sure that women can lead in the economy of the future. Otherwise, not only will we fail in closing the persistent gender wage gap, we will risk reversing the hard-fought progress we have made in this fight.
one day in 1819, 3,000 miles off the coast of chile, in one of the most remote regions of the pacific ocean, 20 american sailors watched their ship flood with seawater. heyd been struck by a sperm whale, which had ripped a catastrophic hole in the ships hull. as their ship began to sink beneath the swells, the men huddled together inthree small whaleboats.these men were 10,000 miles from home, more than 1,000 miles from the nearest scrap of land. in their small boats, they carried only rudimentary navigational equipment and limited supplies of food and water.these were the men of the whaleship essex, whose story would later inspire parts of moby dick.we know how fear feels, but im not sure we spend enough time thinking about what our fears mean.as we grow up, were often encouraged to think of fear as a weakness, just another childish thing to discard like baby teeth or roller skates.
I wish I could do that now. And I took it with my roommate, Carrie, who was then a brilliant literary student — and went on to be a brilliant literary scholar — and my brother — smart guy, but a water-polo-playing pre-med, who was a sophomore.The three of us take this class together. And then Carrie reads all the books in the original Greek and Latin, goes to all the lectures. I read all the books in English and go to most of the lectures. My brother is kind of busy. He reads one book of 12 and goes to a couple of lectures, marches himself up to our rooma couple days before the exam to get himself tutored. The three of us go to the exam together, and we sit down. And we sit there for three hours — and our little blue notebooks — yes, I'm that old. We walk out, we look at each other, and we say, "How did you do?" And Carrie says, "Boy, I feel like I didn't really draw out the main point on the Hegelian dialectic." And I say, "God, I really wish I had really connected John Locke's theory of property with the philosophers that follow." And my brother says, "I got the top grade in the class."
So for any of us in this room today, let's start out by admitting we're lucky. We don't live in the world our mothers lived in, our grandmothers lived in, where career choices for women were so limited. And if you're in this room today, most of us grew up in a world where we have basic civil rights, and amazingly, we still live in a world where some women don't have them.But all that aside, we still have a problem,and it's a real problem. And the problem is this: Women are not making it to the top of any professionanywhere in the world. The numbers tell the story quite clearly. 190 heads of state — nine are women. Of all the people in parliament in the world, 13 percent are women. In the corporate sector, women at the top, C-level jobs, board seats — tops out at 15, 16 percent. The numbers have not moved since 20xxand are going in the wrong direction. And even in the non-profit world, a world we sometimes think of as being led by more women, women at the top: 20 percent.
During my brief time in office, our world has reminded us daily of the necessity and the urgency of our work.
We’ve witnessed the coarsening of public discourse and the volatility of national and international affairs.
We’ve mourned when gun violence has cut future short, and gatherings of the faithful – Jewish, Muslim, and Christian – have ended in bloodshed.
We’ve continued to confront the existential threat posed by climate change, and we’ve reeled as extreme weather has destroyed homes and claimed lives.
And we’ve grown increasingly aware of the scourge of sexual harassment and sexual assault, and have struggled to consider how institutions, Harvard among them, can prevent and address behavior that threatens individuals and weakens communities.
To be sure, there is much in this world that rightly troubles us. But there’s even more that gives us cause for hope.
And it’s that spirit of hope – the willingness both to see the world as it is, and to consider how we can help make it better – that is in many ways the spirit that defines this university and I believe joins us all together.
Since I took office on July 1, I’ve seen the value of both knowledge and education at work in the world. I’ve seen the good being done by our faculty and our students, by our alumni, and our staff, and our friends. And I’ve seen expressions of compassion, and patience, and kindness, and wisdom that have moved me deeply.
that was pretty powerful. we are in the white house. smallbusiness owners, you heard from a large former business owner and tremendous entrepreneur, and we're sitting withadministrator mcmahon, who has an incredible entrepreneurial history. but it is very powering. really, this administration day in day out is steadfast in its commitment to jobs and job creation.you are feeling that and driving that. we are looking to unleashyou. you can bring your full potential, create more jobs. 60 million jobs in this country are a direct result of small businessentrepreneurs sell it is tremendously impactful on the ecosystem of job creation. we are doing everything we can and look forward to your input on how we can do even more. through comprehensive tax reform to enable you to have more money toreinvest in the growth of your businesses. there are 800 regulations put on the books by the previous administration that really many of which stifle your ability to grow and continue to create and produce. we are committed to addressing thosethings, creating increased access to capital, mentorship, as the fca does through its transformative and innovative programs.access to networks, to markets to trade with across state lines.we are committed to supporting the american worker and the american job creator. we are excited to be here to celebrate anagency doing just that. and in incredible director as shecommences her 65th year of the sba. not quite your 65th. [laughter] i will turn it over now to administrator mcmahon. she will tell us about initiatives and how they can support your businesses. then we will takes and questions from the audience.
And life as a disabled person is actually somewhat difficult. We do overcome some things. But the things that we're overcoming are not the things that you think they are. They are not things to do with our bodies. I use the term "disabled people" quite deliberately, because I subscribe to what's called the social model of disability, which tells us that we are more disabled by the society that we live in than by our bodies and our diagnoses. So I have lived in this body a long time. I'm quite fond of it. It does the things that I need it to do, and I've learned to use it to the best of its capacity just as you have, and that's the thing about those kids in those pictures as well. They're not doing anything out of the ordinary. They are just using their bodies to the best of their capacity. So is it really fair to objectify them in the way that we do, to share those images? People, when they say, "You're an inspiration," they mean it as a compliment. And I know why it happens. It's because of the lie, it's because we've been sold this lie that disability makes you exceptional. And it honestly doesn't.
hello, ladies and gentlemen. im ms liu, liu xiaoyu. i’m from hanyuan traffic and hope primary school. my topic is “please be my pen friend!”
there are five members in my family: my grandpa, my grandma, father, mother and me. they love me and i love them too. my father and mother work very hard everyday. so i often help my mother to clean the room. and i always wash the dishes when i finish eating. my grandpa and grandma like watching tv. sometimes they tell me lots of interesting stories. if you’re my pen friend, you’lllike these stories. after i finish my homework, i often dance.
my hobby is dancing, just like this.... i hope my pen friend like dancing too. and we can dance together. i also like drawing, just like this ?. look! a beautiful princess. if youre my pen friend, i’ll draw a picture for you.
my favorite animal is rabbit. because she is very cute and smart. i have a pet rabbit. i love it very much. everyday i feed it and play with it. she is my good friends. i always sing songs for her: .... if you’re my pen friend, you can also like her. i can write emails in english and chinese. sometimes, i can also write to my family in chinese. i want to be your pen friend. do you like me? please be my pen friend. that’s all, thank you!
That night I returned to Singapore. I didn’t think it was a big deal as my father was 73 years old at the time and old people were supposed to forgetful, until the next day when I called my mum. Over the phone she told me that on the flight to Toronto, three of them sat side byside, with my father sitting in the middle. All of a sudden, my father looked at my sister but totally couldn't recognize her, he asked my mum, "what is the name of this young lady and why is she so nice to us"? The moment when he said this, my sister burst into tears. At that time, we haven’t heard of a disease called Alzheimers, but we realized we were starting to lose our dad day by day from that turning point.
Fast forward to September 20xx, my father has been with a nursing home in Xiamen for close to 4 years. He is very skinny butstill survives, thanks to the professional care provided there. Over the years I flew back to visit him from time to time. He couldn’t tell my name but Icould tell that he probably knew I am someone important for him, as he always grabbedmy hands tightly.
He quitted from school at grade 10 (16 years old). This super star seems a little bit low self-esteem in front of MBA crowd.
Not owning a "piece of paper" (certificate) + too young affect business. That's true in real world!
I'd found my own business too. At that time, those experienced people just didn't trust a kid like me, although they think my product is great and prudence.
I think he doesn't need to regret his education. It's only different kind of life. And I doubt if a person is fully educated and have a comfortable life, will s/he brave enough to try something new? Or create something that is not exists in the world?
He found Post Production Office Limited (PO) when he's 22. PO is a company to do video post-production business. It captured more than 50% market share. Although it's based on geographical shortage, it is still a crazy figure. In the post-production industry, PO is the first company to enter the mainland market (China).
How can he do that? I truly believe that it's because of his passion, management style and split of never-give-up.。
someone said “we are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book, whose pages are infinite”. i don?t know who wrote these words, but i?ve always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want it to be. we are all in the position of the farmers. if we plant a good seed ,we reap a good harvest. if we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.we are young. “how to spend the youth?” it is a meaningfulquestion. to answer it, first i have to ask “what do you understand by the word youth?” youth is not a time of life, it?s a state of mind. it?s not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips or supple knees. it?s the matter of the will. it?s the freshness of the deep spring of life.youth means a temperamental predominance of courage overtimidity of the appetite , for adventure over the love of ease. this often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20 . nobody grows old merely by a number of years . we grow old by deserting our ideals. years wrinkle the skin , but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul . worry , fear , self –distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust .whether 60 of 16 , there is in every human being ?s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what?s next and the joy of the game of living . in the center of your heart and my heart there?s a wireless station : so long as it receives messages of beauty , hope ,cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long as you are young .
My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is colorblind and gender neutral. He hires the best person for the job, period.Words and promises, no matter visionary they sound will only get you so far. In our business, you’re not a builder, unless you’ve got a building to show for it, or in my father’s case, city skylines. Most people strive their entire lives to achieve greatsuccess in a single industry.My father has succeeded in many on the highest level and on a global scale. One of the reasons he has thrived as an entrepreneur is because he listens to everyone. Billionaire executives don’t usually ask the people doing the work for their opinion of the work. My father is an exception.
Looking around me today, I think of the generations of Yale graduates who have come before you. Individuals who have been for something.
There are many names we know and others that would be less familiar – presidents and world leaders, artists and business executives, scholars and scientists.
Like them, I know you will heed the call to leadership and service and leave your mark on every realm of human endeavor.
That is Yale’s mission – that is what Yale is for.
As members of the Yale community, what do we believe?
We believe that facts and expertise, applied with creativity and wisdom, can transform the world.
We believe that education and research save lives and make life more meaningful.
We believe that diversity of thought and diversity indeed are essential to human progress.
We believe, most of all, in the boundless potential of human ingenuity; that together, we can solve great challenges and bring light and truth to a world in great need of it.
i think one of the things i have been talking about, the mentorship, we have so many services. there is score, offices manned by retired executives, or executives lending their time to advise on business programs, web design, to kind of walk youthrough how you can expand and scale your business. small business development centers are also available. you can go to any of those district offices, 68 around the country. those areeven more bountiful in the district offices in every state. you cango to and look at the different modules. you can self-study. lots of tools are available.one of the things i got excited about in early discussionswith ms. mcmahon about the capacity of sba, most people think of it along the lines of capital. availability of capital, and how they can support businesses in that regard. these mentorship opportunities are very impactful. as i meet with entrepreneurs,consistently they talk about what is the biggest barriers to scaling a business is lack of mentorship opportunities. that is what made the difference in terms of execution on their ideas.first of all, congratulations on now being a small business owner and job creator. thank you for your service prior to that as a firefighter. my advice to you would be to look at the whole ecosystem as you think about how to start this business for thefirst time . listen to a lot of people, including people who say your ideas are bad. internalize that feedback. ultimately, i think that thinking through and bringing on partners, and people that can complement your skill set and help you to think about theexecution of your business plan is critical as you think aboutscale any meaningful way. in addition to utilizing resources,getting feedback, from people about the idea and the concept, think about how you can supplement your team to complement the skill set that you have.
any other questions? ok.
is this working? ok. great. thank you for sharingthe stage with me today. i must apologize in advance for my voice.my voice keeps going in and out. a little bit of laryngitis on theroad. i'm so delighted to be here this afternoon. as the ministrydo for the small business administration. we will celebrate our65th anniversary next year. we are kicking off this year ofreimagining the sba. we might even cheat a little bit. nationals not -- small business week year. because, i found out about the second week i was in office sba is one of the best-kept secrets in the country. you think sba, what do you think? so much more than loans. it's counseling. access to capital, which businesses need to start. cash is king. then i found out that the counselingand mentoring aspect that comes along is as important oralmost as important as the cash. we have components of access,government contracting, which grows many small as mrs.. then we have disaster relief. what happens when a disaster hits an area? homes are lost. it's one of the few times sba is involved in the home mortgage market as well as business loans. it's our goal to give businesses up and running. they are not only the engine of our economy, but they are the glue for theircommunities. those communities need to come back online. sba isthere working with fema, the first people on the line. we want to get everybody back up, paying taxes. it is an all-encompassingorganization. it's my goal to make sure a year from now, if notsooner, sba is no longer a secret. [applause]
thank you. have great champions of the smallbusiness community along with president trump. we want to hear from the community. if you have a question, please raise yourhand. you can ask a question to the administrator or ivanka.
i'm a firefighter from wisconsin. i have been a firefighter for 20 years. i recently invented a new style of compass to save firefighters lives. what i'm struggling with is the ins and outs to run that business. what advice do you have to get over that hurdle?
good morning,dear teacher and my friends.
its a very intresting topic today.
i think my dad was a hero for me when i was a young child. wed go fishing, walks, and other fun things for a kid.
every child has a good and great father, and so do i. my dad played a very important role in my daily life`````exactly speaking, in my past 16 years.
my family was rather poor when i was in my childhood. we didnt have our own house and had to live in a shabby， small room rented from my fathers factory. the room was so small that there was little space for people to walk. i didnt have my own bed and had to sleep with my parents. this is terrible both for my parents and me.
but father made this all different!he works very hard on his own business, now we have our own 2 housese,surly,i have my own room.and he take our family so much happiness, richer and richer.
when i was little, i did everything with my dad. you could always find me sitting on his knee or walking and doing everything with him. every night he would read me a bed time story and make the voices of each character.
i learnt a lot from my daddy. i learnt to never take things to seriously and to always smile.
years pasted, my father is over 45 now. it is time for me to look after him and i am sure i will do and we will live an even better life. and i will say,i really love you dad,cause you are the hero in my mind.
thank you so much!
we should learn to stick to our life no matter how difficult the life is and we should learn to love others .it is the flim tellsx me .
it is a story talks about a black girl named precious .precious isx fat and not beautiful. her bad temped mother never workx, always cheated others to relieve her ,and atex while watching tv all day.what is worse ,precious was only 16,but she had pregnant for twice .out of assumption ,her child is her farther
s child .living in this life ,she alawys imagine to avoid facing her life .fortunately,with the help and careneof the teacher and doctor ,her life became not so bad .
precious has a tough life ,and if she gives up her life and does not join the adult education ,she will not meet the teacher and her life may not be
changed .
in the winter im very happy. i saw a lot of animals，such as chickens, cattle,
sheep,and beautiful fireworks。in the new years day, i got a lot of lucky money,so
im very happy。finally, happy new year everyone!
these good jobs? mrs. mcmahon: you have raised an incredibly great point. an enormous problem. this is something that reallyhas the administration been informed by the private sector. when they tell us one of their single bill gives challenges is the skills gap. they have available jobs they are unable to fill because people don't have adequate training. time and time again we hear this. it is all the more problematic for the smaller employers who don't have the benefits and can't be as competitive, competing for those same jobs that limited people had to fill. we have been in ormislead focused on technical education, skills-based education.the president signed an executive order where he is going todramatically expand apprenticeship in this country. it has beensuccessful around the world. try giving people skills-basededucation, creating industrywide certification and credentialing so people like in the industry like yours can have a recognizedcredential that is portable and they can take with them, that recognizes they are trained in the areas employers need them.one of the things we found that is successful, the teeming ofindustry and the community colleges and technical schools.many employers are working with community colleges, helping them develop curriculums that train their students. they employ them on the other side. that is something that has been workingon the private sector and we are looking to fuel and scale at a national level.
Why does this matter? Boy, it matters a lot. Because no one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side, not at the table, and no one gets the promotion if they don't think they deserve their success, or they don't even understand their own success.I wish the answer were easy. I wish I could go tell all the young women I work for, these fabulous women,"Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success." I wish I could tell that to my daughter. But it's not that simple. Because what the data shows, above all else, is one thing, which is that success and likeability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. And everyone's nodding, because we all know this to be true.There's a really good study that shows this really well. There's a famous Harvard Business School studyon a woman named Heidi Roizen. And she's an operator in a company in Silicon Valley, and she uses her contacts to become a very successful venture capitalist.
Integrating and empowering women is not just good corporate policy, it’s good business.
Second, in addition to changing the corporate culture, we must advance public policies that address the composition of our modern workforce.
In the United States, while single women without children make 95 cents for each dollar earned by a man, married mothers earn only 81 cents. Too many women in the United States are forced to leave the workforce following the birth of a child.
We must ensure that federal policies support working mothers and enable them to reach their full potential. This is how we will create an environment where closely bonded families can flourish and our economy can grow at unprecedented levels.
That is why in the United States, we are working to pass sweeping and long over-due tax reform that will afford families much needed relief. We are seeking to simplify the tax code, lower rates, expand the child tax credit, eliminate the marriage penalty, and put more money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans.
Our administration is working to address the high cost of childcare in the United States which currently outstrips housing expenses and state college tuition in much of the Country. It cannot be too expensive for the modern working family to have children.
The problem with these stories is that they show what the data shows: women systematically underestimate their own abilities. If you test men and women, and you ask them questions on totally objective criteria like GPAs, men get it wrong slightly high, and women get it wrong slightly low. Women do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce. A study in the last two years of people entering the workforce out of college showed that 57 percent of boys entering, or men, I guess, are negotiating their first salary, and only seven percent of women. And most importantly, men attribute their success to themselves, and women attribute it to other external factors. If you ask men why they did a good job,they'll say, "I'm awesome. Obviously. Why are you even asking?" If you ask women why they did a good job, what they'll say is someone helped them, they got lucky, they worked really hard.
I’ve never been able to shake the haunting feeling of this specific house call because of the significance it would take on later in my own life – and it reminds me, of course, that even doctors can meet the same inevitable fate of becoming patients.
When I tried to tend to the diabetes my father developed later in life, I thought of that woman’s shaking, pale face.
And when I looked at his limbs – a double amputee, and recognized he was in renal failure, I thought of how he fought for a life, when she could not fight for her own.
And I thought of how in his twilight years, he was experiencing the same discomfort and dis-ease he had so seamlessly kept at bay for everyone else.
But even so, I knew we were lucky, my family. We could afford my father’s insulin. We could afford to do what it took to take care of him.
In fact… if you really want to know the truth:
I had to come… exactly because I might make a fool of myself.
What am I talking about?
Well, here it is:
I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks.
Nothing.
Nelson Mandela said:
“There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that’s less than the one you’re capable of living.”
I’m sure in your experiences—in school… in applying to college… in picking your major… in deciding what you want to do with life—people have told you to make sure you have something to “fall back on.”
But I’ve never understood that concept, having something to fall back on.
If I’m going to fall, I don’t want to fall back on anything, except my faith. I want to fall… forward.
At least I figure that way I’ll see what I’m about to hit.
Fall forward.
my name is sherry. i'm from ohio. i'm a proud owner of a trucking company. second generation, woman-owned. our familybusiness is 50 years in the making. one of our challenges afterbecoming with one truck, now close to 100 drugs, and 150employees, some of our challenges are hiring qualified workforce. truck drivers and technicians, those are our challenges. finding skilled workers to fill those jobs, and the training they need, it is surprisingly difficult. do you have any thoughts on how we could solve this problem together as a nation to fill
Thank you very much, Margaret, for that very generous introduction.
First, let me say congratulations to our graduates. Welcome back to our alumni. Good afternoon to everyone – colleagues and friends, and family members, loved ones, and our most special guest – our eminent speaker. It’s a pleasure to address you this afternoon and to offer a few reflections as I approach the end of my first year as president.
I realize, however, that I’m literally the last thing standing between you and the speech that you’ve all actually come here to hear. So, while I can’t promise to be mesmerizingly eloquent, I can at least promise to be mercifully brief.
We gather this afternoon buoyed by the aspirations of our graduates – some 7,100 people who have distinguished themselves in nearly every field and every discipline imaginable. We welcome them into the venerable ranks of our alumni, and we send them forth into a world that is very much in need of both their minds and their hearts.
In September 1974, Kingman Brewster, then president of Yale, spoke to members of the Class of 1978, seated right where you are now. He told them, “Many of us have just been on a ten-year trip of moral outrage: anti-Wallace, anti-War, and anti-Watergate. We have been so sure about what we were against that we have almost forgotten how difficult it is to know what we are for and how to achieve it.”
Does this sound familiar? Today, perhaps more than ever, it is easy to know what you’re against. And it’s far more difficult to say what you’re for.
What we’re against is going to be different for each of us. Maybe you’re against border walls and I’m against guns; your neighbor is against trade wars and your cousin is against abortion. For some, capitalism is the problem, while others fear the specter of socialism. By this point, I bet all of you are against sitting in old buildings with no air conditioning, listening to a long speech! So, I’ll get to the point…
How many of you have ever seen a Marx Brothers movie? [Right, pretty good.] So, although I’m not mistaken for Groucho Marx as often since I shaved my moustache, I…I still do…do have a weakness for his humor.
And one of Groucho’s best performances, of course, is when he plays a college president. (It is a funny role!) So, in the opening scene of the movie Horse Feathers, Groucho, the new president of Huxley College, is told that the trustees have “a few suggestions” for him. Then he breaks into this song:
“I don’t know what they have to say
It makes no difference anyway
Whatever it is, I’m against it
No matter what it is or who commenced it
I’m against it
Your proposition may be good
But let’s have one thing understood:
Whatever it is, I’m against it.”