The other day, I was reading a magazine article about Mitt Romney, and in the article, a convocation address, given by Romney back in 1999, was reprinted. I found his words to be inspiring, and I felt sadness that the public wasn't able to see this side of Mr. Romney when he ran for president. I blame him directly for this loss, because I always felt he was playing to the crowd instead of remaining true to himself. I post this excerpt for my children.
For some reason my graduations have stood out quite clearly in my mind. I remember where I sat, by whom, and what I heard. Perhaps that's because of a song we regularly sang at my Michigan high school and its graduation. As I sang that song at graduation, I pondered about the future, about time. I wondered what it would be like to look back to this very day: Would I regret my life? Would I be satisfied?
The song we sang is the Harrow School song, that of a private boys school in England. A few of its words are
Forty years on, when afar and asunder
Parted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song--
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along....
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won,
Strife without anger, and art without malice,--
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!
How will it seem to you 20 and 30 and 40 years on? What bases will you have chosen to conquer? What games will you have played? Will your life have been a success?
There's an element of unpredictability, of uncertainty, of lottery, if you will, in the world that has been created for us. If you judge your life's success by the world's standards, you may be elated or you may be gravely disappointed.
That, of course, is the secret to predictably successful living: the choice of standards by which you will judge your life's success. If you judge by the world's standards, you may well be disappointed, for too many factors for such success are random or out of your control. But there are other standards of success, where chance is not at play.
What will you live for? What bases will you attempt to win?
If, as you are listening to me today, you are nodding your head in agreement, it's only fair that I warn you that it will not be easy for you to focus your life on achieving your core values. Unfortunately, the entire world around you will ridicule those values and a life based on them--perhaps not overtly, but implicitly in every medium that surrounds you. Some thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah looked forward to our times with this observation: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20)
In airtime and public adulation, vengeance will rise above forgiveness, wealth above charity, power above loyalty, ease above work, luck above preparation. A relentless campaign will be waged for you to substitute the world's values for your values, to cause you to abandon integrity, to subject your measurement of success to uncontrollable chance.
There are other bases to attempt, rescue, and win. These are ones that are in harmony with your most profound values. Achieving them is not a matter of serendipity or chance. With these, your life's success is entirely in your own hands. A decision to live with integrity will make all the difference.
I conclude with a paraphrase of words from the Harrow School song:
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wing, as in memory long,
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won.
When you look back and forgetfully wonder
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
For some reason my graduations have stood out quite clearly in my mind. I remember where I sat, by whom, and what I heard. Perhaps that's because of a song we regularly sang at my Michigan high school and its graduation. As I sang that song at graduation, I pondered about the future, about time. I wondered what it would be like to look back to this very day: Would I regret my life? Would I be satisfied?
The song we sang is the Harrow School song, that of a private boys school in England. A few of its words are
Forty years on, when afar and asunderParted are those who are singing today,
When you look back, and forgetfully wonder
What you were like in your work and your play,
Then, it may be, there will often come o'er you,
Glimpses of notes like the catch of a song--
Visions of boyhood shall float them before you,
Echoes of dreamland shall bear them along....
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won,
Strife without anger, and art without malice,--
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!
How will it seem to you 20 and 30 and 40 years on? What bases will you have chosen to conquer? What games will you have played? Will your life have been a success?
There's an element of unpredictability, of uncertainty, of lottery, if you will, in the world that has been created for us. If you judge your life's success by the world's standards, you may be elated or you may be gravely disappointed.
That, of course, is the secret to predictably successful living: the choice of standards by which you will judge your life's success. If you judge by the world's standards, you may well be disappointed, for too many factors for such success are random or out of your control. But there are other standards of success, where chance is not at play.
What will you live for? What bases will you attempt to win?
If, as you are listening to me today, you are nodding your head in agreement, it's only fair that I warn you that it will not be easy for you to focus your life on achieving your core values. Unfortunately, the entire world around you will ridicule those values and a life based on them--perhaps not overtly, but implicitly in every medium that surrounds you. Some thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah looked forward to our times with this observation: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isa. 5:20)
In airtime and public adulation, vengeance will rise above forgiveness, wealth above charity, power above loyalty, ease above work, luck above preparation. A relentless campaign will be waged for you to substitute the world's values for your values, to cause you to abandon integrity, to subject your measurement of success to uncontrollable chance.
There are other bases to attempt, rescue, and win. These are ones that are in harmony with your most profound values. Achieving them is not a matter of serendipity or chance. With these, your life's success is entirely in your own hands. A decision to live with integrity will make all the difference.
I conclude with a paraphrase of words from the Harrow School song:
Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wing, as in memory long,
Routs and discomfitures, rushes and rallies,
Bases attempted, and rescued, and won.
When you look back and forgetfully wonder
How will it seem to you, forty years on?
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