To The Graduating Class of 2023...

Generally, yesterday represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class and many graduations across the state and country.  And my thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart last night and today through those ceremonies in commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note, that the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2023, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  I hope you know how much of an honor I consider this to be, to be given the opportunity to impart one more lesson on this special night.

Though I realize it was [cough - mumbled inaudible number of] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  And remembering how I felt that night, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

Tonight is a moment of transition.  The point where a chapter closes and an entirely new chapter begins.  For some, that is continued academic pursuit through college or trade school.  For some, that means the enlistment in the service of our country.  For some, that means the beginning of their profession.  Many, many different chapters, different stories starting here.  Tonight. 

In that vein, I want to impart a few wishes for you as you new story begins.

First, I hope you fail.  

Good and hard.  At something you really wanted to achieve and worked for.  

I know this sounds harsh, but it serves a purpose.

It means you stretched yourself outside the known and comfortable.  You tried something new.  And you cared enough to give it your all.  

It means you are growing.  That you are continuing to be and develop.

And it you do, you would be in good company.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."  After that, he started a number of businesses that did not last too long, ending in bankruptcy and failure.  He lost his only creative success at the time to a rival, when Oswald the Lucky Rabbit went to Universal.  But he kept plugging away and found a recipe for success that worked, all thanks to a little mouse.  Walt would later state "It is good to have a failure while you're young because it teaches you so much...and once you've lived through the worst, you're never quite as vulnerable afterward."

In fact, you can see this occur repeatedly in the lives of people that we find successful now.  Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she "wasn't fit for TV."  The Beatles were rejected by Decca Recording because the company "didn't like their sound" and stated that they "have no future in show business."  Albert Einstein's teachers said he would "never amount to much."  J.K. Rowling was rejected by publisher after publisher until she found one that would finally publish her little book series.

What we see from each of these people is that failure is only a problem if you do not learn anything from it.  If you never try again.  If you give up.

So when you fail, approach it like a scientist.  That particular experiment did not work, so change the variables.  

Or approach it like an artist.  Revise and go back to the drawing board.  

Or like an athlete.  Get back up off the mat and keep swinging.

Whatever metaphor works for you, use it.  Let it be your drive.  Try, fail, try again with changes from whatever you have learned.  And then repeat the cycle.  Just keep at it.

Similarly, I hope you get fired.  

From a job you like. And for unfair reasons. 

Because it removes the fear of the act. 

And it allows you to stand up when it matters. 

To speak up when those around you are being mistreated.  When you are being greatly undervalued. When you are being taken advantage of.

When you need to do what is right. 

Being fired frees you from the fear that it is the worst thing that can happen to you. That it is a final end. 

It’s not. It’s a change. It can be a new beginning. And speaking from personal experience, it can be the exact needed change at the exact right time. 

Further, being fired provides you a more intimate knowledge of your worth.  You now know exactly what you will and will not put up with in your employment.  It frees you to more directly seek that promotion, that raise, that benefit. After all, what’s the worst they can do, fire you?

Next, I hope you get your heart broken.

Because it means you have one.

And this is not just about romantic love.  Far from it.  It's about all kinds of love.  Love and kindness towards friends, family, strangers.  

It's about being willing to be charitable and gracious to your fellow man.  To look for the good in those around you.  Being open and a part of the community around you, rather than an isolated individual.

People today are able to be more connected to one another than ever before in human history.  We have so many communication tools that enable us to remain in contact on a global scale like never before.  But we are also more lonely and distant from one another in our unplugged lives.  

This dichotomy cannot remain.  

Human beings were not meant to function as islands.  We are social creatures - science shows we suffer greatly when our social bonds are threatened or severed.  C.S. Lewis described humanity as "one great need."  We are all apart of this need and we need each other more than we would care to admit.

I know there are many of you here tonight who have reason to be cautious, reason to be distrusting because of what has occurred in your lives.  I recognize and understand.  Do be cautious, do be measured, but please do not let your past and the bad actions of others completely isolate you from the world.  There are resources available that can help.  And there are avenues and causes to which you can contribute.

So care.  Be passionate and embrace your causes and those around you.  We've seen where division gets us.  Let's try a new approach.

Additionally, I hope you question everything you believe in.

Because only then will you know what you truly believe.  What you are willing to stand for.  What will remain when everything else falls away.

Part of growing up is learning who you are.  Discovering you identity.  And what you really believe.  All to often we try to hold on to "inherited beliefs,"  those that were passed on to us by our parents, our teachers, or the community we grew up in.  The problem with "inherited beliefs" is that they rarely take root because they are not earned or experienced, just observed.

James Baldwin wrote "people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them."  Far too many people are trapped in the beliefs of others around them.  They live the lives they believe they are supposed to live.  And are doing so half-heartedly, at best, or begrudgingly at worst.

My hope is that from this day forward you start exploring the world around you in such a way that leads you to formulate your own firmly held beliefs derived from experience and knowledge.  And for you to keep refining them.  For you to read, read, read, read and explore any areas you have questions about.  For you to ask others and listen far more than you speak.  For you to continue to re-evalute, refine, and refresh your beliefs based on new information and experiences.

I hope you to travel.  Mark Twain put it best when he said "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."  Go see the world and explore places you never thought you would visit.  Get to know the people there and let them inform your understanding of the world.  Let them change you.

I hope you make a variety of new friends.  You do not need more friends that think and act exactly like you.  Make friends with people who challenge you.  Who disagree with you.  And who aren't afraid to discuss these differences with you.  Iron sharpens iron only when it meets at an angle; from a different perspective.  

Discover who you are and from here on, live life only as that person.

Finally, I hope that high school represents the worst years of your life.

Because, I hope, your best days are ahead of you.

I hope none of you have had any truly horrific experiences from these past four years.  To any that have, my deepest and heartfelt condolences.  I pray for healing and comfort for you and those affected.

I wanted to address this topic to specifically address a mindset that can become all too prevalent.  To view high school as "the glory days."  "The greatest years of my life."  

Your best years should be ahead of you.  Tonight should represent merely the closing of an early chapter in your book, in which I pray you have many, many more chapters ahead.  And that is where the plot should get really good.

I know some of you here tonight are waiting, almost impatiently, for something different than high school.  You never quite fit in, never felt you belonged, you were just ready to get out.  And I can say, that while somethings never change, generally, yes, it does get better.

For those of you that are not ready to leave this behind, let me challenge you to run toward the new opportunities in your path.  Remember, there are so many ways now to keep in contact with your roots here.  Cherish those connections, but make new ones as well.

And to those of you that feel trapped by your current circumstances, please know that it can get better.  It may take a fight and it may be long and hard fought, but there is a way.

Because truly, I'm counting on you all to make this a better world.  Your generation has shown a remarkable resilience and desire to change things for the better.  I need you to go out and do incredible things.  To make new inventions, to write new music, to make us laugh, to enact new policies and laws, to raise incredible children.  To protect us.  To defend us. To entertain us.  To correct us.  To lead us.

So go live your story.  And then tell us about it.  

I cannot wait to hear how it turns out.

Thank you.

To The Graduating Class of 2020

In Wills Point, tonight represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class, with graduation tomorrow morning.  My thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart through commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

Like last year, I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note that, again, the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2020, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here and to join in this celebration and transition in your lives.

Though I realize it was [mumbled under breath] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  From my graduation night, I've forgotten a lot of things.  I can't remember the speaker that was present.  I can't remember what was going through my head at the time.  I can't even remember the speech I gave.  It's lost in a fog of memories.  I do remember being ready to move quickly through the ceremony.  To get to the party at home, to get to Project Graduation.  To get on with this new beginning.  In that spirit, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

I suspect, though, many of you will never forget this graduation.  It's probably not happening in the way you imagined it, if it's happening it all.  It may not be in person, and you may be hearing me via live stream or recorded message.  It may be happening at a much later time than you would have liked.  It may be happening with far fewer people in the audience, sitting much farther apart than they normally would.

And yet, life still goes on.

You more than most have learned how to adapt.  These last two and a half months have proved that.  You've been forced into new learning environments, new technologies, new social norms, new world wide situations.  And yet, you are here.  You have adapted, you have learned, you have grown.

That's the secret to life.  

To grow, to learn, to adapt and change.

To roll with it.

For while I do not claim to have it all figured out, I do know this, life has a way of humbling us.  Even if we can perfect all the things in our control, something can always intervene.  Hurricanes, death, disease.  Quarantine.

What matters is how you respond to it?

Will you learn and grow from your situation?  Or will you try, foolishly, to remain unchanged?

Louise Erdich said, "Things that do not grow and change are dead things."  Are you alive or dead?

Have you learned something from this quarantine?  This interruption of life?  Or are you focused on restoring the status quo?

I pray you do better than the status quo.  I pray you have learned that this season has revealed systemic issues that will fall to your generation to address.  Issues like:

• The need for better healthcare for all of us, healthcare that does not disproportionately affect specific communities.
• The need for better access to voting.  It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to plan for more accessible ways to vote than standing in lines.
• The need for broadband internet as a public utility, accessible by all.  Education success should not depend on your ability to find and pay for high-speed internet.
• The need for better education funding and solutions.
• The need for a living minimum wage.  Our lowest paid workers were essential in this crisis. Many of our highest paid were not.  Think on that.
• The recognition of the impact we can have on our planet.  Look how quickly the planet started to heal itself when we were slowed down.
• The need to address our racial bias.  To address the sin that we have ignored for so long in this country.  The need to heal the wounds of slavery once and for all.

That's a big list.  It is daunting.  It contains a laundry list of things the generations before me and my generation have so far failed to accomplish.

The great thing is, I think you are all up for the challenge.  The last two and a half months have proven you are ready for whatever life throws at you.  That you can adapt.  That you can learn.  That you can change. 

That you can do better than us.

Keep it up.

Patriotism

"The Constitution is at the foundation of our Republic's success, and we each strive not to lose sight of our promise to defend it. The Constitution established the vehicle of impeachment that has occupied both houses of Congress for these many days. We have labored to faithfully execute our responsibilities to it. We have arrived at different judgments, but I hope we respect each other's good faith.

The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious. As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise "impartial justice." I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.

The House Managers presented evidence supporting their case; the White House counsel disputed that case. In addition, the President's team presented three defenses: first, that there can be no impeachment without a statutory crime; second, that the Bidens' conduct justified the President's actions; and third that the judgement of the President's actions should be left to the voters. Let me first address each of those defenses.

The historic meaning of the words "high crimes and misdemeanors," the writings of the Founders and my own reasoned judgement convince me that a president can indeed commit acts against the public trust that are so egregious that while they are not statutory crimes, they would demand removal from office. To maintain that the lack of a codified and comprehensive list of all the outrageous acts that a president might conceivably commit renders Congress powerless to remove a president defies reason.

The President's counsel noted that Vice President Biden appeared to have a conflict of interest when he undertook an effort to remove the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. If he knew of the exorbitant compensation his son was receiving from a company actually under investigation, the Vice President should have recused himself. While ignoring a conflict of interest is not a crime, it is surely very wrong.

With regards to Hunter Biden, taking excessive advantage of his father's name is unsavory but also not a crime. Given that in neither the case of the father nor the son was any evidence presented by the President's counsel that a crime had been committed, the President's insistence that they be investigated by the Ukrainians is hard to explain other than as a political pursuit. There is no question in my mind that were their names not Biden, the President would never have done what he did.

The defense argues that the Senate should leave the impeachment decision to the voters. While that logic is appealing to our democratic instincts, it is inconsistent with the Constitution's requirement that the Senate, not the voters, try the president. Hamilton explained that the Founders' decision to invest senators with this obligation rather than leave it to voters was intended to minimize—to the extent possible—the partisan sentiments of the public.

This verdict is ours to render. The people will judge us for how well and faithfully we fulfilled our duty. The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the President committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a "high crime and misdemeanor."

Yes, he did.

The President asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival.

The President withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so.

The President delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders.

The President's purpose was personal and political.

Accordingly, the President is guilty of an appalling abuse of the public trust.

What he did was not "perfect"— No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security interests, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine.

In the last several weeks, I have received numerous calls and texts. Many demand that, in their words, "I stand with the team." I can assure you that that thought has been very much on my mind. I support a great deal of what the President has done. I have voted with him 80% of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented, and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history's rebuke and the censure of my own conscience.

I am aware that there are people in my party and in my state who will strenuously disapprove of my decision, and in some quarters, I will be vehemently denounced. I am sure to hear abuse from the President and his supporters. Does anyone seriously believe I would consent to these consequences other than from an inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it of me?

I sought to hear testimony from John Bolton not only because I believed he could add context to the charges, but also because I hoped that what he said might raise reasonable doubt and thus remove from me the awful obligation to vote for impeachment.

Like each member of this deliberative body, I love our country. I believe that our Constitution was inspired by Providence. I am convinced that freedom itself is dependent on the strength and vitality of our national character. As it is with each senator, my vote is an act of conviction. We have come to different conclusions, fellow senators, but I trust we have all followed the dictates of our conscience.

I acknowledge that my verdict will not remove the President from office. The results of this Senate Court will in fact be appealed to a higher court: the judgement of the American people. Voters will make the final decision, just as the President's lawyers have implored. My vote will likely be in the minority in the Senate. But irrespective of these things, with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me. I will only be one name among many, no more or less, to future generations of Americans who look at the record of this trial. They will note merely that I was among the senators who determined that what the President did was wrong, grievously wrong.

We're all footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful nation on earth, the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that is distinction enough for any citizen."

Mitt Romeny, voting against party to remove the president, February 5, 2020