Dear John,
This isn’t the typical graduation for 2020 seniors this year, so I wanted to give graduating students a commencement speech that matched the moment.
2020 graduates may feel like they’re being robbed of everything that makes their last year of school memorable - prom, parties, graduation with their friends. But students graduating from school this year are being gifted something that many previous graduates did not receive: perspective.
And that perspective will mean something throughout their lives, and give them strength, resilience, and fortitude.
CLICK HERE OR ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO WATCH AND SHARE THE FULL COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS.
Never Forget,
Dan Crenshaw
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FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
To America’s graduates, first – congratulations.
Second, this won’t be your typical graduation speech. After all, it’s not your typical graduation.
So I won’t read you lofty quotes from dead philosophers or deliver platitudes about finding yourself. The real world doesn’t have time for any of that anyway. And you have to be ready for the real world.
You get to graduate in one of the most memorable years in recent history. You’re probably not that excited about it, I get that. Why would you be? You’re stuck at home instead of spending your last year of school with your friends. You had plans, you had epic parties to throw, people to say goodbye to, graduation to look forward to with all the gown wearing and cap throwing that that entails. Instead of graduation pictures you get, well, Tiger King and toilet paper memes with a Zoom prom if you’re lucky.
But, look at it this way. People will remember 2020. That counts for something. A lot, actually.
You may not realize it now, but you’re being given something that many graduating classes before you did not have: perspective. I know a little bit about that. I graduated high school in 2002. A year before, terrorists attacked our country and changed my generation forever. I graduated high school knowing that I would be going to war. Two deployments to Iraq, another to Afghanistan, and a run in with an IED blast that cost me my right eye.
You want to lean a new perspective? Well, try losing an eye. And I don’t mean a new sense of depth perception, I mean real perspective.
A perspective that forces you to tell a different story. Something that goes like this - I don’t have to wear an eyepatch, I get to wear an eyepatch. And believe me, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Perspective is an important thing. It reveals a world and experience that gives you a previously unseen truth.
And that truth is this. We are going to overcome this moment. Things are going to get better. A lot better. Think that isn’t true? Is this the single hardest moment of your life? If that’s the case, then try this truth. Others have been through harder times then this, and they got through it, and you can too.
You know 8 years ago I was woken up from a 5 day medically induced coma by a breathing tube being ripped out of my throat in a military base hospital. I was bed ridden, blind, unable to move, it was the worst physical trauma I had ever been through. Self-pity was certainly an option, it always is. It’s a tempting one, it’s easy. It’s even understandable. But, it wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere.
So instead, I looked for perspective I thought of my mom who battled breast cancer for 5 years while she raised me and my brother. She eventually lost that battle, but I never once watched her live with an ounce of self-pity. If she could do it, so could I. That’s perspective. And from there, I met my wife, I got married, went to Harvard, and now I’m a Congressman.
The American Dream is possible for everyone, even if you get blown up every once in a while. Perspective gives you the fortitude to stiffen your spine and persevere through the worst of times. You might not be getting a graduation party but you are being blessed with perspective. Lucky you. Now that you have perspective, here are some lessons that got me from the battlefield to Congress.
Lesson #1: Choose your heroes wisely. Everyone you meet has something to offer you. The people you have looked up to, maybe a teacher, a coach, a parent, a friend, have something about them that speaks to you, inspires you – makes you better. Figure out what that is. Copy it. There is a road map to success that has been paved by those who went before you. Find them. Decide who you want to be, visualize your best self, and be that hero.
Lesson #2: Shame is good. Not shaming others, but shame in the sense of holding yourself accountable. Feel a sense of shame when you don’t live up to that hero that you decided you would be. Feel bad about that time that you skipped practice or wouldn’t let the new kid sit with your friends at lunch. Feel bad when you show up late to your new job.
Only you know when you’re not putting in the effort you could be. And only you can really hold yourself accountable. Only when we acknowledge our shortcomings can we become better people.
Lesson #3: Forget about plan b. This means don’t quit. Quitting is a choice, and it’s never plan a. Plan b was passing the exam. Plan a was acing it. Plan b was a resume that was good enough. Plan a was one that got employers to compete for your talents. When I say don’t quit, I don’t mean you have to stick to a path that isn’t working out for you. That isn’t quitting, it’s changing directions after a confrontation with reality. Quitting means giving up on yourself. Quitting means settling on a version of yourself that you know could be better.
Lesson #4: Live with a sense of duty. There are virtues in this life that you should pursue for the simple reason that they are good. Inherently good. Patience, politeness, following the law, getting good grades, respecting your parents, living a healthy life. Even when there may be no reward for doing the right thing, there is no excuse not to do it. This is a duty to yourself. A duty to be part of the solution, not the problem. To live up to your best self, you must live with a sense of duty.
Lesson #5: Be still. The world is filled with sensationalized news media with overly emotional headlines looking for clicks. Online bullies attacking your character, and bad people trying to take advantage of you. That’s the reality. You will have to confront these things. You probably already have. And when you do, you will have a choice. Do you confront these challenges with stillness and grace, or with emotion and outrage? Emotional reactions will chip away at your mental wellbeing, your relationships, and your ability to persevere through hardship. So, stay calm. Stay still.
Lesson #6: Embrace hardship. In today’s modern society, we’ve increased comfort and reduced hardship to an extraordinary degree. We should be happy about that, but also aware of what that does to our ability to confront hardship when it comes our way. We are becoming increasingly fragile, frightened and offended at everything. Well that won’t help you when the hard times come. So, find new ways to challenge yourself. Do it often. Climb that mountain, learn that new skill, ask for more responsibility from your boss. You see hardship, especially when you seek it out, will make you better prepared for the world and more likely to succeed in it. You’re graduating in a unique time. It won’t be easy. Your first job might suck. Might not be your first choice. But you’d better believe it’s important. Why? Because everything you do is important. This is America. We are blessed to live in a country that guarantees our God-given freedoms. Earn that freedom by living as a citizen driven by purpose and resolve. Practice perspective. Remember, it could be harder. It can always be harder. The story we tell ourselves is that story that really matters. And I want you to tell a story that you control. That is the difference between owning your own destiny and letting someone else dictate it to you. Remember, I don’t have to wear an eyepatch, I get to wear an eyepatch. You don’t have to miss graduation; you get to miss it. You get to graduate during a time in American history that was tougher than last year and the year before. You get to be stronger for it. You get to overcome challenges that your older classmates didn’t. You get to own the story that gets told from this moment on.
I want to leave you with this one last thing. It’s called an ethos. An ethos is the characteristic spirit of a culture or community. In the SEAL Teams we have an ethos. Tells us who we should be, tells us what we should aspire to. Here’s the American ethos that I want to leave you with.
It goes like this: I will not quit in the face of danger or pain or self-doubt. I will not justify the easier path before me. I decide that all my actions not just some, matter. Every small task is a contribution toward a higher purpose. Every day is undertaken with the sense of duty to be better than I was yesterday, even in the smallest of ways. I seek out hardship, I do not run from pain, but embrace it. Because I derive strength from my suffering. I confront the inevitable trials of life with a smile. I plan to keep my head, to be still, when chaos overwhelms me. I will tell the story of my failures and hardships as a victor, not a victim. I will be grateful. Millions who have gone before me have suffered too much, fought too hard, and been blessed with far too little for me to squander this life. So I won’t. My purpose will be to uphold and protect the spirit of our great republic, knowing that the values we hold dear can be preserved only by a strong people. So I will do my part, and I will live with fortitude.
Thank you, and congratulations Class of 2020.
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