[00:07.72]I am glad to be here today
[00:16.20]Hell, I am glad to be anywhere today
[00:19.85]President Cohon asked me to come
[00:23.23]and give the charge to the graduates
[00:24.75]I assure you, it's nothing compared
[00:26.52]to the charge you have just given me
[00:28.94]This is an incredible place
[00:33.49]I have seen it through so many lenses
[00:35.72]I saw it when I was a graduate student
[00:39.05]that didn't get admitted
[00:41.94]and then somebody invited me back
[00:45.32]and said, OK, we'll change our mind
[00:48.56]And I saw it as a place
[00:50.28]that hired me back
[00:52.25]to be on the faculty many years later
[00:54.29]and gave me the chance
[00:55.86]to do what anybody wants to do
[00:58.90]which is, follow their passion
[01:01.17]follow their heart
[01:02.68]and do the things they're excited about
[01:04.67]And the great thing about this university
[01:06.08]unlike almost all the other ones
[01:07.31]I know of is that
[01:08.18]nobody gets in your way
[01:09.79]when you try to do it
[01:11.51]And that's just fantastic
[01:13.18]And to the degree that a human being
[01:15.05]can love an institution
[01:17.33]I love this place
[01:19.55]and I love all of the people
[01:20.66]and I am very grateful to Jerry Cohon
[01:23.24]and everyone else
[01:24.09]for all the kindness that have shown me
[01:28.04]Last August I was told
[01:29.97]that in all likelihood
[01:31.58]I had three to six months left to live
[01:35.49]I am on month nine now
[01:38.07]and I am not gonna get down
[01:39.18]and do any push-ups
[01:52.07]But there will be a short pick-up
[01:56.24]basketball game later
[01:58.64]Somebody said to me
[02:01.77]in light of those numbers
[02:02.99]wow, so you are really
[02:05.36]beating the Grim Reaper
[02:07.40]And what I said
[02:08.26]without even thinking about is
[02:09.83]that we don't beat the Reaper
[02:12.01]by living longer
[02:14.03]We beat the Reaper
[02:16.00]by living well
[02:17.94]and living fully
[02:20.01]For the Reaper will come for all of us
[02:22.53]the question is what do we do
[02:24.55]between the time we are born
[02:25.98]and the time he shows up
[02:28.61]Cause when he shows up
[02:30.67]it is too late
[02:31.69]to do all the things
[02:33.10]that you're always gonna
[02:35.12]kind of get round to
[02:36.77]So I think the only advice
[02:38.49]I can give you
[02:39.86]on how to live your life well is
[02:42.39]first off, remember, it's a cliché
[02:44.61]but I love cliché
[02:47.32]It is not the things we do in life
[02:49.49]that we regret on our deathbed
[02:52.21]it is the things we do not
[02:54.99]Cause I assure you
[02:55.96]I've done a lot of stupid things
[02:58.38]and none of them bother me
[03:02.17]All the mistakes
[03:03.64]all the dopy things
[03:05.92]and all the times I was embarrassed
[03:07.74]they don't matter
[03:09.41]What matter is that
[03:10.42]I can kind of look back
[03:12.54]and say, pretty much anytime
[03:14.62]I got a chance to do something cool
[03:15.94]I tried to grab for it.
[03:18.92]And that's where my solace come from
[03:21.50]The second thing I would add to that
[03:25.04]and I didn't coordinate
[03:26.20]on the subject of this word
[03:27.94]but I think it's the right word
[03:28.47]that comes up is passion
[03:32.40]And you will need to find you passion
[03:36.24]Many of you have already done it
[03:38.61]many of you will later
[03:39.77]many of you will take till your 30s or 40s
[03:42.56]But don't give up on finding it
[03:45.35]All right
[03:46.72]'cause then all you're doing is
[03:47.54]waiting for the Reaper
[03:50.00]Find you passion and follow it
[03:51.98]And if there's anything I have learned
[03:53.81]in my life
[03:55.02]you will not find passion in things
[03:58.88]And you will not find that passion
[04:01.20]in money
[04:03.57]Because the more things
[04:05.44]and the more money you have
[04:06.72]the more you will just look around
[04:08.07]and use that as the metric
[04:09.59]and there will always be someone with more
[04:12.87]So your passion must come from
[04:15.05]the things that fuel you from the inside
[04:18.72]And honors and awards are nice things
[04:21.70]but only to be the extent
[04:23.22]that they regard
[04:24.39]the real respect from your peers
[04:27.93]And to be thought well of
[04:29.04]by other people that you think
[04:31.16]even more highly of
[04:32.17]is a tremendous honor that I've been granted
[04:36.26]Find you passion
[04:37.43]and in my experience
[04:40.51]no matter what you do at work
[04:42.23]or what you do in official settings
[04:44.71]that passion would be grounded in people
[04:47.74]And it will be grounded
[04:50.07]in the relationships you have with people
[04:52.81]and what they think of you
[04:55.33]when you time comes
[04:58.57]And if you can gain the respect
[05:00.70]of those around you
[05:02.07]and the passion
[05:03.68]and true love
[05:05.76]and I've said this before
[05:07.63]but I waited till 39 to get married
[05:10.61]because I had to wait that long
[05:11.92]to find someone
[05:13.80]where her happiness
[05:15.18]was more important than mine
[05:17.56]And if nothing else I hope
[05:19.44]that all of you can find
[05:20.55]that kind of passion
[05:21.67]and that kind of love in your life
[05:25.01]Thank you