Post Great Graduation Speeches here!

[Whirrled]

i'm still looking for one copy of a grad speech I have . . . hope you get to post your copies of good ones here.

Thanks!

:)

[Whirrled]

UA&P is an Impeachment Court
Eman Antonio

Note: This is the Salutatory Speech given during the 6th UA&P Graduation Rites on June 9, 2001 at the Camp Aguinaldo Theater


To Our honorable guest Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., the President Dr. Josemaria Mariano, deans of the different schools, and the management staff and faculty members of the University of Asia and the Pacific, our beloved parents and guests, fellow candidates, A pleasant Afternoon.

UA&P is an Impeachment Court. On trial, are we, the students who need to prove our innocence of the crime we are accused of: the crime of ignorance. On the bench are our teacher-judges, who like the senator-judges decide not only upon our guilt or our innocence but also on the validity of the evidences we present. And serving as the Presiding Officer, are the administrators who ensure the smooth proceeding of the court.

Serving as the prosecution and the defense, are our daily decisions which present to the teacher-judges evidences of our guilt or innocence. These evidences come in various forms such as Assignments, Exams, and Projects.

One of the adjectives that was used to describe the Impeachment Trial of former President Estrada was exciting. And it was indeed exciting, for everyday we witnessed various revelations about the accused, we heard heated arguments about the innocence or guilt of the accused, and we saw how the senator-judges deliberated upon the evidences.

The Impeachment Court that is UA&P is equally, if not more, exciting. For the past four years that I've been on trial, I've discovered exciting revelations not only about myself but also about my batchmates and my friends. We discovered evidence of our hidden wealth, talents which we never knew were there but which the Impeachment Court drew out of us.

We experienced heated arguments regarding our evidences whenever we opened the sealed envelope containing our grades. Arguments became even more heated whenever we showed the evidence to our parents.

But the most exciting part for me is when we go through the stage of teacher-judges deliberating upon our evidence.

There were some times when we'd have teacher-judges who'd throw us out of the courtroom for staring at them in a provocative manner, or for looking on our watches, or for failing to bring required evidence.

There were other times when we'd have teacher-judges telling us that 96 grams are almost a kilogram or that good-bye in French is Déjà vu.

There were also other times when we'd have teacher-judges who'd accept hook, line, and sinker, evidence created by unknown characters such as "Jose Velarde" or quotes taken from fictional European Sociologists like Sabine Frohliche.

But most of the time, it was exciting because our teacher-judges (at least those who judged my case) knew exactly what they were supposed to do.

Take for example the honorable teacher-judge Cora Toralba, who once told my youngest brother "Sorry na lang yang kuya mo at hindi gumana yung mga bola nya sa akin" after she gave me the lowest philosophy grade I ever got.

Or the honorable teacher-judge Margaret Puyat who judged evidence based on content and, even though it was not required of her, grammar as well.

Or the honorable teacher-judge Vince Cruz who spends a lot of time not only thoroughly reviewing the evidence we present but who also ensures that the evidence we present is well thought out.

For providing us these teacher-judges as well as the smooth operation of our Impeachment Court, we have to give credit the Presiding Officer, the UA&P Administration.

In all of my previous articles and commentaries, I've rarely mentioned the people behind the Administration. And the one time that I did mention them, when I wrote the article "My Tuition Fee", I almost got kicked-out of the University.

So, just to be safe, all that I will say to them this afternoon is, for all the times that you've been as just as the Honorable Chief Justice Davide, thank you. For all your fair rulings especially those which were unfavorable to us, thank you all the more. And for all the times you may not have hit the standard set by the Honorable Chief Justice, there is still a lot of time to change and room to grow.

But the Impeachment Court would never have been there in the first place if it weren't for the taxpayers. The unknown masses who poured in a significant part of their resources to fund the trial.

To our parents and sponsors, the oftentimes-unacknowledged taxpayers of our trial, we can only thank you today through our words. But, should we be proven innocent of the crime of ignorance, we can thank you tomorrow and in the days to come with concrete and responsible action.

Today, my fellow accused, after learning that Ice Tea is drunk not eaten, that human beings are respected not used, and that life is a gift worth living, we shall receive the final verdict regarding our case of ignorance. Tomorrow, and in the days to come, we shall inevitably be entering another Impeachment Court where the judges will no longer be our teachers, but our employers; no longer our batchmates, but our friends; and no longer our parents, but our spouses and children. And then we shall be charged with new cases such as Productivity as an Employee, Trustworthiness as a Friend, and later on for most of us, Responsibility as a Parent.

Thank you, and a pleasant afternoon to all.

:)

[BLU519]

ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY
March 2001

Seeing In The Dark By The Light Of The Stars
by Roselle R. Ambubuyog, Valedictorian of Batch 2001

Valedictory address delivered by Roselle R. Ambubuyog on the occasion of the Commencement Exercises of the Ateneo Manila University - Loyola Schools on Saturday, March 24 2001, 3:30pm, at the Ateneo High School Covered Courts.

Honorable Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., Fr. Provincial Romeo Intengan, S.J., Mr. Octavio Espiritu, Chairman of the Board, Fr. President Bienvenido Nebres, S.J., honored guests, Vice Presidents, Deans, administrators, faculty, staff, parents, alumni, fellow graduates, and friends:

Some of you may wonder why I was guided up this stage, and why I wear dark glasses. You see, I am totally blind. I have been blind for fifteen years now. Yet God did not leave me groping in the dark; but has actually given me stars to light my way.

Four years ago, I took the Entrance Test, after the Office of Admission and Aid, then headed by Dr. Manny Dy, hired a special education teacher from the Philippine National School for the Blind to Braille the test. When I passed, Fr. Ben Nebres encouraged me to major in mathematics, since he had met blind students in Stanford University who were able to do so. I hesitated, thinking that although I loved numbers, math seemed a course too "visual" for me to handle. To my delight, the Ateneo offered to purchase special equipment: Translator software to convert text from print to Braille, and a printer to produce exams and reading materials in Braille format.

Thus I enrolled here, half dreading the problems and changes which teachers and I would inevitably confront. From the start, however, all the teachers were willing to adjust their teaching methods to meet my needs. Dr. Queena Lee-Chua and Dr. Flor Francisco surfed the Net for appropriate technology and approaches. Soon we were able to solve inconveniences, like making Braille versions of long and complicated tables such as those of statistical data and probability values, even the Periodic Table of chemical elements.

Moreover, we had to improvise laboratory apparatus to enable me to perform experiments. Dr. Toby Dayrit, Dr. Noreen Gonzales, and my father placed Braille labels on the triple beam balance to mark its calibrations so that I could measure masses. Also, for measuring liquid volumes, they made indentations along the side of a syringe plunger, where the distance between consecutive slits corresponded to a milliliter of liquid. It was the combined creative imagination of my family and teachers that allowed me to visualize the things I needed to see. Since I had lost my sight only at the age of six, I was capable of sketching a mental picture of something being described to me in exquisite detail. For instance, Dr. Cathy Vistro-Yu used her little daughter's toys of various shapes to explain to me what hyperbolic paraboloids, ellipsoids, and other quadric surfaces looked like.

I was not exempt from regular requirements. Just like any ordinary student, I had to take physical education courses. My instructor in ballroom dancing, Ms. Weena Lorenzo, painstakingly directed me through the steps of cha-cha, boogie, and swing. She paid meticulous attention to how my hands and feet should move, to every twist of the body, and to the shifting of my weight from one foot to the other. We thank our mentors for being good teachers from whom we learn a lot. But I am certain that each of us has encountered teachers who helped us best by becoming students themselves: open to learning new things, developing better methods, nurturing our true potentials.

Other students also supported me in my determined quest to excel. One dearest to me who shares part of my success is Ria Beth Cuevas, a fellow math major. During class hours, when my father would not be with me, Ria would be my guide, accompanying me as I moved from one building to another. Sitting beside me in every class, she would read to me the writing on the blackboard, or printed materials. She would trace graphs on my palm with her finger so that I could feel and imagine them. Whenever I had to do research, get something photocopied, have lunch at the cafeteria, listen to films and plays, Ria was always there to help me SEE. Other friends have been similarly kind, and I am equally grateful to them. I believe everyone's life is blessed to have a Ria Beth, a person whose genuine kindness is a human miracle that eases the pain of suffering.

My experiences were not limited to the campus. In February of last year, I attended the National Ayala Young Leaders Congress in Tagaytay as one of 70 student delegates from all over the country. Part of our leadership-training activities were challenges to physical strength and courage. In one event, teams of three delegates wearing safety harnesses climbed a 50-foot wall. The one in the middle was blindfolded, and the other two were responsible for indicating hand- and foot-holds. Two students volunteered to be my teammates, and though it was not necessary, I was blindfolded. We slowly progressed in our climb, my feet slipping sometimes off footholds and my hands groping for protruding stones on the wall. But we reached the top! Exhausted, we completed the activity by rappelling. I realized then how much more we could do if we dared go beyond what appear to be our limits. Even if fears persist to hinder us from achieving something, what really matters is the shift from "I can't do it," to "I can try". I went beyond my impairment by doing not only what sighted people can do, but also what they sometimes are too frightened to try.

Yet, the real highlights of my college life were the moments when I explored the worlds of other people whose needs were far greater than mine. We Ateneans were not kept in shells of comfort and bliss, but were often drawn out to experience a life of suffering with and for others. I had close encounters with disabled students, particularly blind children who had lost their sight due to the radiation in chemotherapy. I wanted to let them see in me the hope that lies for them and for all those whose fate seems to have taken a bad turn.

A grade school boy, Martin Afable, is particularly dear to me. Aside from helping him and his family accept his blindness, I shared with them the ways by which a visually impaired person not born with disability, could cope. Martin and I would go to the movies together to watch Titanic or Godzilla. I would watch the film first with my family, and remember how my brother described the scenes I could not visualize by just listening to the conversations between characters. Then, I showed the Afables, how Martin could watch a movie through them, demonstrating as I described the events for him the way my brother did. Spending time with them, I have witnessed how graciously Martin's family loved him. More clearly, because of these experiences, I see how much my own family love and inspire me.

Much of my life is a result of the great sacrifices my family has made and continues to make. My father left the job he held for 23 years just to concentrate on me when I lost my sight in 1986. He drives me to school, picks me up at the end of the day, accompanies me to competitions, and always gives me moral support in the various activities in which I participate, although most of the time, all this prevents him from going to PHIVOLCS, where he is now a consultant. At home, my mother and brothers read to me textbooks and references, since they are not always available in Braille. Therefore, whenever I have to stay up late to study, the whole family is kept awake all night. In fact, I am not alone in graduating with honors; my family, especially my father, deserves even more the recognition I will receive, because my achievements are theirs as well. I can say that although God took away my sight, He has definitely given me many pairs of eyes and now I see better. Somehow, God has done the same for all of us. Everyone experiences disabilities one way or another; mine is just more obvious than yours. We are all fortunate to have loved ones, who help us bear the burdens brought about by our weaknesses. We may find ourselves in the dark, but we should not be afraid to move forward, because we have the light of our stars to count on, and to be thankful for.

We thank our teachers for seeing in us our God-given gifts, trusting that we can use them to develop ourselves and nurture others. I want to express my deep gratitude to my special education teachers back in grade school and high school, for opening the eyes of my heart to see, despite my physical blindness.

We thank our fellow Ateneans for journeying with us as we went through the process of learning how to soar above the storm, or to bear the painful glare of the sun in our eyes, fearing no blindness, as we confront all challenges.

In behalf of all the scholars, I thank our benefactors for showing us the joy in giving out of what we need ourselves, so that the welfare of those with greater need may be promoted. As a scholar of the Ateneo Schools Parents' Council, I am indebted to the whole Ateneo community, especially to all parents, for giving me the opportunity to receive the best education.

Likewise, we commend the organizations we worked for and with, in order to extend our services to others. I particularly praise the efforts of the Resources for the Blind Inc., a nonprofit organization that has met the special needs of the visually impaired in different ways: from providing the equipment that we need, to distributing books and magazines in Braille, large print, or audio format, and to spreading the Word of God by giving the blind free Bibles. May our Lord bless you even more.

Finally, words of much love and thanks will never suffice to let our loved ones - immediate family members and relatives - know fully our sincere appreciation for their being here with us. We praise God for choosing them to be the greatest stars shining in our lives.

No matter what our weaknesses are, we can most gladly boast about them, for God's grace is sufficient for us, and His divine power is made manifest through the loving acts of these special people.

Congratulations to all of us, and may blessings pour on us in the years to come.

Thank you and happy graduation!

[lech0n 420]

Mga Kababayan Ko...

Ako si Lechon Fourtwenty, graduating student, Majoring in Business Management, graduating after FIVE LONG YEARS! WHOO-HAAAAHHH!!! :D I cannot believe it! It's actually happening to me! OH YEAHHHHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!!

Nais kong ipasalamat ang lahat ng mga kaibigan ko, para sa lahat ng moral sup0t! Inuman tayo mamaya mga pare! At sa girlfriend ko, thanks for nothing kasi wala akong girlfriend! :shy: Sa mga magulang ko, sori kung medyo nasayang ang lahat ng pera na ginastos nyo para sa tuition...pramis, bawi ako sa grad school kung makakaafford na akong umattend ng grad school!

At sa lahat ng mga konyoticus blockmaticus ko, where the hell were you when I needed you? Oh, you were gimmicking the day away, eating too much lechon for your own good while I was getting high next to some restaurant in the University Mall! All you cared about is the material things that someone like me could only dream about! And now...I am going to work to reach your exalted level...and Mr. Least Likely To Succeed will be on top...dancing the Macarena on top of your stomachs! WHOOOO-HAAAAAAHHHH!!!! College memories eh 'no!

All right, fellow graduates! With these words, I leave you in peace. Hopefully you will never see me again, but if we do, I hope you won't be seeing me behind bars. LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!!! And to all the teachers who flunked me...

KUMAIN NA LANG KAYO NG LECHON!!! :bop:

LECHON = LYDIA'S (TM)

[tina11]

Undersecretary Rosario Manalo, Dean Josefina Agravante, esteemed faculty, dear parents, fellow graduates, good evening.

Let me begin by saying that my mother is a domestic helper. In other people's homes she cooks, does the laundry, cleans the bathroom,and takes care of the infants.

She put me through school doing that kind of work because that was the only thing she could do. She never finished high school, never enjoyed bourgeois luxuries. And later tonight, we'll be going home to our hovel in a squatter area in Taytay, Rizal dubbed Coco Village because most of the houses are made of cheap, coco lumber.

And yet, few of my classmates know that. Most are comfortable with their neat picture of the world. Comfortable with cute, little concerns in the University like projects and papers, reports, boyfriends and girlfriends, torn hymens, cheap thrills in the lagoon, concerts, cellphones, night lives. And in this age that flaunts globalization and the advance of technology, we are led to believe more and more that we have entered an age of solidarity, unity, an age where there is inter-connection in a global village that continues to spawn genuine development for all mankind.

Indirectly, it leads us to a complacency supported by the lie that the world is alright. After all, we feel alright. The pain and suffering exists somewhere out there to a few insignificant people.

I have walked among you. But lost in anonymity, I am assumed to be no different from anyone even by some of my friends.
When I was a freshman, a close friend of mine enjoyed lambasting the squatter, the jologs, for their bad behavior, their bad smell, their propensity for breeding baby after baby whom they cannot support. My friend did not realize that I was from that background. He did not realize that I grew up watching my friends die of sickness, or get pregnant too early, or get injured or killed in petty street wars, or go to jail, or get resigned to the typical, monotonous lifestyle of the poor.

And the assumption that everything is alright grows with the lie that we are more or less the same, that we are united, that the dawning new world order has started to bring the sought after solidarity.

But the right approach to true solidarity and unity is not one that denies difference, denies the pain of the oppressed just because it is not beautiful, or as our country's President says, "It is too depressing."

The right approach is to expose the truth, highlight the difference and work for its remedy. For as long as there are poor people, Moros discriminated against, oppressed women, abused children, and multitudes of other categories consigned to the margins because they threaten the image of unity and stability that feeds the established status quo, there can be no true solidarity. But the creativity of the artist, the magic of their potent images, the words of the men and women of letters---these have the power to transform, power to wake our people from the stupor that gives them dreams that are lies. Power to destroy myths and create a world that is beautiful and true.

Of course, the arts and letters can be used the other way. The way that sells out, aids corruption, subverts the potentiality of what is good. But will you?

As graduates we are in a phase that continues to taunt us with the question, "Who do you sell your brains to?" It is easy to be complacent. To believe the lies. But we shouldn't. We owe it to our teachers who taught us patiently despite the low salary, our parents who worked so hard for us, and to our people whose blood and sweat built this institution and continue to put us through school. We owe it to them to become the prophets of this age that will preach the true gospel of solidarity. Only then can we all be truly one in a world where it would make perfect sense to celebrate the fact --- squatter ako, katulong ang nanay ko---and we are proud because, and not in spite of, the fact.

I'm sure, all of us have issues about which we keep silent because of the power of the lies. This is the day to be free. I call on you --- fellow scholars and artists, unite!

Joseph Nathan Cruz, BA English Studies:Creative Writing, Magna Cum Laude, College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman.

[NUSSie]

I think Nathan Cruz's speech is the best I've read so far. He was able to capture the apathy of the Filipino youth in very candid words.

What makes his speech very outstanding is its honesty and simplicity. He didn't garnish it with useless bull. He basically said what we don't really want to hear.

[monsterboy]

uy tina11 ! buti natagpuan mo yang speech na yan..ive been looking for that! *okay* sobrang ok yang sppech na yan!

btw, does any1 know the graduation speech of neil ongkingco? the one he delivered during the university graduation rites last april 2001? (he delivered his 2 speeches, one for his home college -- UP Engg, and another for the university.)

[n3X]

Mensahe ng Kinatawan ng mga Nagtapos
UP Diliman 90th Commencement Exercises April 22 2001

Purihin natin at sundan ang halimbawa ng mga taong ito. Purihin natin sila dahil sila'y tayo. Naniniwala akong na sa bawat isa sa atin ang pagmamahal sa kapwa, ang pagmamahal sa bayan. Naniniwala ako na ang mga kahanga-hangang mga katangiang ito'y nasa atin pa rin, na tayo'y hindi pa hustong nilalamon ng kumunoy ng kasinungalingan, ng pagwawalang-bahala, ng walang isip na pagsunod sa tradisyon. Naniniwala akong karamihan sa ati'y kaya pang mangarap, na ating mga isipa'y hindi pa tuluyang nakatanikala sa mga materyal na pangangailangan. Naniniwala akong umaalab pa sa ating mga puso ang apoy ng kabataan, ang apoy na kinakailagan upang harapin ang anumang bagay nang walang takot o alinlangan. Naniniwala ako sa inyo. Kaya ang hiling ko sa inyo'y hindi ang pagbabago, ngunit ang pananatili ng inyong mga sarili. Manatili tayong nangangarap, dahil lahat nang mabuting bagay ay nagsimula sa pangarap. Panatilihin natin ang ating tiwala sa sarili, panatilihin natin ang ating paniniwala sa katotohanan, sa kabutihan. Huwag tayong maging engineer na nagpe-presyo ng sampung piso sa iraso ng bakal na ang tunay na halaga'y piso. Huwag tayong maging accountant na ang sagot sa 1+1 ay "Anong gusto mo, aaregulhin ko."

Lubos kong ikinararangal ang pagkakataong ito na makapagsalita para sa mga magtatapos. Kasabay na rin ng karangalang aking nadarama'y ang hiya, dahil tila hindi sapat ang aking kakayahan upang magbigay ng sapat na papuri sa mga tunay na pinararangalan sa okasyong ito.

Sinu-sino ang dapat nating parangalan? Kilala ninyo sila. Mga estudyanteng mayroon pa ring panahon upang tulungan ang kanilang mga kaibigan sa isang suliranin. Mga gurong nag-aapoy pa rin ang kanilang pagtuturo, na hindi pa rin nawawalan ng pag-asa kahit na sanlaksa na ang mga mag-aaral na walang pakialam ang nagdaan sa kanila. Mga taong nakapaghahanap pa rin ng oras na gagamitin upang ipaalam sa madla ang tunay na nilalaman ng mga isyung humaharap sa lipunan. Mga nag-rarally at pasigaw na nagpapahayag ng mga bagay na ang iba'y takot ibulong. Ang mga nauna sa EDSA, na hindi nagdalawang-isip na doo'y pumunta at doon na nanatili magmula pa noong pinakamadilim na gabi sa liderato ng Pilipinas. Ang mga tao hanggang ngayon ay walang alinlangan sa pagtulong sa kapwa sa halip na sa sarili. Ako'y walang karapatang magsalita para sa kanila nguni't hayaan ninyong sabihin ko na kayo ang dapat na parangalan at purihin sa okasyong ito. Huwag maging abogadong nananalo sa kaso dahil kay Pareng Judge. Huwag maging negosyanteng kumikita dahil sa "unofficial tax exemption". Sa pagpasok natin sa mundong puno ng dungis at mga demonyong naghahasik ng karumihan ay pilitin sana nating huwag madungisan.

Maaring mali and paniniwala kong ito. Maaring tayo'y nabalutan at nabulag na ng putik. Maaring wala na ngang pag-asa, tayo at ang ating bayan. Ngunit sa pagtingin sa inyo, ang kinang ng pangarap sa inyong mga mata at paghanga't pagmamalaki ng inyong mga magulang at guro ay nawwala sa aking alinlangan. May pag-asa pa. Naniniwala ako sa inyo, aking mga kamag-aral. Naniniwala ako sa inyo.

Neil Ongkingco
Summa Cum Laude, BS Computer Science'01
College of Engineering
University of the Philippines Diliman

[monsterboy]

thanks n3x! that speech was amazing! whered you find iT?

[n3X]

kinalkal ko old na issue ng Forums ko. love kita eh. hahaha joke

U-nibersidad ng Pilipinas!

[monsterboy]

Originally posted by Maverick


eto medyo dati pa rin, pero very inspirational din...

The following is a commencement address
delivered at Villanova U. by author Anna Quindlen.

It's a great honor for me to be the third member
of my family to receive an honorary doctorate
from this great university. It is an honor to follow
my great-Uncle Jim, who was a gifted physician,
and my Uncle Jack, who is a remarkable businessman.
Both of them could have told you something important
about their professions, about medicine or commerce.
I have no specialized field of interest or expertise,
which puts me at a disadvantage talking to you today.
I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is
all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life
and your work. The second is only part of the first.

Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator
Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run
for reelection because he'd been diagnosed with
cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish
I had spent more time in the office."

Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a
postcard last year: "If you win the rat race, you're
still a rat."

Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned
down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is
what happens while you are busy making other plans."

You walk out of here this afternoon with only one
thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds
of people out there with your same degree. There
will be thousands of people doing what you want
to do for a living. But you will be the only person
alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular
life, your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, of your
heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore.
It's so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit.
But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night,
or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when
you've gotten back the test results and they're not so
good.

Here is my resume. I am a good mother to three
children. I have tried never to let my profession
stand in the way of being a good parent. I no
longer consider myself the center of the universe.
I show up, I listen, I try to laugh. I am a good friend
to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows
mean what they say. I show up, I listen, I try to laugh.

I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me.
Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today,
because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them
on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I show up,
I listen, I try to laugh. I would be rotten, or at best
mediocre at my job, if those other things were not true.
You cannot be really first rate at your work if your
work is all you are.

So here's what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life,
a real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion,
the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think
you'd care so very much about those things if you
blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in
your breast? Get a life in which you notice the smell
of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights,
a life in which you stop and watch how a red tailed hawk
circles over the Water Gap or the way a baby scowls with
concentration when she tries to pick up a cheerio with
her thumb and first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you
love, and who love you, and remember that love
is not leisure, it is work. Each time you look at your
diploma, remember that you are still a student,
still learning how to best treasure your connection to others.
Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter.
Kiss your Mom. Hug your Dad. Get a life in which
you are generous.

Look around at the azaleas in the suburban neighborhood
where you grew up. Look at a full moon hanging
silver in a black, black sky on a cold night, and realize
that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business
taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness
that you want to spread it around. Take money you would have
spent on beer and give it to charity.

Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. All of you
want to do well, but if you do not do good also, then doing
well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours,
our minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the color
of the azaleas, the sheen of the limestone on Fifth Avenue,
the color of our kids eyes, the way the melody in a
symphony rises and falls and disappears and rises again.
It is so easy to exist instead of live.

I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really
bad happened to me, something that changed my life in
ways that, if I had my druthers, it would never have
been changed at all.

What I learned from it is what today seems to be the
hardest lesson of all. I learned to love the journey,
not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal,
and that today is the only guarantee you get. I learned to
look at all the good in the world and to try to give some
of it back because I believed in it completely and utterly.
And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I
had learned. By telling them this:

Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on a
baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on
your face. Learn to be happy, and think of life as a
terminal illness because if you do you will live it with
joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

Well, you can learn all those things, out there, if you
get a real life, a full life, a professional life, yes,
but another life, too, a life of love and laughs and a
connection to other human beings. Just keep your eyes and
ears open. Here you could learn in the classroom. In life,
the classroom is everywhere. The exam comes at the very end.

I found one of my best teachers on the boardwalk at
Coney Island maybe 15 years ago. It was December,
and I was doing a story about how the homeless
survive in the winter months. He and I sat on the edge of
the wooden supports, dangling our feet over the side,
and he told me about his schedule, panhandling the
boulevard when the summer crowds were gone, sleeping in
a church when the temperature went below freezing,
hiding from the police amidst the "Tilt a Whirl" and the
"Cyclone" and some of the other seasonal rides. But he told
me that most of the time he stayed on the boardwalk, facing
the water, just the way we were sitting now even when it
got cold and he had to wear his newspapers after he read
them. And I asked him why he didn't go to one of the
shelters? Why didn't he check himself into the hospital for
detox?

And he just stared out at the ocean and said, "Look at the view,
young lady. Look at the view."

And every day, in some little way, I try to do what he said.
I try to look at the view. And that's the last thing I have to
tell you today, words of wisdom from a man with not a
dime in his pocket, no place to go, nowhere to be.

"Look at the view and you'll never be disappointed."


.. before they're gone.
(or at least one of them)

found this at another thread :)

[HeriotWatt]

Contribute naman kayo dito.

[Prof. Umbridge]

'Pitong bagay sa buhay na natutunan ko sa U.P'

by PROF. RYAN CAYABYAB

(Commencement speech given on April 24 before the Class of 2005)



Maraming salamat po, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. UP President Emerlinda Roman, former presidents Jose Abueva and Noel Soriano, UP Diliman Chancellor Dr. Sergio Cao, the Board of Regents, U.P. faculty and administrative staff, co-professors from the College of Music, classmates from UP High 1970, fellow alumni, graduates, and friends:


Malugod kong binabati kayong mga nagsisipagtapos ngayong taong 2005. Isang karangalan ang pagtayo ko dito upang maghatid ng isang talumpati para sa inyo.

Huwag kayong mag-alala, maiksi lamang ang aking sasabihin. Kinikilala kong ako ay isang mamamayan ng UP. Unang nasilayan ng aking mga mata ang sinag ng araw sa Area 1, UP Campus, sa may likuran ng Infirmary, kung saan din nanirahan sina Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, si NVM Gonzales, si Jovita Fuentes, si Jose Maceda, at ang mga Lansang, mga Manalang, mga Daza, Cailao, Lesaca, Estrada at marami pang ibang mga pioneering faculty members ng UP Diliman.

Ang nanay ko ay nagturo sa UP College of Music. Apat kaming magkakapatid na lumaki sa sariwang hangin ng Area 1, nanghuhuli ng tutubi at kuliglig sa araw, kulisap naman sa gabi. Diyes ang Coca-cola, singko ang Cosmos. Minsan sa isa o makalawang linggo, may dumaraang truck ng DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) na nag-bubuga ng makapal na usok pampatay ng lamok na nagdudulot ng malaria. Lahat ng bata sa Area 1, at sa buong campus ay sinasalubong itong truck, at kung kaya lang naming magsiawit ng Haleluya noon ay ginawa na namin dahil para kami lahat nasa ulap, nagtatakbuhan, hinahabol at nilalanghap ang maputi at mabangong usok ng DDT truck.


Napakasaya namin. Walang nagsabi sa amin na hindi lamang lamok ang pinapatay ng DDT. Ngayong malalaki na kami at nagbibiruan ang aming egroup na Area 1, napagkasunduan namin na dahil sa DDT na yan, bawat isa sa amin ay may bahid ng kabaliwan, depende sa dami ng nalanghap na DDT.


Marami kaming laro noon sa Area 1 patintero, tumbang preso, siyato, lastiko, gagamba, luksong tinik, step-no, habulan, taguan, teks at holen, na sa palagay ko ay sasabihin ninyong napakalow-tech kumpara sa mga laro ninyo nung kayo'y mga bata. Meron kaming mga sikretong tawagan, sipol at huni. Ang dami kong nais ikuwento tungkol sa aking pagkabata ngunit mauubos ang ating oras.


Nag-aral ako sa UP Elementary School at sa UP High School. Matagal na panahon ding diyes lamang ang bayad sa IKOT. Saan pa ba ako pagkokolehiyo kundi sa UP rin. Una akong pumasok bilang accounting major sa UP College of Business Administration. Sa kabutihang palad, nauntog ako at na-realize ko na ako ay hindi pala maalam sa pagbibilang ng pera.



Tinanggap ako at lumipat sa UP College of Music bilang isang piano major. Nauntog na naman ako at natanto ko na ako ay nagpapanggap lamang na isang Cecil Licad. Mabuti naman at tinanggap ako ng Department of Composition and Theory. Sa maniwala kayo't hindi, tinapos ko itong kurso, Bachelor of Music Major in Composition suma suma-sampong taon bago ko nakuha ang aking diploma. Aba! Naniwala pa sila sa akin at kinuha akong guro. Dito ko nakilala ang isa kong estudiyanteng napakaganda na una kong naging barkada sa kainan at kantahan, nauwi rin sa simbahan. Halos dalawampung taon din ako nagturo sa UP College of Music.


Wala pang tatlong taon na ako ay nagbitiw bilang isang assistant professor; akala ko'y doon na ang katapusan ng aking koneksyon sa UP. Hindi pala, dahil ngayon ang aking panganay ay kasalukuyang isang university scholar sa College of Music.


Mababaw at maikling kasaysayan lamang ito. Gayon pa man, kasaysayan pa rin. Para sa akin, napakahalaga ng aking nakalipas at ito ay lagi kong babalik-balikan.


Habang ako ay papalayo ng papalayo sa aking pinanggalingan, palalim nang palalim ang mga ugat na aking tinatanim, sinisiguro ko lamang na hindi ako maitutumba ng kahit ano mang malakas na bagyo o delubyo na sa buhay ko ay sasapit.


Ngayon, nakita n'yo kung bakit napaka-halaga ng UP sa aking buhay, sana ay maging sa inyo rin. Kahit hindi nyo na nasisilayan ang oblation, at hindi na naririnig ang karilyon, nawa'y nasa puso at isipan lagi ang paaralang kumupkop at nagpalawak ng isip ng bawat isa sa inyo.


Naituro na lahat ng maituturo sa inyo ng inyong mga guro. Alam naman natin na ang bawa't isa sa atin ay may natatanging angking galing. Walang halaga ito kung hindi ninyo gagamitin para sa ikabubuti at ikauunlad ng inyong komunidad, ng inyong pamilya at ng buong sambayanan. Itanghal ninyo ang inyong pagiging Pilipino na nag-aral sa U.P. kahit saan kayo mapadpad.


Meron lang akong dagdag na pabaon sa inyo para lalong di nyo malimutan, ang UP nating mahal. Ito ang pitong mga bagay-bagay tungkol sa buhay na natutunan ko sa U.P.:


1. Ang buhay ay parang IKOT jeep. Ang iyong patutunguhan ay siya ring iyong pinanggalingan.

2. U.P. lang ang may TOKI, sa buhay wala nito. Pero nasasaiyo na yon kung nais mong pabaligtad ang takbo ng buhay mo.

3. Sa IKOT, puede kang magkamali ng baba kahit ilang beses, sasakay ka lang uli. Sa buhay, kapag paikot-ikot ka na at laging mali pa rin ang iyong baba, naku, may sayad ka.

4. Sa U.P., lahat tayo magaling. Aminin nating lahat na tayo'y magagaling. Ang problema dun, lahat tayo magaling!

5. Kung sa U.P. ay sipsip ka na, siguradong paglabas mo, sipsip ka pa rin.

6. Sa U.P., tulad sa buhay, ang babae at ang lalake, at lahat ng nasa gitna, ay patas, walang pinagkaiba sa dunong, sa talino, sa pagmamalasakit, sa kalawakan ng isipan, sa pag-iibigan; at kahit na rin sa kabaliwan, sa kalokohan at sa katarantaduhan.

At ang panghuli:

7. Sa U.P. tulad sa buhay, bawal ang overstaying.

Maraming salamat po!

Mayroon pa akong isang huling pabaon, galing sa puso ko - para rin sa mga puso ninyo, ito ang napili kong paraan upang maisalarawan ang tema ngayong hapon:

"Angking Galing Para sa Sambayanan". Ito ay isang awiting nilikha ko at ng aking kakaklase sa high school na nagtapos din ng kolehiyo sa U.P., aking musika sa titik ni Ome Candazo, sa tulong ng mga kaibigan ko sa San Miguel Master Chorale at San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra na pawang mga alumni ng U.P. 'Hala? ginawang concert ang speech!'

[Prof. Umbridge]

RYAN CAYABYAB GIVES BACK TO UP

By Ivy Lisa F. Mendoza


Last Sunday, a "true-maroon" son of the University of the Philippines (UP) came home to the Diliman campus to inspire the thousands of graduates as this year's commencement speaker.

But it's not as if he left. Because he never did.

Acclaimed musician Ryan Cayabyab has and will always be a son of UP Diliman. He spent his entire childhood in Area 1, a neighborhood located at the campus periphery. He never went to any other school, from primary to college, but the UP. Afterwards, he went on to teach at the College of Music where he met his wife Emy, and now his firstborn is enrolled in the same college, following in his footsteps. No doubt then that he topped the shortlist of commencement speakers for the Class of 2005.

"I do not like delivering speeches, I'd rather write music obviously. But when I was offered to be the speaker, I considered but not after giving it much thought and consultation with friends. Not one of them dissuaded me, everyone told me to go for it,"

Cayabayab narrates in his signature jolly tone. Known as the inimitable Mr. C in the entertainment industry, Cayabyab had previously turned down an invitation to speak at a UP Integrated School graduation ceremonies for exactly the same misgiving.

Ironically, Cayabyab never heard the commencement speaker at his own university graduation simply because he did not attend. "Nahihiya ako, because I overstayed," he laughs. But now he realized the time was here. It was time to give back to the university that honed him to be what he is now in the best way he could.


SHOW, NOT TELL

And yet, he didn't really know what to say. First, he didn't want it long and boring.

"It took me just one sitting and several revisions down to the last
minute before I finalized my speech. I rehearsed it in front of my wife and she said, nangilid daw luha niya. Puno daw ng UP, mapuso. That's when I knew that I could already deliver it," Cayabayab says.

Cayabyab's speech wanted to show that he never went to any other school except for UP. "I wanted to inspire them and make them realize that here I am, a 100 percent Philippinetrained, UP-trained musician, and I didn't learn it from any other school, here or
abroad," Cayabyab relates..

But Mr. C was not without surprises. All along, he was cooking up
something for this year's graduating batch. Longer than he worked on his speech proper, Cayabyab spent more hours putting together a song that would show the young graduates, and not just tell them, the beauty of creativity and innovation, which was this year's theme.

Putting music to the poem of high school classmate Romeo Candazo titled "Salamat sa 'Yo, UP" originally written for their UPIS class, Cayabyab thought it best to turn it into a song, give it a totally pop arrangement and premiere it on graduation day.

He commissioned friends from the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra
and the San Miguel Master Chorale, most of whom came from the UP
Concert Chorus and the UP Madrigals, to perform with him. The result was a first in the history of UP graduations, a commencement guest who did not only speak his heart out, but who sang his most profound gratitude to his alma mater. The song is about students thanking UP, and not UP telling the students what to do.

Here is what Cayabyab (and Candazo) surprised the Class of 2005 with:


Sa 'yo UP maraming salamat
Ikaw na aking tahanan
Mula sa aking pagkamulat
Hanggang sa aking huling hininga

Sa 'yo UP maraming salamat
Ang iyong mga aral ang aking gabay
Baon ko ito sa paglalakbay
Hanggang mapanaw ang buhay

Kami'y lumaki sa iyong pag- iingat
Natutong mag aral, natutong magsaya
Dulot mo ay init tuwing kami ay nagiginaw Sa lahat ng panahon bigay mo'y pagasa

Sa 'yo UP maraming salamat
Ang iyong mga aral ang aking gabay
Baon ko ito sa paglalakbay
Hanggang mapanaw ang buhay


THE NEW UP SONG?

It is not surprising that faculty and alumni have started clamoring for a copy of "Salamat sa ‘yo, UP" which, as early as now, is touted to be the new UP song.

UP President Emerlinda Roman talked to Cayabyab and asked him about the possibility of using the song for the fund raising activities in line with the UP Centennial in 2008. Targetting to raise P5 billion,
university officials will go on a sort of a road show and travel abroad to rally alumni to support the endeavour.

"I told her that the university may use the song in anyway they seem best. I even suggested that we could produce it, and ask prominent UP personalities to sing it and record it," Cayabyab adds.

With its lyrics, the song is indeed appropriate for the alumni of
the university. "It is also subliminally appealing to the hearts of the alumni to give back. Music has this way of creating an emotional attachment, and I hope this song will do it for the alumni."

[jj9527]

pop, alternative and classical artists from UP who can carry a tune can take turns singing lines from the song and do a music video as a result: like nanette inventor, tintin bersola, joanne lorenzana, fides cuyugan asensio, monique wilson, jai sabas, ogie alcasid, pia guanio, ate glow, eraserheads, dong abay (from YANO), dj alvaro, UP madrigal singers, UP concert chorus, UP singing ambassadors, zorayda andam, even the chancellor himself dr. cao and president roman can sing well!

[panopticon]

basta nung graduation ko, kahit hindi ako sanay na magpaka-senti (at dahil papasok pa naman uli ako sa UP law this june kaya hindi pa naman ako aalis talaga), sobrang kinilabutan ako sa song ni mr. c.grabe, kung hindi lang dyahe umiyak. we really think mr. c.'s song should at least be recognized as an official graduation song, iba talaga ang dating.

[dalawa_puso_ko]

Mr. C. and other UP artists should also provide other schools with graduation songs.

Lasalle: "The coconu-nut is a giant nut..."

Mike Hanopol's Hagibis song for Ateneo:

Lingon agad
'pag may babaeng dumaan...
...lalo na-- pag maganda ang katawan...
atsaka-- nakakalokong tignan..."

[kahumbu]

Alam nyo ba paano kumuha ng wav or mp3 copy ng kantang ito (Salamat sa'yo UP)?

[marseilles]

From another thread: Tony Meloto's speech at the Ateneo de Manila college graduation 2006 (School of Humanities and School of Social Sciences)

"The Eagle Will Not Fly Without the Poor"
By Antonio P. Meloto, Gawad Kalinga Executive Director
Ateneo de Manila University Commencement Exercises
25 March 2006

I asked some members of the senior class last week why they chose me as their commencement speaker. I have no business empire. I hold no political power. And I am no academic genius. I am just an ordinary Filipino, a graduate of the Ateneo, who did not even excel as a student... just an ordinary man who loves to tell stories about the extraordinary things that people are doing for our country today.

And they told me--- because I represent a movement that presents hope at this time when many in our country are in despair. You are looking for hope in me, but I am here to tell you that this school and the other members of this university have been a source of hope and inspiration for me in the last three years.

When Father Ben Nebres and the Ateneo Board of Trustees bestowed the Ozanam Award on Gawad Kalinga through me on July 23, 2003, they triggered A REVOLUTION OF HOPE in the Ateneo...sweeping the Ateneo from grade school, high school, college, to the Alumni... then leading the
way for other universities, corporations, government institutions and Filipino organizations abroad to follow their example and joining the bandwagon for nation building. The Ateneo is showing the world that "The eagle will not fly without the poor."

Thank you Father Ben for your great love for our country and for inspiring the young to make a difference in the lives of our people. Caring for the poor and restoring the dignity of the Filipino in his own country have now become an urgent mission for Filipinos here and abroad. This is not just healing for our country's poor and neglected but it is healing for me and many like me as well.

Unknown to most of you, for 32 years it wasn't easy for me to return to Ateneo. I didn't come to the reunions and homecomings, simply because of a sense of guilt of a person who grew up with the suffering poor but later forgot them after I got an Ateneo education. I was so focused on repackaging, and building up myself that I forgot the accompanying responsibility that came with the privilege of an Ateneo scholarship. I forgot the poor... I left them behind. I left them like so many others before me.

There are many who blame the rich and powerful for the plight of the poor. I know there is basis for the accusations but I cannot bring myself to blame them. How could I expect them to love the poor whom they do not know when I grew up poor and yet forgot to help them, too.

I realized my great shortcoming as a Filipino in 1985 when I joined Couples for Christ. It was then that I found my faith and grew a conscience and decided to live a righteous life... to correct the mistakes and the injustice committed to our country and to our people by people like me. Couples for Christ taught me to repent for my sins and to be genuinely sorry for the things I failed to do for my country and for my people.

I am really sorry for the state of things, because of my failure to do something about it. And many are now sorry, just like myself because of this state of degradation... But feeling sorry is not enough. Sorry does not restore beauty, sorry does not restore dignity, sorry does not restore the plan of God for man. Sorry begins it, but sorry is not enough.

What needs to be done is to bring sorry to action, to convert regret to reform, to lift apathy to compassion and development. We who have not done well by the talents and treasures we have been gifted with, we who have abdicated our responsibility of shepherding the poor and the young to their birthright of enjoying the treasures of a beautiful and abundant country, we who have seen the errors of our ways and are sorry --- we must now restore what we destroyed... or allowed to be destroyed.

Because the Ateneo is a Christian university which believes in the mission of forming students to become persons for others, the principle of good over evil goes beyond the fundamental understanding of right and wrong. It is not enough not to do wrong. To battle evil, we must do good. The path of reform and transformation for Ateneans... for Christians, must be one of peace. It must believe that good is more powerful than evil, and only in the exercise of good can evil be eliminated. Thus, the path of reform and transformation, personal and social, must be a path of good works.

Build homes. Build communities. Build capacities. Restore dignity. Restore abundance. Restore beauty. Restore peace. Build and restore, build and restore.

And you did! The eagle has landed in Payatas. Because you could not bring the poor of Payatas to Ateneo, you brought Ateneo to the poor of Payatas. In this once desolate place, you restored dignity, you have brought back hope!

The former squatters now have security in their land. You transformed 200 shanties -- the slum and the garbage have now become a beautiful middle class community. Crime has virtually disappeared. Former streetchildren are now in school. The idle have been motivated to find employment and are now living productive lives. Nawala ang sindikato sa lupa, sa tubig, at sa ilaw. You have transformed hell into a piece of heaven... all because you cared, you shared and you learned to work together. The grade school worked with their parents, the high school students gave up their parties... the college students gave up their weekends. And the Alumni from all over the world also helped.

I salute and honor the eagles of Payatas, especially Steph Limuaco, former President of the Ateneo Student Council and now full-time worker of Ateneo for Gawad Kalinga, students, parents, the caretaker team from CFC and Mayor Sonny Belmonte who not only paved the way for the poor to own the land in Payatas but also paved the roads.

Again you performed the same miracle in Gabaldon!

The surviving flood victims who were once squatters living in dangerous areas now have their own land in sites that have been cleared as environmentally safe and their own sturdy homes. Now the people are growing their own food and planting trees. Land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry... For this I honor Mark Lawrence Cruz, the 300-strong Team Gabaldon and Mayor Mandia. You washed away the mud of despair and brought out the gold in the poor of Gabaldon. Gabaldon is part of a massive rehabilitation and reconstruction effort called Kalinga Luzon that goes beyond the usual relief operations after the calamity. Malaki ang tulong dito ng 3 Atenista in helping 40,000 survivor families of the Luzon typhoons and floods... Secretary of National Defense and NDCC Chairman Avelino "Nonong" Cruz , Smart-PLDT Chairman Manny Pangilinan and former Agriculture Secretary Cito Lorenzo.

This afternoon I invited the proud leaders of Payatas and Gabaldon, together with the mayors of Cabiao, San Isidro, and Gen. Tinio, Nueva Ecija who have also benefited from the help of Ateneo. They are here to witness the graduation of a new breed of Ateneans and Filipinos who not only have the brains but also the heart for our country and our people. The journey to rebuild our country is just beginning and moving towards massive upscaling with the entry of corporations, national government agencies, LGU's and Filipino organizations abroad.

Corporations too are searching for a deeper and better expression of corporate social responsibility. Rival corporations are rising above business competition to help. P&G and Unilever, Jollibee and McDonalds, Shell and Petron, Pfizer and Wyeth and Smart-PLDT... and over a hundred others. Sabi ng Shell "Kung may layunin, malayo ang inyong mararating." Sabi ng Smart "We're not just building homes, we're building a nation." Both campaigns are inspired by the spirit of Gawad Kalinga, the spirit of being a person for others - going beyond conventional charity towards helping the poor become better stewards of their families and their communities. Converting our human resource from liability to asset, expanding the market base by empowering the poor make good business sense!

This afternoon we have with us the country chairman of Shell Philippines, Mr. Ed Chua, who is from La Salle and the president of Pfizer, Mr. Gerry Bacarro, who is from Ateneo. Both are firm believers of corporate social responsibility geared towards nation-building. It is our hope that the stiff rivalry between Ateneo and La Salle in basketball will be elevated to a higher level of nobility of building the most number of houses and communities and educating the most number of poor children.

My fellow Ateneans, when you leave this campus, many of you will join these corporations and will be happy to note that they have a keener sense of social responsibility and a work environment that will nurture your idealism.

In the field of governance, more than 300 mayors and governors have chosen the same path of nation-building. Hundreds more will join this year and members of Congress are being inspired to do the same. Many of you will be the future mayors, governors and members of congress... and again will be happy to note that your predecessors have begun the path of building and restoring our country.

Even Filipinos abroad have found a reason to hope and a way to concretize their love for the motherland. Many have gone beyond sending resources... they themselves are coming home to help build the nation of their dreams... Bicolanos helping Bicol... The Ilonggos helping Negros and Panay... the Cebuanos helping Cebu... And the Fil-Am doctors are going beyond the usual medical mission and are building healthy communities as a way of giving back to a country that they have never stopped loving.

When you care for others, especially the weak and the powerless, you will be amazed at how God will take care of you and the people you love. Today I thank God for my wife and my five children who have joined me in this mission to help restore this beautiful land. This is the best legacy I can give them. I honor my son Jay, who at 22, left his job and an exciting life of fast cars and beautiful girls in L.A. to help the typhoon victims of Bicol... and my son-in-law Dylan Wilk who left his country England, his family and friends, his extravagant lifestyle - his Ferrari, his Porsche and BMW... in exchange for the poor families in this country that he has learned to love and care for.

And of course, the nameless and unrecognized workers and heroes of other Ateneo initiatives like Pathways, Tulong Dunong, Jesuit Volunteers of the Philippines, Leaders for Health and other NGOs and cause-oriented groups who love this county... Today there are tens of thousands of them... tomorrow there will be millions. Together we will build a slum-free, squatter-free, crime-free Philippines.

And so in the same spirit of heroism, I urge you young Ateneans to do the same. After you leave this campus, there is no doubt that you will soar to great heights but it will all be meaningless if you fly alone.

The poor do not have strong wings like you do and they need you to carry them, inspire them to discover their own strength and greatness. Sana eto ang walang iwanan.

For the parents, as you have invested in the future of your children by giving them the best education possible... support also your children's desire to invest in the future of this country. They will honor you even more if you value their aspirations for nobility and their dreams for a better country that will be a source of pride for them and their children.

As we go through this defining moment of Philippine history, let us strive never to forget four things:
(1) Never stop hoping for our country.
(2) Don't stop caring for our people.
(3) Demand greatness of yourself as a Filipino.
(4) Inspire greatness in other Filipinos.

As you leave the campus to join the real world, let your vision and the
power that you have discovered to change the world, define what is real
to you.

Make your love for this country and our people, especially the poor, your reality and your priority. Make it the foundation of your career plans, your dreams and ambitions for your children and the goal of any political or economic power that you have the privilege to wield.

Wherever you are in the world, excel and prosper but remain connected to the motherland and dedicate your success to the fulfillment not just of your dreams but to the many in your country who have lost their capacity to dream.

Do not be content in finding artificial security in gated subdivisions when you can provide yourself a buffer of peace by caring for the needy around you. Nor be content with living in first world luxury in a third world environment and contributing to the discontent and the growing threats around the security of your own family.

Give value to the land of your birth by sharing with those who for generations have been deprived of its use and abundance. Be a blessing to your children's future by making it your responsibility to be father or mother to the abandoned and neglected.

Be the healing of the soul of this nation and the fulfillment of the dream that we have forgotten.

Be the proud Filipino that we are not yet, but soon will be.

Be the hero who finds courage and the conviction that this country is worth saving, because it is a gift from God and that your life is meaningless if it is not dedicated to the fulfillment of a divine destiny to be a great people.

Let me end this speech and send you off with a prayer.

Dear God, pour out your blessing upon our new graduates. Guide them in their journey to greatness. Show your power and majesty to this troubled and sinful nation through these young Filipinos who will strive to live lives of righteousness and excellence. Make them healers of our wounded people and restorers of our broken land. Anoint them as the new generation of living heroes who will bring this country to our destiny of greatness.

Mabuhay kayong mga bagong bayani ng bayan! Kayo ang bagong lakas ng pagbabago! Kayo ang magandang mukha ng kinabukasan!

[marseilles]

John Gokongwei's Commencement Address to the 2004 AdMU Graduating Class (School of Management and School of Science and Engineering)
March 27, 2004
By John L. Gokongwei, Jr.

I wish I were one of you today, instead of a 77-year-old man, giving a speech you will probably forget when you wake up from your hangover tomorrow.

You may be surprised I feel this way. Many of you are feeling fearful and apprehensive about your future.

You are thinking that, perhaps, your Ateneo diploma will not mean a whole lot in the future in a country with too many problems. And you are probably right.

You are thinking that our country is slipping-no, sliding. Again, you may be right.

Twenty years ago, we were at par with countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, we are left way behind.

You know the facts.

Twenty years ago, the per capita income of the Filipino was 1,000 US dollars. Today, it's 1,100 dollars. That's a growth of only ten percent in twenty years. Meanwhile, Thailand's per capita income today is double ours; Malaysia, triple ours; and Singapore, almost twenty times ours.

With globalization coming, you know it is even more urgent to wake up. Trade barriers are falling, which means we will have to compete harder.

In the new world, entrepreneurs will be forced to invest their money where it is most efficient. And that is not necessarily in the Philippines. Even for Filipino entrepreneurs, that can be the case.

For example, a Filipino brand like Maxx candy can be manufactured in Bangkok-where labor, taxes, power and financing are cheaper and more efficient-and then exported to other ASEAN countries.

This will be a common scenario-if things do not change. Pretty soon, we will become a nation that buys everything and produces practically nothing. We will be like the prodigal son who took his father's money and spent it all. The difference is that we do not have a generous father to run back to.

But despite this, I am still very excited about the future. I will tell you why later.

You have been taught at the Ateneo to be "a person for others." Of course, that is noble: To serve your countrymen.

Question is: How?

And my answer is: Be an entrepreneur!

You may think I am just a foolish man talking mundane stuff when the question before him is almost philosophical. But I am being very thoughtful here, and if I may presume this about myself, being patriotic as well.

Entrepreneurship is the answer.

We need young people who will find the idea, grab the opportunity, take risk, and set aside comfort to set up businesses that will provide jobs.

But why? What are jobs?

Jobs are what allow people to feel useful and build their self-esteem. Jobs make people productive members of the community. Jobs make people feel they are worthy citizens. And jobs make a country worthy players in the world market.

In that order of things, it is the entrepreneurs who have the power to harness the creativity and talents of others to achieve a common good. This should leave the world a better place than it was.

Let me make it clear: Job creation is a priority for any nation to move forward.

For example, it is the young entrepreneurs of Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore who created the dynamic businesses that have propelled their countries to the top. Young people like yourselves.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, progress is slow. Very little is new. Hardly anything is fresh. With a few exceptions, the biggest companies before the war-like PLDT, Ayala, and San Miguel-are still the biggest companies today.

All right, being from the Ateneo, many of you probably have offers from these corporations already. You may even have offers from JG Summit.

I say: Great! Take these offers, work as hard as you can, learn everything these companies can teach-and then leave!

If you dream of creating something great, do not let a 9-to-5 job--even a high-paying one--lull you into a complacent, comfortable life. Let that high-paying job propel you toward entrepreneurship instead.

When I speak of the hardship ahead, I do not mean to be skeptical but realistic. Even you Ateneans, who are famous for your eloquence, you cannot talk your way out of this one. There is nothing to do but to deal with it.

I learned this lesson when, as a 13-year-old, I lost my dad. Before that, I was like many of you: a privileged kid. I went to Cebu's best school; lived in a big house; and got free entrance to the Vision, the largest movie house in Cebu, which my father owned.

Then my dad died, and I lost all these. My family had become poor--poor enough to split my family. My mother and five siblings moved to China where the cost of living was lower. I was placed under the care of my Grand Uncle Manuel Gotianuy, who put me through school. But just two years later, the war broke out, and even my Uncle Manuel could no longer see me through. I was out in the streets--literally.

Looking back, this time was one of the best times of my life. We lost everything, true, but so did everybody! War was the great equalizer. In that setting, anyone who was willing to size up the situation, use his wits, and work hard, could make it!

It was every man for himself, and I had to find a way to support myself and my family. I decided to be a market vendor.

Why?

Because it was something that I, a 15-year-old boy in short pants, could do.

I started by selling simple products in the palengke half an hour by bike from the city. I had a bicycle. I would wake up at five in morning, load thread, soap and candles into my bike, and rush to the palengke.

I would rent a stall for one peso a day, lay out my goods on a table as big as this podium, and begin selling. I did that the whole day.

I sold about twenty pesos of goods every day. Today, twenty pesos will only allow you to send twenty text messages to your crush, but 63 years ago, it was enough to support my family. And it left me enough to plow back into my small, but growing, business.

I was the youngest vendor in the palengke, but that didn't faze me. In fact, I rather saw it as an opportunity. Remember, that was 63 years and 100 pounds ago, so I could move faster, stay under the sun more, and keep selling longer than everyone else.

Then, when I had enough money and more confidence, I decided to travel to Manila from Cebu to sell all kinds of goods like rubber tires.

Instead of my bike, I now traveled on a batel--a boat so small that on windless days, we would just float there. On bad days, the trip could take two weeks!

During one trip, our batel sank! We would have all perished in the sea were it not for my inventory of tires. The viajeros were happy because my tires saved their lives, and I was happy because the viajeros, by hanging on to them, saved my tires. On these long and lonely trips I had to entertain myself with books, like Gone With The Wind.

After the war, I had saved up 50,000 pesos. That was when you could buy a chicken for 20 centavos and a car for 2,000 pesos. I was 19 years old.

Now I had enough money to bring my family home from China. Once they were all here, they helped me expand our trading business to include imports. Remember that the war had left the Philippines with very few goods. So we imported whatever was needed and imported them from everywhere--including used clothes and textile remnants from the United States. We were probably the first ukay-ukay dealers here.

Then, when I had gained more experience and built my reputation, I borrowed money from the bank and got into manufacturing. I saw that coffee was abundant, and Nescafe of Nestle was too expensive for a country still rebuilding from the war, so my company created Blend 45.

That was our first branded hit. And from there, we had enough profits to launch Jack and Jill.

From one market stall, we are now in nine core businesses-including retail, real estate, publishing, petrochemicals, textiles, banking, food manufacturing, Cebu Pacific Air and Sun Cellular.

When we had shown success in the smaller businesses, we were able to raise money in the capital markets-through IPOs and bond offerings-- and then get into more complex, capital-intensive enterprises. We did it slow, but sure.

Success doesn't happen overnight. It's the small successes achieved day by day that build a company. So, don't be impatient or focused on immediate financial rewards. I only started flying business class when I got too fat to fit in the economy seats.

And I even wore a used overcoat while courting my wife--it came from my ukay-ukay business. Thank God Elizabeth didn't mind the mothball smell of my overcoat or maybe she wouldn't have married me.

Save what you earn and plow it back.

And never forget your families! Your parents denied themselves many things to send you here. They could have traveled around the world a couple of times with the money they set aside for your education, and your social life, and your comforts.

Remember them--and thank them.

When you have families of your own, you must be home with them for at least one meal everyday.

I did that while I was building my company. Now, with all my six children married, I ask that we spend every Sunday lunch together, when everything under the sun is discussed.

As it is with business, so it is with family. There are no short cuts for building either one.

Remember, no short cuts.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, your patron saint, and founder of this 450-year old organization I admire, described an ideal Jesuit as one who "lives with one foot raised." I believe that means someone who is always ready to respond to opportunities.

Saint Ignatius knew that, to build a successful organization, he needed to recruit and educate men who were not afraid of change but were in fact excited by it.

In fact, the Jesuits were one of the earliest practitioners of globalization. As early as the 16th century, upon reaching a foreign country, they compiled dictionaries in local languages like Tamil and Vietnamese so that they could spread their message in the local language. In a few centuries, they have been able to spread their mission in many countries through education.

The Jesuits have another quote. "Make the whole world your house" which means that the ideal Jesuit must be at home everywhere. By adapting to change, but at the same time staying true to their beliefs, the Society of Jesus has become the long-lasting and successful organization it is today and has made the world their house.

So, let live with one foot raised in facing the next big opportunity: globalization. Globalization can be your greatest enemy. It will be your downfall if you are too afraid and too weak to fight it out. But it can also be your biggest ally.

With the Asian Free Trade agreement and tariffs near zero, your market has grown from 80 million Filipinos to half a billion Southeast Asians.

Imagine what that means to you as an entrepreneur if you are able to find a need and fill it. And imagine, too, what that will do for the economy of our country!

Yes, our government may not be perfect, and our economic environment not ideal, but true entrepreneurs will find opportunities anywhere.

Look at the young Filipino entrepreneurs who made it. When I say young-and I'm 77, remember--I am talking about those in their 50s and below. Tony Tan of Jollibee, Ben Chan of Bench, Rolando Hortaleza of Splash, and Wilson Lim of Abensons.

They're the guys who weren't content with the 9-to-5 job, who were willing to delay their gratification and comfort, and who created something new, something fresh. Something Filipinos are now very proud of.

They all started small but now sell their hamburgers, T-shirts and cosmetics in Asia, America, and the Middle East. In doing so, these young Filipino entrepreneurs created jobs while doing something they were
passionate about.

Globalization is an opportunity of a lifetime--for you. And that is why I want to be out there with you instead of here behind this podium--perhaps too old and too slow to seize the opportunities you can.

Let me leave you with one last thought.

Trade barriers have fallen. The only barriers left are the barriers you have in your mind.

So, Ateneans, Class of 2004, heed the call of entrepreneurship.

With a little bit of will and a little bit of imagination, you can turn this crisis into your patriotic moment--and truly become a person for others.

"Live with one foot raised and make the world your house."

To this great University, my sincerest thanks for this singular honor
conferred on me today.

To the graduates, congratulations and Godspeed.

"Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam".

Thank you.

[DanDaLion]

Can anyone post the latest graduation speech from UPD,UP Manila and UPLB 2005/2006 school year?

[leah10285]

naku mejo snoozefest *** speech nung keynote speaker sa UPD 06. mas ok pa *** response nung summa na nagspeech. hehe.

[elodeon]

funny and witty

Commencement Speech to the Harvard Class of 2000
by Conan O'Brien

I'd like to thank the Class Marshals for inviting me here today. The last time I was invited to Harvard it cost me $110,000, so you'll forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious. I'd like to announce up front that I have one goal this afternoon: to be half as funny as tomorrow's Commencement Speaker, Moral Philosopher and Economist, Amartya Sen. Must get more laughs than seminal wage/price theoretician.

Students of the Harvard Class of 2000, fifteen years ago I sat where you sit now and I thought exactly what you are now thinking: What's going to happen to me? Will I find my place in the world? Am I really graduating a virgin? I still have 24 hours and my roommate's Mom is hot. I swear she was checking me out. Being here today is very special for me. I miss this place. I especially miss Harvard Square - it's so unique. No where else in the world will you find a man with a turban wearing a Red Sox jacket and working in a lesbian bookstore. Hey, I'm just glad my dad's working.

It's particularly sweet for me to be here today because when I graduated, I wanted very badly to be a Class Day Speaker. Unfortunately, my speech was rejected. So, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to read a portion of that speech from fifteen years ago: "Fellow students, as we sit here today listening to that classic Ah-ha tune which will definitely stand the test of time, I would like to make several predictions about what the future will hold: "I believe that one day a simple Governor from a small Southern state will rise to the highest office in the land. He will lack political skill, but will lead on the sheer strength of his moral authority." "I believe that Justice will prevail and, one day, the Berlin Wall will crumble, uniting East and West Berlin forever under Communist rule." "I believe that one day, a high speed network of interconnected computers will spring up world-wide, so enriching people that they will lose their interest in idle chit chat and pornography." "And finally, I believe that one day I will have a television show on a major network, seen by millions of people a night, which I will use to re-enact crimes and help catch at-large criminals." And then there's some stuff about the death of Wall Street which I don't think we need to get into....

The point is that, although you see me as a celebrity, a member of the cultural elite, a kind of demigod, I was actually a student here once much like you. I came here in the fall of 1981 and lived in Holworthy. I was, without exaggeration, the ugliest picture in the Freshman Face book. When Harvard asked me for a picture the previous summer, I thought it was just for their records, so I literally jogged in the August heat to a passport photo office and sat for a morgue photo. To make matters worse, when the Face Book came out they put my picture next to Catherine Oxenberg, a stunning blonde actress who was accepted to the class of '85 but decided to defer admission so she could join the cast of "Dynasty." My photo would have looked bad on any page, but next to Catherine Oxenberg, I looked like a mackerel that had been in a car accident. You see, in those days I was six feet four inches tall and I weighed 150 pounds. Recently, I had some structural engineers run those numbers into a computer model and, according to the computer, I collapsed in 1987, killing hundreds in Taiwan.

After freshman year I moved to Mather House. Mather House, incidentally, was designed by the same firm that built Hitler's bunker. In fact, if Hitler had conducted the war from Mather House, he'd have shot himself a year earlier. 1985 seems like a long time ago now. When I had my Class Day, you students would have been seven years old. Seven years old. Do you know what that means? Back then I could have beaten any of you in a fight. And I mean bad. It would be no contest. If any one here has a time machine, seriously, let's get it on, I will whip your seven year old butt. When I was here, they sold diapers at the Coop that said "Harvard Class of 2000." At the time, it was kind of a joke, but now I realize you wore those diapers. How embarrassing for you. A lot has happened in fifteen years. When you think about it, we come from completely different worlds. When I graduated, we watched movies starring Tom Cruise and listened to music by Madonna. I come from a time when we huddled around our TV sets and watched "The Cosby Show" on NBC, never imagining that there would one day be a show called "Cosby" on CBS. In 1985 we drove cars with driver's side airbags, but if you told us that one day there'd be passenger side airbags, we'd have burned you for witchcraft.

But of course, I think there is some common ground between us. I remember well the great uncertainty of this day. Many of you are justifiably nervous about leaving the safe, comfortable world of Harvard Yard and hurling yourself headlong into the cold, harsh world of Harvard Grad School, a plum job at your father's firm, or a year abroad with a gold Amex card and then a plum job in your father's firm. But let me assure you that the knowledge you've gained here at Harvard is a precious gift that will never leave you. Take it from me, your education is yours to keep forever. Why, many of you have read the Merchant of Florence, and that will inspire you when you travel to the island of Spain. Your knowledge of that problem they had with those people in Russia, or that guy in South America-you know, that guy-will enrich you for the rest of your life.

There is also sadness today, a feeling of loss that you're leaving Harvard forever. Well, let me assure you that you never really leave Harvard. The Harvard Fundraising Committee will be on your *** until the day you die. Right now, a member of the Alumni Association is at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery shaking down the corpse of Henry Adams. They heard he had a brass toe ring and they aims to get it. Imagine: These people just raised 2.5 billion dollars and they only got through the B's in the alumni directory. Here's how it works. Your phone rings, usually after a big meal when you're tired and most vulnerable. A voice asks you for money. Knowing they just raised 2.5 billion dollars you ask, "What do you need it for?" Then there's a long pause and the voice on the other end of the line says, "We don't need it, we just want it." It's chilling.

What else can you expect? Let me see, by your applause, who here wrote a thesis. (APPLAUSE) A lot of hard work, a lot of your blood went into that thesis... and no one is ever going to care. I wrote a thesis: Literary Progeria in the works of Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner. Let's just say that, during my discussions with Pauly Shore, it doesn't come up much. For three years after graduation I kept my thesis in the glove compartment of my car so I could show it to a policeman in case I was pulled over. (ACT OUT) License, registration, cultural exploration of the Man Child in the Sound and the Fury...

So what can you expect out there in the real world? Let me tell you. As you leave these gates and re-enter society, one thing is certain: Everyone out there is going to hate you. Never tell anyone in a roadside diner that you went to Harvard. In most situations the correct response to where did you to school is, "School? Why, I never had much in the way of book larnin' and such." Then, get in your BMW and get the hell out of there.

You see, you're in for a lifetime of "And you went to Harvard?" Accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction and it's, "And you went to Harvard?" Ask the guy at the hardware store how these jumper cables work and hear, "And you went to Harvard?" Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants and it's "and you went to Harvard." Get your head stuck in your niece's dollhouse because you wanted to see what it was like to be a giant and it's "Uncle Conan, you went to Harvard!?"

But to really know what's in store for you after Harvard, I have to tell you what happened to me after graduation. I'm going to tell you my story because, first of all, my perspective may give many of you hope, and, secondly, it's an amazing rush to stand in front of six thousand people and talk about yourself.

After graduating in May, I moved to Los Angeles and got a three week contract at a small cable show. I got a $380 a month apartment and bought a 1977 Isuzu Opel, a car Isuzu only manufactured for a year because they found out that, technically, it's not a car. Here's a quick tip, graduates: no four cylinder vehicle should have a racing stripe. I worked at that show for over a year, feeling pretty good about myself, when one day they told me they were letting me go. I was fired and, I hadn't saved a lot of money. I tried to get another job in television but I couldn't find one.

So, with nowhere else to turn, I went to a temp agency and filled out a questionnaire. I made damn sure they knew I had been to Harvard and that I expected the very best treatment. And so, the next day, I was sent to the Santa Monica branch of Wilson's House of Suede and Leather. When you have a Harvard degree and you're working at Wilson's House of Suede and Leather, you are haunted by the ghostly images of your classmates who chose Graduate School. You see their faces everywhere: in coffee cups, in fish tanks, and they're always laughing at you as you stack suede shirts no man, in good conscience, would ever wear. I tried a lot of things during this period: acting in corporate infomercials, serving drinks in a non-equity theatre, I even took a job entertaining at a seven year olds' birthday party. In desperate need of work, I put together some sketches and scored a job at the fledgling Fox Network as a writer and performer for a new show called "The Wilton North Report." I was finally on a network and really excited. The producer told me the show was going to revolutionize television. And, in a way, it did. The show was so hated and did so badly that when, four weeks later, news of its cancellation was announced to the Fox affiliates, they burst into applause.

Eventually, though, I got a huge break. I had submitted, along with my writing partner, a batch of sketches to Saturday Night Live and, after a year and a half, they read it and gave us a two week tryout. The two weeks turned into two seasons and I felt successful. Successful enough to write a TV pilot for an original sitcom and, when the network decided to make it, I left Saturday Night Live. This TV show was going to be groundbreaking. It was going to resurrect the career of TV's Batman, Adam West. It was going to be a comedy without a laugh track or a studio audience. It was going to change all the rules. And here's what happened: When the pilot aired it was the second lowest-rated television show of all time. It's tied with a test pattern they show in Nova Scotia.

So, I was 28 and, once again, I had no job. I had good writing credits in New York, but I was filled with disappointment and didn't know what to do next. I started smelling suede on my fingertips. And that's when The Simpsons saved me. I got a job there and started writing episodes about Springfield getting a Monorail and Homer going to College. I was finally putting my Harvard education to good use, writing dialogue for a man who's so stupid that in one episode he forgot to make his own heart beat. Life was good.

And then, an insane, inexplicable opportunity came my way . A chance to audition for host of the new Late Night Show. I took the opportunity seriously but, at the same time, I had the relaxed confidence of someone who knew he had no real shot. I couldn't fear losing a great job I had never had. And, I think that attitude made the difference. I'll never forget being in the Simpson's recording basement that morning when the phone rang. It was for me. My car was blocking a fire lane. But a week later I got another call: I got the job.

So, this was undeniably the it: the truly life-altering break I had always dreamed of. And, I went to work. I gathered all my funny friends and poured all my years of comedy experience into building that show over the summer, gathering the talent and figuring out the sensibility. We debuted on September 13, 1993 and I was happy with our effort. I felt like I had seized the moment and put my very best foot forward. And this is what the most respected and widely read television critic, Tom Shales, wrote in the Washington Post: "O'Brien is a living collage of annoying nervous habits. He giggles and titters, jiggles about and fiddles with his cuffs. He had dark, beady little eyes like a rabbit. He's one of the whitest white men ever. O'Brien is a switch on the guest who won't leave: he's the host who should never have come. Let the Late show with Conan O'Brien become the late, Late Show and may the host return to Conan O'Blivion whence he came." There's more but it gets kind of mean.

Needless to say, I took a lot of criticism, some of it deserved, some of it excessive. And it hurt like you wouldn't believe. But I'm telling you all this for a reason. I've had a lot of success and I've had a lot of failure. I've looked good and I've looked bad. I've been praised and I've been criticized. But my mistakes have been necessary. Except for Wilson's House of Suede and Leather. That was just stupid.

I've dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed. Your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Because success is a lot like a bright, white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you're desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it in any way.

I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of The Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet, every failure was freeing, and today I'm as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

So, that's what I wish for all of you: the bad as well as the good. Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over. If it's all right, I'd like to read a little something from just this year: "Somehow, Conan O'Brien has transformed himself into the brightest star in the Late Night firmament. His comedy is the gold standard and Conan himself is not only the quickest and most inventive wit of his generation, but quite possible the greatest host ever."

Ladies and Gentlemen, Class of 2000, I wrote that this morning, as proof that, when all else fails, there's always delusion.

I'll go now, to make bigger mistakes and to embarrass this fine institution even more. But let me leave you with one last thought: If you can laugh at yourself loud and hard every time you fall, people will think you're drunk.

Thank you.

[KuyaDanny]

A speech by Gordon Matthew Sumner
to the graduates of the Berklee College of Music
24 May 1994


So I’m standing here in a strange hat and a strange, flowing gown in front of what looks very much like an audience, and I’m about to do something that I don’t do very often, which is to make speeches in public. And I’m asking myself how I managed to end up here?

This was never in any plan I’d outlined for myself. Nevertheless, I’m here and you’re all expecting something coherent, and perhaps meaningful, to come out of my mouth. I’ll try, but there are no guarantees. And I have to say I’m a little bit nervous. You might think this is strange for a man who makes his living playing in stadiums, but I often stand in the middle of a stadium full of people and ask myself the same question, “how the hell did I end up here?” The simple answer is I’m a musician. And for some reason I’ve never had any other ambition but to be a musician. So by way of explanation, I’ll start at the beginning.

My earliest memory is also my earliest musical memory. I remember sitting at my mother’s feet as she played the piano. She always played tangos for some reason. Perhaps it was the fashion at the time, I don’t know. The piano was an upright with worn brass pedals. And when my mother played one of her tangos she seemed to become transported to another world. Her feet rocking rhythmically between the loud and soft pedals, her arms pumping to the odd rhythms of the tango, her eyes intent upon the sheet music in front of her.

For my mother, playing the piano was the only time that I wasn’t the center of her world--the only time she ignored me. So I knew that something significant--some important ritual--was being enacted here. I suppose I was being initiated into something--initiated into some sort of mystery. The mystery of music.

And so I began to aspire to the piano and would spend hours hammering away at atonal clusters in the delusion that if I persisted long enough my noise would become music. I still labor under this delusion My mother cursed me with the fine ear of a musician but the hands of a plumber. Anyway, the piano had to be sold to help us out of a financial hole, and my career as an atonal serialist was mercifully stunted. It wasn’t until an uncle of mine emigrated to Canada, leaving behind an old Spanish guitar with five rusty strings that my enormous and clumsy fingers found a musical home, and I found what was to become my best friend. Where the piano had seemed incomprehensible, I was able to make music on the guitar almost instantaneously.

Melodies, chords, song structures fell at my fingertips. Somehow I could listen to a song on the radio and then make a passable attempt at playing it. It was a miracle. I spent hour after hour, day after day, month after month, just playing, rejoicing in the miracle and probably driving my parents ‘round the bend.

But it was their fault in the first place. Music is an addiction, a religion, and a disease. There is no cure. No antidote. I was hooked.

There was only one radio station in England at that time--the BBC. And you could hear the Beatles and the Rolling Stones side by side with bits of Mozart, Beethoven, Glenn Miller and even the blues. This was my musical education. Its eclecticism, supplemented by my parents’ record collection of Rodgers and Hammerstein , Lerner and Lowe, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. But it wasn’t until the Beatles that I realized that perhaps I could make a living out of music.

The Beatles came from the same working-class background as I did. They were English, and Liverpool wasn’t any fancier or more romantic than my own home town. And my guitar went from being the companion of my solitude to the means of my escape.

There’s a lot been written about my life after that time so that I can’t remember what’s true and what isn’t. I had no formal musical education. But I suppose I became successful by a combination of dumb luck, low cunning, and risk-taking born out of curiosity. I still operate in the same way. But your curiosity in music is never entirely satisfied. You could fill libraries with what I don’t know about music. There’s always something more to learn.

Now, musicians aren’t particularly good role models in society. We really don’t have a very good reputation. Philanderers, alcoholics, addicts, alimony-jumpers, tax-evaders. And I’m not just talking about rock musicians. Classical musicians have just as bad a reputation. And jazz musicians...forget it! But when you watch a musician play--when he enters that private musical world--you often see a child at play, innocent and curious, full of wonder at what can only be adequately described as a mystery--a sacred mystery even. Something deep. Something strange. Both joyous and sad. Something impossible to explain in words. I mean what could possible keep us playing scales and arpeggios hour after hour, day after day, year after year? Is it some vague promise of glory, money, or fame? Or is it something deeper?

Our instruments connect us to this mystery and a musician will maintain this sense of wonder ’til the day he or she dies. I had the privilege of spending some time with the great arranger Gil Evans in the last year of his life. He was still listening, still open to new ideas, still open to the wonder of music. Still a curious child.

So as we stand here in our robes with our diplomas, our degrees of excellence. Some are merely honorary, some diligently worked for. We have mastered the laws of harmony and the rules of counterpoint, the skills of arranging and orchestrating, of developing themes and rhythmic motifs. But do any of us really know what music is? Is it merely physics? Mathematics? The stuff of romance? Commerce? Why is it so important to us? What is its essence?

I can’t even pretend to know. I’ve written hundreds of songs, had them published, had them in the charts. Grammys and enough written proof that I’m a bona fide, successful songwriter. Still, if somebody asks me how I write songs, I have to say, “I don’t really know.” I don’t really know where they come from. A melody is always a gift from somewhere else. You just have to learn to be grateful and pray that you will be blessed again some other time. It’s the same with the lyrics. You can’t write a song without a metaphor. You can mechanically construct verses, choruses, bridges, middle eights, but without a central metaphor, you ain’t got nothing.

I often wonder: where do melodies and metaphors come from? If you could buy them in a store I’d be first in the queue, believe me. I spend most of my time searching for these mysterious commodities, searching for inspiration.

Paradoxically, I’m coming to believe in the importance of silence in music. The power of silence after a phrase of music for example; the dramatic silence after the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, or the space between the notes of a Miles Davis solo. There is something very specific about a rest in music. You take your foot off the pedal and pay attention. I’m wondering whether, as musicians, the most important thing we do is merely to provide a frame for silence. I’m wondering if silence itself is perhaps the mystery at the heart of music? And is silence the most perfect music of all?

Songwriting is the only form of meditation that I know. And it is only in silence that the gifts of melody and metaphor are offered. To people in the modern world, true silence is something we rarely experience. It is almost as if we conspire to avoid it. Three minutes of silence seems like a very long time. It forces us to pay attention to ideas and emotions that we rarely make any time for. There are some people who find this awkward, or even frightening.

Silence is disturbing. It is disturbing because it is the wavelength of the soul. If we leave no space in our music--and I’m as guilty as anyone else in this regard--then we rob the sound we make of a defining context. It is often music born from anxiety to create more anxiety. It’s as if we’re afraid of leaving space. Great music’s as much about the space between the notes as it is about the notes themselves. A bar’s rest is as important and significant as the bar of demi-, semi-quavers that precedes it. What I’m trying to say here is that if ever I’m asked if I’m religious I always reply, “Yes, I’m a devout musician.” Music puts me in touch with something beyond the intellect, something otherworldly, something sacred.

How is it that some music can move us to tears? Why is some music indescribably beautiful? I never tire of hearing Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” or Faures “Pavane” or Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay.” These pieces speak to me in the only religious language I understand. They induce in me a state of deep meditation, of wonder. They make me silent.

It’s very hard to talk about music in words. Words are superfluous to the abstract power of music. We can fashion words into poetry so that they are understood the way music is understood, but they only aspire to the condition where music already exists.

Music is probably the oldest religious rite. Our ancestors used melody and rhythm to co-opt the spirit world to their purposes--to try and make sense of the universe. The first priests were probably musicians. The first prayers probably songs.

So what I’m getting round to saying is that as musicians, whether we’re successful, playing to thousands of people every night, or not so successful, playing in bars or small clubs, or not successful at all, just playing alone in your apartment to the cat, we are doing something that can heal souls, that can mend us when our spirits are broken. Whether you make a million dollars or not one cent, music and silence are priceless gifts, may you always possess them. May they always possess you.

[SUX2BÜ]

The Student Address given by Elle Woods
at "Harvard Law School's 2004 Graduation Ceremony"

"On our very first day at Harvard, a very wise Professor quoted Aristotle: "The law is reason free from passion." Well, no offense to Aristotle, but in my three years at Harvard I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law -- and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world, remembering that first impressions are not always correct. You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.

Congratulations class of 2004 -- we did it!"

Nothing beats a speech given succinctly.

:)

[Busilak]

Speech to the UP graduating class of 2003 by Butch Jimemez, Jr...


What's better than...?
Posted:11:35 PM (Manila Time) | May 31, 2003
By Butch Jimenez, Contributor
Inquirer News Service



Butch Jimenez, head of PLDT's media and strategic communications
department, delivered this speech at the UP Diliman Class 2003 commencement
exercises

AS college students, you're just about to set sail into the real world. As
you prepare for the battleground of life, you'll hear many speeches, read
tons of books and get miles of advice telling you to work hard, dream big,
go out and do something for yourself, and have a vision.

Not bad advice, really. In fact, following these nuggets of truth may just
bring you to the top. But as I've lived my life over the years, I have come
to realize that it is great to dream big, have a vision, make a name, and
work hard. But guess what: There's something better than that.

So my message today simply asks the question, What's better than...?

Let's start off with something really simple. What's better than a long
speech? No doubt, a short one. So, you guys are in luck because I do intend
to keep this short.

Now, let me take you through a very simple math exam. I'll rattle off a
couple of equations, and you tell me what you observe about them. Be
mindful of the instructions. You are to tell me what you observe about the
equations. Here goes:

3+4=7, 9+2=11, 8+4=13, and 6+6=12. Tell me, what do you observe?

Every time I conduct this test, more than 90 percent of the participants
immediately say, 8+4 is NOT 13, it's 12!

That's true and they are correct. But they could have also observed that
the three other equations were right. That 3+4 is 7, that 9+2 is 11, and
that 6+6 is 12.

What's my point? Many people immediately focus on the negative instead of
the positive. Most of us focus on what's wrong with other people more than
what's right about them.

Examine those four equations. Three were right and only one was wrong. But
what is the knee-jerk observation? The wrong equation.

If 10 people you didn't know were to walk through that door, most of you
would describe those people by what's negative about them. He's fat. He's
balding. Oh, the short one. Oh, the skinny girl. Ahhh, 'yung pango. Etc.

Get the point? It's always the negative we focus on and not the positive.

You'll definitely experience this in the corporate world. You do a hundred
good things and one mistake-guess what? Chances are, your attention will be
called on that one mistake.

So what's better than focusing on the negative? Believe me, its focusing on
the positive. And if this world could learn to focus on the positive more
than the negative, it would be a much nicer place to live in.


We have always been told to work hard. Our parents say that, our teachers
say that, and our principal says that. But there's something better than
merely working hard. It's working SMART.

It's taking time to understand the situation, and coming out with an
effective and efficient solution to get more done with less time and
effort. As the Japanese say, "There's always a better way."

One of the most memorable case studies I came across with as I studied
Japanese management at Sophia University in Tokyo was the case of the empty
soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies.

The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a box of soap
that was empty. It immediately isolated the problem to the assembly line,
which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery
department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line
empty.

Management tasked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the
engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution
monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed
through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked
hard and they worked fast.

But a rank-and-file employee that was posed the same problem came out with
another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it
at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed
the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Clearly, the engineers worked hard, but the rank-and-file employee worked
smart.

So what's better than merely working hard? It's working smart.

Having said that, it is still important to work hard. If you could combine
both working hard and working smart, you would possess a major factor
toward success.

Better than dreaming big

I will bet my next month's salary that many have encouraged you to dream
big. Maybe even to reach for the stars and aim high.

I sure heard that about a million times right before I graduated from this
university. So I did. I did dream big. I did aim high. I did reach for the
stars. No doubt, it works. In fact, the saying is true: "If you aim for
nothing, that's exactly what you'll hit: nothing."

But there's something better than dreaming big. Believe me, I got shocked
myself. And I learned it from the biggest dreamer of all time, Walt Disney.


When it comes to dreaming big, Walt is the man. No bigger dreams were
fulfilled than his. Every leadership book describes him as the ultimate
dreamer. In fact, the principle of dreaming and achieving is the core
message of the Disney hit song, "When You Wish Upon a Star".

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are; anything your
heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dream, no request
is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do," as Jiminy
Cricket sang.

But is that what he preached in the Disney company? Dream?



Well, not exactly. Kinda, but not quite. The problem with dreaming is if
that's all you do, you'll really get nowhere. In fact, you may just fall
asleep and never wake up.

The secret to Disney's success is not just dreaming, it's IMAGINEERING.

You won't find this word in a dictionary. It's purely a Disney word. Those
who engage in imagineering are called imagineers. The word combines the
words "imagination" and "engineering."

In the book "Imagineers," Disney's CEO, Michael Eisner, claims that
"imagineers turn impossible dreams into real magic."

Walt Disney explained there is really no secret to their approach. They
just keep moving forward-opening new doors and doing new things, because
they are curious. And it is this curiosity that leads them down new paths.
They always dream, explore and experiment. In short, imagineering is the
blending of creative imagination and technical know-how.

Eisner expounds on this thought by saying that "Not only are imagineers
curious, they are courageous, outrageous, and their creativity is
contagious."

The big difference with imagineers is that they dream and then they DO! So
don't just be a dreamer, be an imagineer.

You must have all been given a lecture at one time or another about the
importance of having a vision. Even leadership expert John Maxwell says
that an indispensable quality of a leader is to have a vision. The Bible
also makes it very clear that "Without vision, people perish." So no doubt
about it, having a vision is important to success.

But surprise! There's something more potent than a vision. It's a CAUSE. If
all you're doing is trying to reach your vision and you're pitted against
someone fighting for a cause, chances are you'll lose.

The Vietnam War is a classic example. Literally with sticks and stones, the
Viet Cong beat the heavily armed US Army to surrender, primarily because
the US had a vision to win the war, but the Vietnamese were fighting for a
cause.

In the realm of business, many leaders have visions of making their company
No. 1, or grabbing market share, or forever increasing profits.

Nothing really wrong with that vision, but take the example of Sony founder
Akio Morita. He did not just have a vision to build the biggest electronics
company in the world. In his biography, "Made in Japan," he reveals that
the real reason he set up Sony was to help rebuild his country, which had
just been battered by war. He had a cause he was fighting for. His vision
to be an electronics giant was secondary.

What's the difference between a vision and a cause? Here's what sets them
apart...

No one is willing to die for a vision. People will die for a cause.
You possess a vision. A cause possesses you.
A vision lies in your hands. A cause lies in your heart.
A vision involves sacrifice. A cause involves the ultimate sacrifice.

Just a word of caution. You must have the right vision, and you must be
fighting for the right cause. In the end, right will always win out.

It may take time, and it may take long. But if you have the right vision
and are fighting for the right cause, you will prevail. If not, no matter
how sincere you are, if you are not fighting for what is right, you will
ultimately fail.


Allow me to end with two quotes that I have lived by ever since I stepped
out of UP.

The first comes from the Bible, which says, "To whom much is given, much is
required."

Having been given the opportunity to study in UP, no doubt, much has been
given to you in terms of an excellent education. Don't forget that in
return, much is now required of you to use that education not just for
yourself, but for others.

And as you move up and start reaching the pinnacle of success, even more
will be required of you to look at the welfare of others, of society and of
the country.

Though I have often dreamed of addressing any graduating class of UP
Diliman, I never really thought it would happen. This brings me to the
second quote I have held close to my heart as I traverse the destiny God
has laid out for me.

"There is no destination beyond reach of one who walks with God." My
standing in front of you today, as the youngest commencement speaker of
this esteemed university in 92 years, is proof of how true that quote is.

A final review:

* What's better than focusing on the negative? Focus on the positive.
* What's better than working hard? It's working smart.
* What's better than dreaming? Imagineering.
* What's better than doing something for yourself? Doing something for your
country.
* What's better than a vision? A cause.
* What's better than a long speech? Definitely, a short one.

Thank you and congratulations, UP Diliman graduating class of 2003.

[DanDaLion]

^^ Caltech Graduation speech 2005





Sandra Tsing Loh's Commencement Speech to the Caltech Class of 2005"PS: The Last Caltech Lesson"Congratulations Caltech, class of 2005! Welcome friends and family and no, you didn't hear wrong. . . I am indeed your commencement speaker.Yes, we are at Caltech, the top science school in the country -- No matter what MIT may pathetically try to claim-- Speaking of which, I thought we were promised a prank by MIT. A commencement prank. What's the matter. . . Too scared, Girlymen? I'm sorry-- What with our Governor, "Girlymen" is what we say in California-- It's a kind of Austrio-Hollywood term of endearment-a love tap, if you will.Anyway-- As you know, historically gracing this podium are such eminences grises as Nobel Prize laureates, Fortune 500 CEO's, network anchormen, Time magazine Men of the Year. . . Even in 1991, an actual sitting president, George Bush, Sr.Instead, here I am. . . One of those public radio commentators who does short personal bits five minutes before the hour, right after all the important news. . .Some would describe the "I am not worthy" feeling to be terror--Some would say, "Oh well--it's just another dreamlike, out of body moment. . . at Caltech--"Because I am a Caltech graduate and--for those of us in this hardy group-performance anxiety is nothing new. We're people who laugh at fear--! samurai who've already proved ourselves by surviving. . . a "Caltech education." Which can seem like. . . secret Clubhouse code between "Techers"-- How hard this school is-- And for those visiting for the first time, relatives from out of town, to give you just a quick-snapshot-example of what your Caltech grad has triumphed over. . . Consider that beloved academic tradition-- The take-home. . . open-book. . . infinite time exam-"That's right! Take all the time you want! Won't really help you because, PS, Problem Number Two? It's actually impossible. That's right! It's a famous impossible conundrum! Even Descartes couldn't solve it, after working on it. . . for 37 years. Then he went insane. Had a fight with Foucault, bar in Lyons, few drinks, argument, duel. . . Funny story, we thought it would be amusing to give this unsolvable drove-Descartes-mad paradox to you freshman. . . in Math 1. . . your very first week at Caltech!" ["And then to really mess with your perfect SAT /high school valedictorian heads, we gave you, woo. . . infinite time."But rest assured that Caltech students do learn to fight back, in this intellectual hazing process. Even the mediocre ones. I know, because I was not just one of them, I believe I'm on the short list of candidates for patron saint of those lost at Caltech. Junior year, I was assigned as physics lab partner classmate Sekhar Chivukula, widely regarded a genius, he's still in physics today. Of our pairing it was said: "Sekhar will do the calculations, Sandra will handle the radioactive samples." Thanks for the respect. Never mind-- By senior year, I'd developed my own law of quantum mechanics that had nothing to do with Wigner-Eckhart's Theorem or Clebsch-Gordon Coefficients-No, Sandra's Theory was: "On any Phys 106 exam involving the spin of an atom, the answer is at least 63 percent likely to be. . . 1/2." I don't know why but. . . You'd be amazed how often it worked: To skip the calculations and just boldly put down 1/2 and then write next to it an illegible honeycomb snarl of curlicues that vaguely resembled any of the Greek symbols--lambda, iota, zeta, tau, ampersand-- With any luck a tired Pakistani TA might just look at it, get a headache and throw you a point--!So by the time I graduated, I had a Caltech diploma entirely made of. . . partial credit, yes-- My degree was glued together, faintly pulsing with. . . radioactivity, graded less on a curve than on a kind of wild hyperbola asymptotically approaching. . . some imaginary. . . actual answer. . .But good news, once Caltech gives you a diploma, apparently. . . they can't take it away. Rock on! So what do I have to be afraid of? As far as I'm concerned, this is all just some dreamlike follow-up oral. . . for show--!But back to you. Graduates--! As you sit on Beckman Lawn, ruminating over your last four years here. . . Or five, or eight-- In my day, there was one Darb in astrophysics on the 12 year plan, who lived on nothing but Mountain Dew and Cheese Puffs. . . Anyway, Graduates--! You might be asking yourself: "What does my Caltech past mean? What of my present? Most importantly, what philosophical advice do I need to carry me, shiplike, into my future?"You may not actually being thinking this--we certainly weren't at our graduation--but this is a commencement speech so let's get to it. The advice.And historically, the one thing we know about advice is: So much is given, so little is remembered, and the little that's remembered is short. Think of Elizabeth Taylor. When asked what advice she had for tomorrow's actors, she said just two words: "Take Fountain." Fountain is a lesser known boulevard in Hollywood, a great short cut across town. Unusual: Advice that's pithy, useful, and still relevant today.I was initially tempted to go even shorter, offering Caltech grads just four letters: I-K-E-A. Because in your twenties, couches and shelves are astonishing big deals--But obviously I wanted to go deeper. . . And fortunately, I had an eager collaborator in my father, Eugene Loh, 85 years old now, Shanghai-born, Caltech Class of '54. . . The day he learned I was to be Caltech commencement speaker was both the most thrilling day in his life and then suddenly the most terrifying when he realized how much. . . could go wrong. So for the past few months my dad has been calling me every other morning--at 7:15 a.m.!--with the quickest routes into Pasadena, how to set a second alarm. . . I'm 43 years old, and my Chinese father was still having nightsweats about his daughter somehow, Caltech-style, sleeping through this. . .My dad was also worried about my blowing the speech, so with retired scientist precision he drafted it for me on a napkin. First I was to list our family's Caltech credits: him, me, my brother Eugene. . . My father met my mother at the Caltech swimming pool but he didn't think that was important, more important was that she worked in Renee Delbecco's lab! My sister Tatjana went to UCLA but was born in the old St. Luke's which is now part of. . . Caltech! Rock on! Quote Goethe, praise David Baltimore, end with something vaguely uplifting like "Dare to dream". . . and above all, my dad said: "It's commencement. Don't 'try' to be 'funny.'"And at that moment, the light bulb went on. I remembered the one thing that freed me, post-Caltech-- And I believe can free you. . . . The advice being not "Dare to dream"-- Every young person dares to dream-frankly, it's all they do all day! But many bright young people, under their A student masks, also harbor a secret passion. . . And the key to releasing that last exotic bird to flight is not "Dare to Dream," but, listen carefully, "Dare. . . to disappoint. . . your father."That's right, Caltech graduates. . . Freedom begins now! Diploma in hand, start today veering wildly off course! have the fabulous graduation lunch, at the Ath. . . or Burger Continental. . . Let your parents get a few bites in, and then boldly unveil. . . your hideous summer plans! Skiing, snorkeling, belly-dancing, sleeping-- Maybe try out for American Idol, why not?And you Asian students? That goes double for you. You know who you are?don't make me come and get you. Don't be shy. Look at me--I went into the liberal arts which, for a Chinese father, is like pole-dancing.I'm not saying mothers can't be disappointed at graduation-- Mine said she disappointed mostly by what I wore-But I think fathers--or father-shaped objects or male mentors--resonate most here, as Caltech is a campus predominantly built. . . by fathers. Certainly women continue to gain presence-- For instance, I'm thrilled that my classmate Julia Kornfield is full professor here in Chemical Engineering. . .leading a graduating class of all women in chem. e.We've come a long way, baby, from where we first met in 1979, on Caltech's first women's volleyball team. . . Woo! Which was great fun-- But unfortunately as females were still a new phenomenon on campus our athletic mascot remained "the Caltech. . .. beaver." So when we ran out onto the court at games, our fans would bravely yell, "Goooooo Beavers!" Never mind.So yes, more women will continue to enter its history books, but for me Caltech, look around you, has always felt like a land of kings-- Its heroes the fathers of modern chemistry, biology, physics, neuroscience. . . Who give name to the stately buildings-- Kerchkoff, Church, Von Karman-- busts of male elders surprise one at every garden turn, and oil paintings, including, most famously, in the Atheneum dining room, Caltech's Holy Trinity. . . Not Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but Noyes, Hale, and the virtual George Washington of Caltech, in full academic regalia, Robert Millikan.As a female I must say I'm happy to be standing in front the most double-X chromosome-suggesting building on campus, the giant Beckman wedding cake.But while Caltech is beautiful, at some point I think the weight of all these glowering Caltech fathers looking down on you can be daunting for a young person. Think of Amadeus, of Mozart cringing under his father's portrait-- Father-worship being important, but. . . it doesn't tell the whole story, does it?Consider, in the Dabney House courtyard, the bas-relief of a kind of Last Supper. . .. Except the apostles are named Archimedes, Euclid, Copernicus, Newton, Pasteur, da Vinci, Darwin, Franklin, who are all paying homage to a Christ-like. . . Richard Feynman. The pomp, the saintliness. . . Lovely to look at, but is this really how one should remember Feynman?Dramatic pause. And here we go--a Caltech commencement tradition--finishing with the obligatory Feynman story-- That. . .. brings it all together.Here's mine. Flashback to 1979-- We are freshmen in Page House, in a glaze from our first "infinite time" exam. . . Which has triggered our first "all-nighter"--known as: "Borrowing from tomorrow to pay for yesterday, today." (It's hard to figure out, I know). And in walks our first after-dinner guest--author of those great red bibles: The Feynman Lectures on Physics. Feynman. It's Feyman! Nobel Prize laureate in physics. We freshmen sit stunned, our mouths hanging open as he talks. And Feynman, a brilliant anecdotalist who's used to going into a room and just killing-Well he sees we're in a glaze, and so, to perk things up, in describing electromagnetic induction, where a magnetic coil pulls a needle in, out, in, out. . . He suddenly stops, in amazement, and erupts comedically, in his thick Bronx accent: "Look at that! It's little like?.And then--to our shock--he utters a non-FCC approved word for which, on public radio last year, I got fired-So I won't say it again but you may figure it out if you consider that Feynman's own commencement speech right here. . . in '74 began with Feynman's famous riff on pseudoscience which features. . . a naked woman getting a massage at Esalen. And he doesn't mean Madame Curie.So under the bas-relief of Feynman as God, I suggest. . . Maybe a little electromagnetic coil. . . Flanked by a bottle of champagne, two wine glasses and. . . maybe some bongos.Because his examples were truth, though, Feynman didn't consider them particularly shameful. But obscuring the truth. . . that, to him, was embarrassing. For instance, in 1909, Millikan. Robert Millikan, the father of Caltech, measured the charge of the electron via falling drops of oil. Over ensuing years, when scientists repeated the experiment, the results kept creeping upward, by tiny increments, until the value eventually became fixed at a number. . . significantly higher.Feynman's commencement question to his graduates was: why didn't they get the right answer sooner? Because when the researchers got their results. . .. Well, I picture them having lunch at the Ath, saying: "Our data is so far off! Could Millikan be--?" And then they look up from their salad, see Caltech's Father, Son and Holy Ghost looking down from that oil painting and they think: "No. It is I who must. . . be wrong."Because Caltech's motto is: "The truth shall make you free," I think the last great Caltech gedankenexperiment is just that, graduates, to imagine your literal--or metaphorical--dad being wrong. [Look at Stephen Hawking, 30 years later--"All that stuff I said about the universe? Sorry!] Course, he didn't go to Caltech.And of course, as more female alumna start sending daughters to Caltech-- My eldest Madeline is four, so even with early admissions we've got a few months to go.Hopefully, eventually I will be proved wrong, by a commencement speaker who says: "Disappoint your mothers."Either way, I believe, failing one's elders is serious business, and not currently in fashion. These are times of great anxiety, and great conventionality. With ever-escalating academic pressure, there is a danger of creating perfect performers, trained monkeys unable to break through to a new paradigm. Not that this implies any Caltech students. . .But as, for 111 years, there have never been any humiliated parents at Caltech graduations-- I see very few black armbands here today-- We can deduce that the only thing graduates didn't learn is how to fail you, parents. So let them-- graduation is the beginning of the hero's journey-- Which is a little bit Oedipal--just a little, I'm not saying kill your father! But the hero's journey does begin by leaving. . . the safety of the village. . . (And, yes, I think women can be heroes. If a beaver can be a woman, a female can be a hero!)And in the beginning of this journey, boldness is all-- boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Dig me, I got in some Goethe.And so what if June is traditionally a treacherous time for irreverence. . . A time when elder authority reigns, with heavy hand. .. . What with Father's Day, Graduation, and so many commencement speakers roaming the land--the CEO's, network anchormen, even presidents and vice-presidents. . . The only ruler not currently touring, I think, is the Pope!If there's a Medieval image I'd suggest for Caltech genius, it's less great circle of old grizzled kings than card zero of the Tarot deck: the one Fool. . . stepping off a cliff. You. Who proves them all wrong.In other words, new motto: If you happen to be a Buddha in the road and you see a Caltech grad coming. . . Be a little nervous.Thank you all, sorry about the disappointing speech, dad, and Class of 2005. . .Congratulations! Go get 'em!

[davidcorpuz_87]

Ngayong araw na ito, sa ating pagtatapos, mayroon akong dalang Transcript of Record. Ang estudyanteng may-ari ng transcript na ito ay nag-aral sa De La Salle University. Sa unibersidad na ito, kapag ikaw ay isang undergraduate, may ID number na nagsisimula sa "94" at pataas, kung lumipas ang isang buong schoolyear at umabot ka sa 15 units na bagsak, masisipa ka sa paaralan.

Ang transcript na hawak ko ay mayroong 27 units ng bagsak. 12 sa mga ito ay tinamo ng estudyante sa iisang schoolyear lang. Ang isang subject ay kadalasang may bigat na 3 units. Kung iisiping mabuti, isang subject na bagsak na lang ay pwede na masipa ang estudyanteng may-ari ng transcript na ito.

Ang speech na ito ay hindi ko ginawa para i-acknowledge ang paghihirap n gating magulang sa pagpapaaral natin. Hindi ko din ito ginawa para maghayag ng political statement, o kumbinsihin kayo na huwag umalis sa bansa at tulungan itong maka-ahon. Ang speech na ito ay para sa mga normal na estudyante na kagaya ng may may-ari ng transcript na hawak ko, dahil madalas, wala talagang paki-alam ang unibersidad sa mga achievements nila. May mga awards na gaya ng "Summa Cum Laude", "Best Thesis Award" at "Leadership Award." Pero ni minsan, hindi pa ako nakakakita ng unibersidad na nagbigay ng "Hung on and managed to graduate despite nearly getting kicked-out during his academic stay" award.

Maaaring isang malaking kagaguhan ang konseptong ito para sa karamihan. Bakit mo pararangalan ang isang estudyanteng bulakbol, bobo, tamad o iresponsable? Hindi ba dapat isuka ito ng unibersidad? Ito yung mga tipo ng estudyanteng walang ia-asenso sa buhay, hindi ba?

Ayun. Natumbok niyo.Iyun na nga ang dahilan.
<>

Madalas, pag ang isang estudyante ay may pangit na marka sa paaralan, lalong-lalo na sa kolehiyo,
nakakapanghina ito ng loob. Nandiyan yung tatamarin ka mag-aral, nandyan yung iisipin mo "Ano pa kayang trabaho ang makukuha ko? Call center na naman o clerical? Ba't kasi ang bobo ko. Kung matalino lang ako, sana, sa Proctor and Gamble ako, o kung saang sikat na kumpanya."

Mas mahirap ang dinadaanan ng mga estudyanteng bumabagsak. Kahit na sabihin mong kasalanan nilang bumabagsak sila, hindi ninyo alam kung ano ang pakiramdam ng ganun. Madaling sabihin na "Kaya mo yan, mag-aral ka lang," pero alam ba natin talaga ang sinasabi natin?
<>

Kapag ang isang estudyante ay bumabagsak sa unibersidad, nandiyan yung tatawanan niya lang yan. O di kaya naman, ipagmamalaki niya pang "TAKE 5 NA KO!!!" o "Pare, magpi-PhD na ako sa Anmath3/Calculus/etc." Pero hindi alam ng mga isang Summa Cum Laude kung ano ang nasa isip ng isang normal na estudyante sa tuwing matutulog ito at alam niyang pag-gising niya, kailangan niya na naming ulitin ang isang subject na nakuha niya na sa susunod na term. Kahit kalian, hindi naging problema sa "Star Student"

na sabihing "Nay, bagsak ako." at hindi kailanman sumagi sa isip nila na "Paano kaya kung sa walang-pangalang kumpanya lang ako makapagtrabaho?" Dahil sigurado sila sa kinabukasan nila.

Huwag na tayong maglokohan. Grades are everything. Kahit bali-baligtarin mo iyan, hindi magiging patas ang mga kumpanyang kumukuha ng fresh graduates para magtrabaho sa kanila. Minsan din naman, nadadaan sa palakasan, pero ganun pa din. Kung hindi ka academically good, wala kang patutunguhan. Kung hindi man yun, mas mahirap yung dadaanan mo para lang makaa-abot sa prestihiyosong posisyon.

Kaya ngayong graduation, ang speech na ito ay inaaalay ko para sa mga estudyanteng lumpagpak, muntik-muntikanan nang masipa o yung lahat ng paraang pwede, ginawa na para lang makatapos. Gagawin kong patas ang mundo para sa inyo kahit isang araw lang. Kahit ano pa ang sabihin ng ibang tao, kesyo kasalanan mo man na pangit ang marka mo o muntik ka nang makick-out, saludo ako sa hindi mo pagtigil sa pag-aaral. Saludo ako na may lakas ka ng loob na harapin pa rin ang mundo kahit alam mong hindi ito magiging patas sa iyo. Saludo ako na kahit pangit ang transcript mo, taas-noo ka pa rin ngayong graduation at proud na proud sa sarili mo.
<>

Ano ngayon ang mangyayari sa mga graduates pagkatapos nitong graduation? Ayoko nang puntahan yung pwedeng mangyayari sa mga Cum Laude. Baduy. Alam mo namang me patutunguhan ang buhay nila e. Pero dun sa mga lumagpak, ano ang meron?
<>

Maaring makakuha kayo ng mediocre na trabaho lang. Pwede ka rin swertehin, baka makapagtrabaho ka sa magandang kumpanya. Madami pang pwedeng mangyari. Huwag kayong mawalan ng pag-asa. Kung nung college, nagtiyaga kayo e ba't titigilan niyo yung pagti-tiyaga

ngayon?

Pwede ring ganito: Mag-aral ka ulit. Ipakita mo sa kanila na kung sipagin ka lang, malayo ang mararating mo. Subukan mong patunayan sa kanila na kapag pinilit mo, kaya mo ring abutin yung naabot nila. Na hindi ka bobo, kundi tinamad ka lang.

Baka sabihin ninyo, drowing lang ako.
<>

I've been on both sides. Naranasan ko na ring lumagpak, at muntikan na din akong masipa. Naranasan ko na na umulit ng 4 na beses sa iisang subject. Naranasan ko na na masumbatan ng magulang, kapatid at kung sino-sino pang propesor na walang pakialam sa pakiramdam ng estuyante. Naranasan ko nang hindi makatulog ng maraming gabi sa pagiisip kung paano ko na naman sasabihin sa magulang ko na may bagsak na

naman ako. Kaya alam ko ang pakiramdam ninyo. Akin ang transcript na ito.

Pagkagraduate ko ng college, ano ang ginawa ko? Eto. Nagtrabaho muna ng konti, tapos aral ulit. Kuha ng Masteral sa kurso ko. Hindi para sa trabaho o kung ano man. Kundi para patunayan sa sarili ko na noong mga panahong bumabagsak ako, tinatamad lang ako.

This is a rebellion. I raise my middle finger to every professor, over-achiever, naysayer and detractor that told me that I can't make it. I raise my middle finger to every valedictory or graduation speech that only gratifies the university, those who were achievers in school or those who gratify the country when it's supposed to be the graduate's moment of glory. You are supposed to acknowledge EVERYONE. Even those who failed many times.
<>

Kaya sa inyong mga graduates na medyo hindi maganda ang marka, para sa inyo ito. Kung kinaya ko ito, kaya niyo rin to. Imposibleng hindi.

_______________

[Illuminatus]

^ astig... *** gumawa nito davidcorpuz 87???

[gobbledygook]

I believe somebody just wrote that article and posted it in PLARIDEL or something.

[davidcorpuz_87]

^ astig... *** gumawa nito davidcorpuz 87???

Actually, I don't know ... Sabi sa source ko, taga DLSU "daw" ang sumulat, pero dineliver "daw" ito sa Commencement Exercise ng valedictorian ng UP College of Engineering batch 2004. That's the story, Maybe I'll research on that.

Pero ang weird naman kasi parang inappropriate siya para sa maging isang speech ng engineering graduate (or any bachelor's degree graduate in particular) kasi he/she sounds that he/she has graduated from a master's degree..

[davidcorpuz_87]

Now I got it ...

I don't if this is a reliable source ... just check this link:

http://suhweet-thang.livejournal.com/

It said there that a UP student named, Christopher Barrientos (course not mentioned) has delivered and claiming the speech to be his work. However, according to the article, a DLSU graduate student named Paeng Pabalan is the real author of the speech (and he's not even a graduate on his master's degree)

Hmmm...

[davidcorpuz_87]

Valedictory Speech
By Anna Theresa Licaros
BA Broadcast Communication

94th General Commencement Exercises
UP Diliman

Pangulong Emerlinda Roman
Chanselor Sergio Cao
Mga miyembro ng lupon ng rehente
Mga dekano ng iba’t ibang kolehiyo
Mga miyembro ng kaguruan
Mga miyembro ng diplomatic corps
Ginoong Ryan Cayabyab
Mga natatanging bisita
Aming minamahal na nga magulang, at mga nagsipagdalo…
Mga kapwa ko nagsipagtapos…

Magandang gabi sa inyong lahat.

Hanggang ngayon ay kinikilabutan pa rin ako sa tuwing madadaanan ko si Oblê. Iyong mga pagkakataong madadaanan ko siya sa hapon at papalubog na ang araw. Madalas galing akong Philcoa, kaya bababa ako sa kanto ng University Avenue at Academic Oval para maglakad papuntang Mass Comm. Sa pagdaan ko sa tapat niya ay mayroong ilang segundong kaming dalawa lang ang nandoon at walang ibang dumadaan. Iyon ang nga sandaling sumasagi sa isip ko ang realidad ng aking pagiging taga-UP. Mga sandali na pinaghalong ka-astigan, ka-angasan, takot, pagmamalaki, kaba, yabang, pagpapakumbaba, at lugod…

Sa madaling salita, ilang segundo na para akong nasisiraan. Pero mabilis lang naman ang mga sandaling iyon. Isang bugso ng mga imahe, mga sipi ng musika at kulay… para akong nag-e-MTV pag dumadaan doon. Isang sandali na kaming dalawa lang ni Oblê. Bakit kaya ako nagkakaganoon? Kayong mga kapwa ko iskolar ng bayan, nararamdaman niyo rin ba iyon? Isa pa yan… “Iskolar ng Bayan.” Pag naririnig ko ang mga katagang iyon… tumitindig ang balahibo ko. Bakit kaya? Bakit ganoon na lang ang epekto ng mga iyan sa akin?

Hindi ako OA. Sadya lang sigurong matindi ang naitanim sa akin na pagpapahalaga at pagtatangi para sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. Siguro dahil bata pa lang ako eh pinapangarap ko nang dito makapag-tapos. Siguro dahil ang tatay ko, dito rin gradweyt. Siguro dahil dito sa UP ko natagpuan ang tunay na ibig sabihin ng pag-aalay ng sarili.

Kung tutuusin, ang angking galing ng mga taga-UP ay bunga ng pagbabayanihan ng sambayanang Pilipino. Ang ating edukasyon ay natustusan mula sa bulsa ng mga kababayang nagbabayad ng buwis. Ang ating kaalaman ay bunga ng mga butyl ng karunungang ipinunla ng ating mga guro. Ang ating pagkatao ay hinulma ng ating pamilya, mga kaibigan at komunidad. Kumbaga’y ang bawat isa sa ating mga nagtatapos ngayon ay isang bukod ng mga buong-pusong pag-aalay ng napakaraming tao.

Natutunan kosa aking kapatid na si Biboy na ang pinakamalapit na salitang Pilipino para sa Oblation ay Pahinungod. Ang Pahinungod ay Cebuano para sa Oblation o offering. Ang una kong naiisip pag sinasabi ang salitang ito ay ang org ng mga taong boluntaryong nag-aalay ng kanilang oras at kagalingan. Hindi ako naging member ng UP Pahinungod pero hanga ako sa gawain nila. Hindi lamang iisang beses ko nadaanan ang mga poster nila, at nabalitaan ang naging problema nila noong nakaraang taon. Marami rin sa atin ang hindi nakasali rito. Siguro ito ay dahil sahindi pa lang tayo handa nang una tayong tawagin. Ngunit sa aking palagay, ang tunay na espirito ng Pahinungod ay isinasabuhay ng bawat isko at iska sa iba’t ibang paraan. Lahat tayo rito ay kayang mag-alay ng sarili nang buong-buo dahil ito ay isang katangian na hinuhubog ng UP. Ang bawat isa sa atin ay nakapagbigay nang todo-todo sa kahit isang bagay man lamang sa buong pamamalagi sa campus. Maging sa theses niya, sa org niya, sa STS report… basta. Ito ang hinihingi ng UP sa bawat estudyante nito, sa bawat pagkakataon. Ibigay mo ang todo mo, ang lahat-lahat mo… o huwag na lang. Ibuhos mo ang lahat o umuwi ka na lang, hindi ka pang-UP.

Sa ating pagtatapos, nawa’y mas isabuhay natin ang espirito ng Pahinungod. Tayo ay mag-alay ng ating mga sarili gn buong-buo. Hindi iminumungkahi ang pagpapaka-martir. Ibang usapan ang hayaan mong pagsamantalahan ang iyong galing at kakayahan. Sa kalibre natin, mas nararapat ngang mag-dahan-dahan tayo sa pagpili ng kung saan natin iaalay ang ating galing at diwa… sa kung anong bagay ang ating paghuhusayin. Nakakalungkot mang aminin, ngunit walang kasiguruhan na pagakakuha ng edukasyong UP ay matinong tao na ang labas mo.

Alam kong hindi rin maiiwasan ang pagtutunggali ng praktika at prinsipyo lalo na sa mga bagon graduate tulad natin. Ngunit lagi nating tandaan na lahat tayo ay pipili ng prayoridad sa buhay… at walang maling prayoridad. Mahalaga rin na iyong gawin ang makapagbibigay ng kabuuan at saysay sa iyo. Maaring ang unahin ay ang iyong pamilya, sa ating sarili at sa ating bayan. Mayroon tayong responsibilidad na tugunan sa abot ng ating makakaya ang lahat ng mga ito.

Balikan natin ng sandali ang aming moment ni Oblê… ang tanong ko kanina ay bakit nga ba ako nagkakaganoon? Sa aking palagay, ito ay dahil kusang sumasagot ang aking damdamin sa tuwing nakikita ko ang mga simbolo’t senyales gn UP para sa pag-aalay gn sarili. Sila’y naririyan lamang, tumatawag sa atin, nagpapaalala at humihikayat… ang ating mga diwa at pagkatao naman ay sumasagot at tumutugon. Ako parang MTV. Ikaw, kinikilabutan. Siya, naluluha. Kaniya-kaniyang moment lang yan… pero lahat tayo nararanasan yun. Aminin man natin o hindi.

Pag dumadagundong na ang unang mga kuwerdas ng UP Naming Mahal pagkatapos manalo ng UP Maroons… pag nadadaan ka sa Oblation… pag naririnig mong tinatawag kang “iskolar ng bayan…” Ngunit ang mas mahalaga ay kung ano ang ginagawa natin sa mga pagkakataong iyon. Atin bang pinagdadaig ang apoy na nasisindihan ang ating kamalayang Pahinungod o palagi ba itong ningas kugon lamang?

Magagaling tayo. Alam na natin yan. Ngunit ang kagalingang hindi naisasabuhay sa paglilingkod at pagbabahagi ng sarili ay walang saysay. Isang hungkag na selebrasyon ito kung ipagdiriwang lamang natin ang ating galing at katalinuhan, at matapos nito ay hindi naman ibabahagi. Ang pagtatapos na ito ay nagkakaroon ng natatanging halaga dahil ito ay nagsisilbing pagpapaalala sa ating mga iskolar ng baya, tungkol sa Pahinungod ng bawat isa.

Magandang gabi at mabuhay tayong lahat.

[davidcorpuz_87]

Valedictory Speech
by LOUIE RHYS MANGANAAN
BA Political Science

Commencement Exercises, SY 2005-2006
San Sebastian College

Sa nakalipas ng apat na taon, naging panahon ng Koreanovela, ng F4, ng reality shows, ng Starstruck, ng Pinoy Big Brother, ng American Idol,.. naging panahon ni Erap, panahon ni Gloria... ng EDSA 2 and 3, ng coup d'etat... naging panahon ni Manny Pacquiao... nangyari ang stampede sa Ultra, ng landslide sa Leyte... ng pabago-bagong cellphones, ng pc games, ng friendster... at ngayon, makalipas ang 4 na taon, malugod kong masasabing panahon naman natin.

Four years have pased since we first stepped in the grounds of San Sebastian. After a series of entrance examinations in different colleges and universities, we finally found a place to hone our scholastic lives. I can still remember our freshman days we are new in venturing into adulthood as we just emerged from high school. Do you remember our Night Camp? We! were divided into planets and were later on united into one planet SSC-R. And it officially welcomed us to the toughness of college life.

Four years of hardwork, perseverance, and patience... difficult subjects, strict professors... who would forget the sleepless nights we encountered due to thesis and defense? Who would forget our first work experiences as practicumers? Who would forget the anxiety and tension when the list for the candidates of graduation is yet to be posted? College is college.

And to etch in our hearts the blood, sweat, and tears we exhausted, my dear friends, our batch is called SAGA. In Norway, saga means an epic of heoes. In San Sebastian, it is a story, our story. Because all of us are heroes and our never-ending legend continues. Our time to shine has come and it starts now.

Today, as we thank God for all the graces we b! estowed, we should take time to thank the OAR administrators, the deans, the members of the faculty and the entire Sebastinian community for making us feel the atmosphere of being in a family. Fathers, sirs, ma'ams... thank you.

We should also take time to thank our classmates and friends who became more of siblings to us. For all the tears and laughters... I'm sure we will miss each other.

And most especially, let us take time to thank our PARENTS who gave us and continuously give us unconditional and selfless love... for sending us to a great school... for the gift of education... for ensuring a bright future ahead of us.

Now my dear friends, our journey in college is about to end, but our journey in real life has just began. But we should not be afraid, for we, as Sebastinian graduates, coming from a steadfast Catholic Christian institution, are fully equipped with the t! hings we need to survive. The needs that will be bestowed upon us later on shall symbolize our degrees, our passport to success. It will allow us to foray and force ahead the dreams that we have inside.

Friends, the glory that we have now took years to mount and it can never be undone. Magpabago-bago man ang panahon, no one can take away our banter as certified graduates.

To my dear batchmates, congratulations, good luck and God Bless! For in this moment our destinly has been fulfilled.. our missions accomplished!


(** not really an amazing speech but I will post it here anyway)

[davidcorpuz_87]

Summa cum laude Donald K. Ngwe on behalf of the graduates

Mga miyembro ng Lupon ng Rehente
Pangulong Emerlinda Roman
Chanselor Sergio Cao
Ating panauhing pandangal Dr. Edgardo Gomez
Mga dekano ng iba’t-ibang kolehiyo
Mga miyembro ng kaguruan
Mga natatanging bisita
Mga mahal na magulang, kaibigan, at kapwa nagsipagtapos…

Isang mainit na pagbati sa inyong lahat.

Simula noong hapon hanggang ngayong gabi, tayo ay nagkasama-sama para sa isang katangi-tanging okasyon. Ngayong gabi, sabay-sabay nating gunitain ang unibersidad, ang karunungang ipinamahagi nito sa atin, at higit sa lahat, ang ating pagtatapos. Ang unibersidad natin, parang bahay ni kuya. Tayo ang mga housemates—kanya-kanya ang mga hangarin, mga problema, at mga pinapangarap. Ang ilan sa atin, magkakapamilya. Ang iba naman, magpapayaman. Ang iba, uuwi sa probinsya at tatakbong konggresista. Habang ang iba, mamumundok upang hanapin ang sarili. Mga iskolar man tayong lahat, iba-iba pa rin tayo ng pinanggalingan at patutunguhan sa buhay.

Sa likod ng mga pagkakaiba natin bilang mga indibidwal, ang katotohanan pa rin ay tayo’y nagkakaisa. Para tayong mga housemates na may kanya-kanyang personalidad pero iisa pa rin ang hangaring tumagal sa bahay ni kuya. Masscomm ka man o Educ, BA o FA, ikaw, iskolar, ay nagmimithing mapabuti ang kalagayan ng ating bansa. Nais mong mabatid, sa iyong paglisan sa unibersidad, na ika’y naging bahagi sa pagbibigay lunas sa iba’t ibang sakit ng ating lipunan. Ito ang isa sa pinakamahalaga at di-mabuburang aral na dapat nating dalhin sa labas ng unibersidad. Ito ang tatak UP!

Mga kaibigan, hindi mahirap maghanap ng paraan upang makamit natin ang ating layunin. Sa ginawa nating pagsusumikap na magtapos ng kolehiyo, ipinamalas natin ang pinakamabisang paraan ng pagsulong sa ating bansa: ang pagtuklas sa katotohanan. Ako, bilang mag-aaral mula sa Econ, ay natutong intindihin ang tunay na dahilan sa pagtaas at pagbaba ng piso. Kayong mag-aaral mula sa KAL at mula sa Music, ay naghanap ng kagandahan at silbi sa pamamagitan ng iba’t ibang uri ng sining na katutubo sa ating bayan. Kayo, mula sa CS, CSSP at Eng’g ay nagpatunay sa mga konsepto at palaisipang kayo lamang at ang Diyos ang nakaiintindi. Gaya nga ng mga housemates ni kuya, mayroon din tayong sari-sariling mga diskarte at pamamaraan upang magtagumpay. Lahat tayo ay nagsilbing susi sa paghahanap ng katotohanan, sa iba-iba mang paraan, sa iba-iba mang larangan.

Hindi tayo mag-isang naglakbay sa UP. Nariyan ang mga taong walang humpay ang suporta sa atin—ang ating mga magulang, na pawis at dugo ang ipinundar upang tayo’y pakainin, pag-aralin, at patabain sa kabutihang asal; ang ating mga guro, na nagpayaman sa ating mga isipan sa kabila ng mababang sahod; ang mga kawani at non-teaching staff na nagtrabaho mula umaga hanggang gabi upang mapadali ang buhay natin sa unibersidad. Tatay, nanay, prof, ate, kuya, klasmeyt, sa lahat ng gumabay at tumulong sa amin… maraming maraming salamat.

Ngunit huwag nating kalilimutan ang mamamayang Pilipino, na siyang nagtustos sa ating pag-aaral. Kung daan-daang tagahanga ang naghihintay sa tuwing lalabas ang isang housemate, milyun-milyong Pilipino ang naghihintay sa bawat isa sa atin upang sila’y ating pagsilbihan at upang magampanan natin ang ating tungkulin sa sambayanan.

Kaya nga mga kasamang nagsipagtapos, gamitin natin ang ating galing sa masigasig na pagtupad sa ating tungkulin. Bilang mga musikero, payamanin ninyo ang musikang Pinoy sa paglikha ng mga natatanging obra. Bilang mga mamamahayag, iulat niyo lamang ang balitang tama at tapat sa diyaryo, radio, at telebisyon. Bilang mga guro, gabayan ninyo ang mga susunod na henerasyon tulad ng paggabay sa atin ng ating mga mahal na propesor. Mga inhenyero, protektahan ninyo ang kapakanan ng mga mahihirap habang pinapalakas ang imprastrakratura ng kanayunan. Mga negosyante, kawani ng gobyerno, at kapwa ekonomista, magpatupad kayo ng mga patakarang makapagpapaginhawa sa bawat sektor ng ating lipunan. Sa lahat ng ito, marapatin nating gawing batayan ng ating tagumpay bilang tao kung gaano tayo nagpakatotoo sa ating mga sarili, at sa mga mamamayan ng ating bansa.

Nakalulungkot mang isipin, hindi namamayani ang katotohanan sa lipunang ating ginagalawan at kinabibilangan. Kung minsan nga, ang katotohanan ay nasa harap na, ngunit malungkot mang aminin ay walang nagnanais tumanggap dito. Tinatawag ang ating henerasyon na harapin ang mga isyung bumabalot sa lipunan natin. Gamitin natin ang ating lakas at talino sa pagpapaunlad ng sarili nating bayan, sa halip na lumikas na lamang sa ibang bansa. Sama-sama nating palakasin ang ating ekonomiya, habang tinitiyak na mapapabuti ang kalagayan ng mga mahihirap. Patunayan natin sa lahat na kaya nating maging isang matatag na bansa sa pamamagitan ng tamang pagbayad ng buwis, sa matuwid na pagsunod sa batas, at sa buong-pusong pagtupad natin sa ating tungkulin bilang Pilipino.

Mga kaibigan, ito na ang simula ng ating pagharap sa reyalidad ng mundo, ang mundo sa labas ng unibersidad. Ito na ang simula ng susunod na yugto ng ating kasaysayan. Ito na ang teleserye ng totoong buhay.

Mabuhay ang iskolar ng bayan! Mabuhay ang UP!

[kateh]

This was a speech delivered by the actor Tom Hanks at the graduation ceremony of Vassar College in New York on May 22, 2005.

THE POWER OF FOUR

Not long ago I was reading about the problem of gridlock on the freeways of Southern California--the traffic jams which cripple the city, stranding millions and laying waste to time, energy, and the environment. Gridlock is as serious and as impenetrable a problem as any we face, a dilemma without cure, without solution, like everything else in the world, it seems.

Some smart folks concocted a computer simulation of gridlock to determine how many cars should be taken off the road to turn a completely jammed and stilled highway into a free-flowing one. How many cars must be removed from that commute until a twenty-mile drive takes twenty-five minutes instead of two hours? The results were startling.

Four cars needed to be removed from that virtually stuck highway to free up that simulated commute... four cars out of each one hundred. Four cars per one hundred cars, four autos out of every one hundred autos, forty cars from each thousand, four hundred out of ten thousand. Four cars out of one hundred are not that many. Two cars out of every fifty--one driver out of twenty-five drivers.

Now, if this simulation is correct, it is the most dramatic definition in earthly science and human nature of how a simple choice will make a jaw-dropping difference to our world. Call it the Power of Four. One commuter in your neighborhood could put the rush back into rush hour. So, if merely four people out of a hundred can make gridlock go away by choosing not to use their car, imagine the other changes that can be wrought just by four of us--four of you--out of a hundred.

Take a hundred musicians in a depressed port city in Northern England, choose John, Paul, George, and Ringo and you have "Hey Jude". Take a hundred computer geeks in Redmond, Washington, send 96 of them home and the remainder is called Microsoft.

Take the Power of Four and apply it to any and every area of your concern. Politics: Four votes swung from one hundred into another hundred is the difference between gaining control and losing clout. Culture: 2 ticket buyers out of fifty can make a small, odd film profitable. Economics: by boycotting a product 1 consumer out of 25 can move that product to the back of the shelf, and eventually off it altogether.

Four out of 100 is miniscule and yet can be the great lever of the Tipping Point. The Power of Four is the difference between helplessness and help. H-E-L-P: a four-letter word like some others with many meanings.

The graduating class of 2005 can claim, with perhaps more credibility than any other class in history, that during its four years of college the world went crazy. In the fall of 2001, our planet earth and the United States of America were different sorts of places--in tone, in tolerance, in peace and war, in ideas and in ideals--than they are on this spring day in 2005. These past years have been extraordinary in the express rate of change, well beyond the usual standards of culture, well above the personal watermarks you have stamped as college students. As college graduates, you now live in a brand new world, with new versions of political upheaval, global pandemic, world war and religious polarization, the likes of which have rarely visited our planet all at once--and thank God for that.

Today's main purpose is to celebrate your entering into society, but the fact is you have all been very much steeped in it already- Poughkeepsie being the proxy and microcosm of the whole wide world. None of you were untouched by the events in September of your freshman year, none unaffected by the ideological movements of local and geo-politics since. All of you have been staring your individual fate and our collective future right in the eye for the last four years. The common stereotype would have you today, cap in the air, parchment in hand, asking yourself "what do I do now?" You, the class of 2005, have already had many, many moments during your time at Vassar when you asked yourself that question. You might have added the word 'Hell', or some such four-letter word to the phrase: "What the HELL do I do now?" In which case, today might not be all that different from other days on campus-- except your parents are here and they might take you out for better food.

On Commencement Day, speechmakers are expected to offer advice--as though you need any, as though anything said today could aid your making sense of our one-damn-thing-after-another world. Things are too confused, too loud, and too dangerous to make 'advice' an option. You need to hear something much more relevant on this day. You need to hear the most important message thus far in the third millennium. You need to hear a maxim so simple, so clear and evocative that no one could misconstrue its meaning or miss its weighty issue.

So, here goes. It's not a statement, but a request. Not a bit of advice, but a plea. It is, in fact, a single four-letter word, a verb and a noun which takes into account the reality of your four years at Vassar as well as the demands of the next four decades you spend beyond this campus.

It's a message, once made familiar by the Beatles--those Northern English lads who embodied The Power of Four.

Help. HELP. HEEEELLLLLLPP!

We need help. Your help. You must help. Please help. Please provide Help. Please be willing to help. Help... and you will make a huge impact in the life of the street, the town, the country, and our planet. If only one out of four of each one hundred of you choose to help on any given day, in any given cause-- incredible things will happen in the world you live in.

Help publicly. Help privately. Help in your actions by recycling and conserving and protecting, but help also in your attitude. Help make sense where sense has gone missing. Help bring reason and respect to discourse and debate. Help science to solve and faith to soothe. Help law bring justice, until justice is commonplace. Help and you will abolish apathy-- the void that is so quickly filled by ignorance and evil.

Life outside of college is just like life in it: one nutty thing after another, some of them horrible, but all interspersed with enough beauty and goodness to keep you going. That's your job, to keep going. Your duty is to help-- without ceasing. The art you create can glorify it. The science you pursue can prove its value. The law you practice can pass on its benefits. The faith you embrace will make it the earthly manifestation of your God.

Here at Vassar whatever your discipline, whatever your passion you have already experienced the exhausting reality that there is always something going on and there is always something to do. And most assuredly you have sensed how effective and empowering it can be when more than four out of one hundred make the same choice to help.

You will always be able to help.

So do it. Make peace where it is precious. Help plant trees. Help embrace diversity and celebrate differences. Help stop gridlock.

In other words, help solve every problem we face - every single one of them--with the Power of Four out of a hundred. Help and we will save the world. If we don't help--it won't get done.

Congratulations. Good luck. Thank you.

[thermodynamics]

UP Commencement Exercise Valedictory Speech
By Donald Ngwe
Summa Cum Laude, BS Economics



Isang mainit na pagbati sa inyong lahat.

Simula noong hapon hanggang ngayong gabi, tayo ay nagkasama-sama para sa isang katangi-tanging okasyon. Ngayong gabi, sabay-sabay nating gunitain ang unibersidad, ang karunungang ipinamahagi nito sa atin, at higit sa lahat, ang ating pagtatapos. Ang unibersidad natin, parang bahay ni kuya. Tayo ang mga housemates—kanya-kanya ang mga hangarin, mga problema, at mga pinapangarap. Ang ilan sa atin, magkakapamilya. Ang iba naman, magpapayaman. Ang iba, uuwi sa probinsya at tatakbong konggresista. Habang ang iba, mamumundok upang hanapin ang sarili. Mga iskolar man tayong lahat, iba-iba pa rin tayo ng pinanggalingan at patutunguhan sa buhay.

Sa likod ng mga pagkakaiba natin bilang mga indibidwal, ang katotohanan pa rin ay tayo’y nagkakaisa. Para tayong mga housemates na may kanya-kanyang personalidad pero iisa pa rin ang hangaring tumagal sa bahay ni kuya. Masscomm ka man o Educ, BA o FA, ikaw, iskolar, ay nagmimithing mapabuti ang kalagayan ng ating bansa. Nais mong mabatid, sa iyong paglisan sa unibersidad, na ika’y naging bahagi sa pagbibigay lunas sa iba’t ibang sakit ng ating lipunan. Ito ang isa sa pinakamahalaga at di-mabuburang aral na dapat nating dalhin sa labas ng unibersidad. Ito ang tatak UP!

Mga kaibigan, hindi mahirap maghanap ng paraan upang makamit natin ang ating layunin. Sa ginawa nating pagsusumikap na magtapos ng kolehiyo, ipinamalas natin ang pinakamabisang paraan ng pagsulong sa ating bansa: ang pagtuklas sa katotohanan. Ako, bilang mag-aaral mula sa Econ, ay natutong intindihin ang tunay na dahilan sa pagtaas at pagbaba ng piso. Kayong mag-aaral mula sa KAL at mula sa Music, ay naghanap ng kagandahan at silbi sa pamamagitan ng iba’t ibang uri ng sining na katutubo sa ating bayan. Kayo, mula sa CS, CSSP at Eng’g ay nagpatunay sa mga konsepto at palaisipang kayo lamang at ang Diyos ang nakaiintindi. Gaya nga ng mga housemates ni kuya, mayroon din tayong sari-sariling mga diskarte at pamamaraan upang magtagumpay. Lahat tayo ay nagsilbing susi sa paghahanap ng katotohanan, sa iba-iba mang paraan, sa iba-iba mang larangan.

Hindi tayo mag-isang naglakbay sa UP. Nariyan ang mga taong walang humpay ang suporta sa atin—ang ating mga magulang, na pawis at dugo ang ipinundar upang tayo’y pakainin, pag-aralin, at patabain sa kabutihang asal; ang ating mga guro, na nagpayaman sa ating mga isipan sa kabila ng mababang sahod; ang mga kawani at non-teaching staff na nagtrabaho mula umaga hanggang gabi upang mapadali ang buhay natin sa unibersidad. Tatay, nanay, prof, ate, kuya, klasmeyt, sa lahat ng gumabay at tumulong sa amin… maraming maraming salamat.

Ngunit huwag nating kalilimutan ang mamamayang Pilipino, na siyang nagtustos sa ating pag-aaral. Kung daan-daang tagahanga ang naghihintay sa tuwing lalabas ang isang housemate, milyun-milyong Pilipino ang naghihintay sa bawat isa sa atin upang sila’y ating pagsilbihan at upang magampanan natin ang ating tungkulin sa sambayanan.

Kaya nga mga kasamang nagsipagtapos, gamitin natin ang ating galing sa masigasig na pagtupad sa ating tungkulin. Bilang mga musikero, payamanin ninyo ang musikang Pinoy sa paglikha ng mga natatanging obra. Bilang mga mamamahayag, iulat niyo lamang ang balitang tama at tapat sa diyaryo, radio, at telebisyon. Bilang mga guro, gabayan ninyo ang mga susunod na henerasyon tulad ng paggabay sa atin ng ating mga mahal na propesor. Mga inhenyero, protektahan ninyo ang kapakanan ng mga mahihirap habang pinapalakas ang imprastrakratura ng kanayunan. Mga negosyante, kawani ng gobyerno, at kapwa ekonomista, magpatupad kayo ng mga patakarang makapagpapaginhawa sa bawat sektor ng ating lipunan. Sa lahat ng ito, marapatin nating gawing batayan ng ating tagumpay bilang tao kung gaano tayo nagpakatotoo sa ating mga sarili, at sa mga mamamayan ng ating bansa.
Nakalulungkot mang isipin, hindi namamayani ang katotohanan sa lipunang ating ginagalawan at kinabibilangan. Kung minsan nga, ang katotohanan ay nasa harap na, ngunit malungkot mang aminin ay walang nagnanais tumanggap dito. Tinatawag ang ating henerasyon na harapin ang mga isyung bumabalot sa lipunan natin. Gamitin natin ang ating lakas at talino sa pagpapaunlad ng sarili nating bayan, sa halip na lumikas na lamang sa ibang bansa. Sama-sama nating palakasin ang ating ekonomiya, habang tinitiyak na mapapabuti ang kalagayan ng mga mahihirap. Patunayan natin sa lahat na kaya nating maging isang matatag na bansa sa pamamagitan ng tamang pagbayad ng buwis, sa matuwid na pagsunod sa batas, at sa buong-pusong pagtupad natin sa ating tungkulin bilang Pilipino.

Mga kaibigan, ito na ang simula ng ating pagharap sa reyalidad ng mundo, ang mundo sa labas ng unibersidad. Ito na ang simula ng susunod na yugto ng ating kasaysayan. Ito na ang teleserye ng totoong buhay.

Mabuhay ang iskolar ng bayan! Mabuhay ang UP!

[nacho_salsa]

Passages from Dr. Jose M. Tiongco's (UP College of Medicine, 1971) speech at UP Mindanao, April 2006

"In a couple of years, the University of the Philippines System, the most venerable educational institution in the country will be celebrating its centennial. How would history judge UP in the last one hundred years? If the long suffering people of the Philippines were to examine the University of the Philippines System and grade its performance for the country in the last 100 years, would the UP pass or fail the examination?

Or to put it bluntly and more graphically, if the President of the University of the Philippines System were to be dragged kicking and screaming into a people’s court to account for the one hundred years the blood sweat and tears of the poor people of the Philippines were used to support UP as the citadel of the True, the Good and the Beautiful in the country, would she be able to give an answer that will be acceptable to the tubercular stevedore in Sasa wharf who eats only once a day and whose children sit in malnourished stupor by the roadside?

Can she answer for the fact that up to 90% of the graduates of the UP College of Medicine are serving the Americans and not the Filipinos who sacrificed for their education and training?

Can she answer for the fact that even as the graduates of UP College of Law top the Bar every year, the halls of Congress in the Philippines are filled with UP lawyers who use their legal gobbledygook to pass laws favorable to the multinational business industries in the country and detrimental to the poor in the Philippines? Can she justify why justice in the Philippines is officially and unofficially for sale and is out of the reach of the ordinary Filipino who lives below poverty level?

Can she answer for the fact that the graduates from the UP College of Agriculture in Los Banos devastate hundreds of thousands of hectares of prime land in Mindanao growing bananas, pineapples and oil palm for the transnational industries while the Philippines must still import the Filipinos’ basic needs in rice and sugar?

...If the University of the Philippines takes great pride that her graduates easily top the government examinations in any professional undertaking, the University of the Philippines must also bow her head in shame and sorrow because it cannot shirk the accountability and responsibility for her graduates who raid the coffers of the country, corrupt the morals of our people, and turn the Philippines into an international basket case and permanent laughing stock of the nations of the world."

read everything here: http://www.upmin.edu.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=114&Itemid=1

[romantic_guy08]

93rd SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
Luce Auditorium Lobby
March 26, 2006

Descending to the Top

Delivered by

Mr. Menardo "Butch" G. Jimenez Jr.
Senior Vice-President, Retail Business Group PLDT
OIC, Wireless Consumer Division, Smart Communications

It is a privilege of mine to be here. In 2003, I was requested to be the
commencement speaker for the graduating class of the University of the
Philippines-Diliman. And after I gave that address, I said to myself-and
this is true-the only other invitation that I will accept after UP
Diliman is Silliman University. I have actually been waiting for almost
three years. And I would have waited 30 more years to address you. You
may be asking, "Why is that?" It is simply because of the Christian
roots and the Christian heritage that this university has; the same
roots and the same heritage that my great grandmother, my grandmother,
and even my mother have tried to instill in my life.

That is why I am here. So thank you very much for the privilege. I am
actually quite excited to address all of you.

One of the questions running in your mind today as you graduate and move
forward is, "How do I reach the top?" A fair question and one that needs
to be answered. And since I now presently handle marketing for both PLDT
and Smart, let me share with you some marketing principles that I have
learned, that may guide you on your quest to the top.

A battle for the mind

Success in marketing is a battle to be the first in the mind of the
consumer. That is the principle proposed in the '80s by two authors, Al
Ries and Jack Trout, in their classic book, "Positioning."

Ries and Trout said that success in marketing is a battle to be the
first in the mind of the consumer. If you are first in the mind of the
consumer, in most cases, you will rise to the top and become the leader
or number one. So, the battle is to be the first in the mind.

Let's give a couple of examples. When I say cola, what comes first in
your mind? It's Coke. And today, Coke has risen to the top and is number
one. When you say beer, the first thing that comes into your mind is San
Miguel. They are first in the mind, they are at the top, and they are
the leader. When you say toothpaste, in most cases, what comes to mind
is Colgate. The same rule holds true. Colgate is at the top of your
mind, and they are number one. When you say photocopier, it's Xerox.
They are first in the mind, they are the leader, and they have risen to
the top. Let's try something more hip for the new generation kids. When
you say mp3 player, what's first in your mind. I can actually read your
mind. The iPod. They are first in the mind, they are at the top, and
today, they are number one.

So, in many instances, the rule actually works. If you want to rise to
the top, you have to be the first in the mind.

The second thing that Al Ries and Jack Trout talked about, aside from
being the first in the mind of the consumer, is burning an attribute or
a characteristic in the minds of the consumers.

For example, Volvo did that. They burned into the mind of the consumer
the attribute of safety. If you want a safe car, Volvo is it. iPod, for
example, is burning in all our minds the attribute of being cool. They
want to drive into our minds that the Ipod is the coolest gadget in the
universe today.

So, two concepts we learn from Marketing to reach the top: Be the first
in the mind and burn an attribute in the mind. Then, you start rising to
the top.

So what does this all mean to you, as you go out into the workplace?

If you guys want to start rising to the top, you have to do the same
thing. You have to be the first or the top of mind amongst the people
that you work for specially your boss. When the boss needs something
done, you have to be the first in his mind. If you're just the third, or
the fourth, or the fifth, or the tenth in his mind, you're just like a
company that is in third, fourth or fifth position -- far, far away from
rising to the top.

But like I said earlier, being top of mind is not enough. You also have
to burn an attribute in his mind. Now, a slight word of caution. Burning
an attribute in your boss's or co-worker's mind is a double-edged sword.
You have to make sure that you burn a positive attribute and not a
negative one. Ries and Trout explain that it is very difficult or next
to impossible to dislodge an attribute in ones mind once it has been
established. If you go into the workplace and the attribute you burn in
your boss's mind is tatamad tamad ka (you're lazy), mahirap kang
pakisamahan(you're not a team player), or di ka mapagkakatiwalaan
(you're not trustworthy) then chances are, that attribute will stick in
his mind for years to come and you'll have a hard time rising to the
top.

How many classmates do you know have been branded "lazy", "a flirt",
"playboy", "cheater" etc. Think about it, no matter how hard they try to
change their image, it just sticks and is so hard to dislodge from your
mind isn't it? That's how powerful burning an attribute in the mind is,
positive or negative.

So, key lessons if you want to rise to the top is, you have to be the
first in their mind and you must burn positive attributes in their mind.

Discipline

This leads me to the question, "What attribute should you burn in the
minds of the people in today's world?" There are many attributes that I
would have wanted to share with you, but in the interest of time, I will
focus on two.

The first one is the attribute of discipline. If we want to be able to
compete not only with our peers, but with the best in the world, we have
no choice. As a person, as a people, and as a country, we have to be
disciplined.

Discipline is a very fascinating thing. In the world of competition,
you're always competing with somebody else. There is Smart competing
with Globe, There is GMA competing with ABS-CBN, there is Sony competing
with Samsung, and the list goes on. But when it comes to discipline,
you are not competing with anybody else. You are only competing with
yourself. And if you lose, guess who actually loses, only you.

A year and a half ago, I went to a leadership conference in Singapore
that put together and assembled some of the best speakers in the world.
I actually had to pay a huge amount-probably my whole month's
salary-just to be able to enter that conference. Al Ries was speaking.
Film legend, Francis Ford Coppola was speaking, Rudy Giuliani, who led
New York to rise from the 911 crisis, was speaking and Lee Kuan Yew,
Prime Minister of Singapore was one of the speakers.

I wanted to listen to Lee Kuan Yew and what he had to say. Lee Kuan Yew
shared how he built Singapore from nothing to where it is today. He
shared that Singapore, barely a generation ago, was far worse than many
of its peers. But today, it is an economic superpower. He narrated that
when he first started to lead Singapore, he asked his think tank to
visit neighboring countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia, and figure out what they don't have. He said they all
came back with one conclusion: These countries lacked discipline. So to
differentiate Singapore from its neighbors, he decided to build his
country on discipline. This meant that if Singapore promised something
to its people, to its foreign investors, and to other countries, it will
be fulfilled. A disciplined country and a disciplined people-that's what
he built Singapore on.

Discipline is a very important attribute all of us must have to be able
to bring this country up from where it is today. If you want to reach
your goals and dreams, you cannot do it without discipline.

One of my good friends is the president of Alaska Milk, Fred Uytengsu. I
used to see him on the baseball field when he used to coach his son's
team and I was an assistant for my son's team. One day, I saw him
wearing a shirt that said, "If you don't have discipline, you don't
deserve to dream." No matter how harsh it may seem, the point is true.
If you're 350 lbs. overweight and you're dreaming to become the next big
hunk, but you don't have the discipline to watch what you eat, to
exercise, and to make it happen, it isn't going to happen. Don't even
bother dreaming, if you don't have the discipline to make it a reality.
You'll just get frustrated. That's how important discipline is in
achieving success.

In the world of business, discipline is defined as work ethic. I'd like
to share with you an anecdote from a great man who epitomized what work
ethic is all about. Thomas Alva Edison. At the age of 82, the President
of the United States said it was about time he was honored with an award
for his lifetime work. So they put together a huge event in honor of
Thomas Alva Edison. Being 82, he felt a bit sick that night and fainted.
Good thing they were able to revive him and he was still able to go up
on stage. Edison upon accepting the award simply said, "I am tired of
all this glory. I want to get back to work." 82 years old, and all he
can think of is going back to work.

That is work ethic. That is discipline. And that is one of the
attributes we need to burn in people's minds if we are to rise to the
top.

Execution

The second attribute we should burn is execution. We need to be able to
drive in the minds of the people that we work with that we are the
"go-to" guy. That if they want to make something happen, you are the guy
to go to, because you are the person who can execute. Execution is one
of the attribute that will help you rise to the top.

I'd like to quote one of the greatest mentors of all time who said to
his pupil: "Luke, there is no try. There is either do or not do." You
know who that is? That is Yoda teaching Luke Skywalker of Star Wars one
of the most important lessons in life: execution or making it happen.

An icon of execution, of course, is Michael Jordan. He is arguably one
of the greatest basketball players that ever
lived, but not without getting the ball, taking that shot, and executing
the play. Can you imagine what would have happened to Michael if all he
ever did was to plan on shooting the ball but never did? One of the
things you have to remember about execution though is that it doesn't
mean you have to be successful every single time. Part of execution is
learning how to fail yet rising up again.

Michael Jordan says this, "I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career
and lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to
take the game-winning shot and missed. I have failed over and over and
over again in my life, and that's precisely why I succeed."

When you go out to the real world, you will realize that there are many
people out there who have great ideas and great plans. And that is good.
But like I always tell my team in PLDT, what separates the good from the
great is execution. We can spend endless hours and tons of money
strategizing, planning, team building, and analyzing to come out with a
great plan. But until we execute that plan, that's all it will ever be,
a plan.

When something goes wrong in a company, the question the leader or the
CEO almost always asks is not, "Who has the best grades?" "Who has a
diploma?" "Who has all the awards?" "Who is the summa cum laude?" "Who
graduated from an Ivy league school?" The CEO just asks one question:
"Who can get the job done?" That, dear graduates is the importance of
execution.

Let's learn a lesson from Mickey Mouse. Well, maybe not from Mickey, but
from his originator, Walt Disney. Walt had four mantras: dreaming,
believing, daring, and then doing. Of the four, "doing" is what turns
everything into a reality. Walt said, "Dreaming, believing and daring
without doing is just like Dumbo, the elephant, without ears. It just
won't fly. ABRAKADABRA will never work." Only execution does.

Descending to the Top

In my UP speech, I talked to them about "what's better than," and I
juxtaposed what's better than this versus what's better than that. Now,
all of us want to ascend to the top. No doubt about it. And we should.
We should plan on ascending all the way to the top. But I will pose the
same question I did three years ago: "What's better than ascending to
the top?" The answer is DESCENDING to the top.

That may actually baffle a lot of your minds. "What is he talking
about?" "How can descending to the top be better than ascending to the
top?" It is a biblical principle. The Bible tells us that he who wishes
to be the greatest must be the servant of all. That is the concept of
descending to the top. What I want to share with you is that as you rise
to the top, the more you have to be a servant. The keyword is humility.
The more you start rising to the top, the more humility needs to become
an important place in who you are and in your life.

I want to share with you what happened to Steve Jobs the founder of
Apple computers and now the Ipod. We all know what a great visionary
Steve Jobs is. But if we chronicle his career, Steve Jobs, as he was
ascending to the top, as he was rising towards greatness, forgot all
about humility. While he was hitting his peak, all he thought about was
how great he was, how fantastic he was, and how the world and his
company revolved around him. That is ascending to the top. The higher
you go, the bigger your head.

What happened to Steve Jobs as he hit the peak? He was driven out of his
company both in failure and in disgrace. Then after having failed in
many other endeavors, he started again and went on to make an indelible
mark in the entertainment industry, and with the extraordinary success
of the iPod, regained his reputation as the "greatest innovator of the
digital age". And so Steve Jobs, after having ascended to the top and
then unceremoniously booted out, now gets the chance to lead Apple
again. But something was different about the man this time. People
started to feel Steve had changed. And so in a big conference at the
Moscone Center in San Francisco, there he was, listening to the chants
of his people, demanding him to come back and run Apple again. Let me
share with you how the new Steve answered the call. No longer ascending
to the top, but understanding what descending to the top is all about.
And I will quote from the book, "Icon: The greatest second act in
business".

For the first time in his public life, there on stage, Steve appeared
genuinely touched when the people were starting to ask him to come back
and take the CEO position. He wasn't brash or cocky anymore. Maybe his
four kids and the complete failure of a company and the near failure of
another taught him something. There on stage, he fought back the tears
as he mumbled something to make it clear that yes, even Steve Jobs can
change.

He had made the transition into a world where feelings and passion could
partner with business and technology. Steve Jobs said, "You guys are
making me feel funny right now. I get to come to work with the most
talented people on the planet at Apple and Pixar. The best job in the
world! But these jobs are team sports. I cannot do it alone; I can only
do it with a team."

A team sport. Fifteen years ago, it would have been a lie. It would have
been all about him and how great he was. But now, everything was
different. He now understood that it was really the many others who
helped him succeed. He did realize it wasn't all about him. That Apple
is a team sport.

That is descending to the top - the higher you fly, the lower the ego.

If you're able to get a copy of Time Magazine's issue where they
declared who their Man of the Year was for 2005 you'll see their choice
was Bill Gates. But not because of what Bill Gates has done for
Microsoft. Not because he revolutionized the computer industry. But
because of what Bill Gates has started to do for humanity. If you read
that article, Bill realizes that this is probably the generation where
if health care were given enough resources, he can actually make a big
difference in millions of people's lives. And that has become the man's
passion and advocacy, donating billions to uplift the health of poverty
stricken nations. This today is what truly defines him; no longer his
technological achievements. It is now about serving and helping other
people. In other words, descending to the top.

A heart for our Country

Finally, as you rise to the top you should never lose your heart for our
country.

I always tell my team in PLDT, that yes, we have a business to run, but
let us never forget we also have a country to serve. And that is the
same thing I will tell you as you guys rise to the top. You will have
businesses to run, you will have your own careers to take care of, and
you will have your own dreams to pursue, but never forget you have a
country to serve.

You may ask, "How? How do I serve the country?" One way is actually
quite simple. I'll give it to you in one word. If you are great, if you
are smart, if you are the best, if you have a Silliman education, then,
please STAY. Just stay in the country. You would have actually done a
great service to our country just by staying.

But if you can't stay, or you don't want to stay, that's fine. If you
think you want to make it out there in the world, that's a-ok with me.
But I want to ask two things of you.

First, go out there and show the whole world how great the Filipino is.
In whatever field you're in, prove to the world how special we Filipinos
truly are.

Second, don't just plan to COME back. Plan to GIVE back to the country.
If you do that, if every Filipino who goes out there into the world --
and there are millions of us already -- proves to everybody how great
the Filipino is, and not only plans to come back, but actually plans to
give back to this country, in less than one generation, we will be an
even greater nation.

I will end with what I told the UP students in 2003. You must be asking
yourselves, "How do I reach my dreams?" or "How far can I go?" I told
them this: In the last 42 years of my life, I have realized one thing,
"There is no destination beyond the reach of those who walk with God."

So when you go out there in the world, take God's hand and walk with
him. Because when you do, whatever destination it is you are hoping to
reach, if God walks with you and takes you through, there will be no
destination beyond your reach.

To the graduating class of 2006, I will meet you at the top and nowhere
else

[letranense1620]

http://www.letran.edu/newsarticle.php?newsID=392&newsCategID=3

To live and serve
by Alfred Adrian Chavez - Letran News April - May 2006

(Address of Petition at the Commencement Exercises by Alfred Adrian Chavez)

Very Reverend Fr. Edwin A. Lao, O.P., rector and president, Rev. Fr. Hermel Pama, O.P., vice rector, Rev. Fr. Orlando Aceron, O.P., vice-rector for academic affairs, Dr. Lourdes A. Cid, dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, Dr. Lucita A. Villegas, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Education, Francis Raymo nd David, dean of the College of Business Administration and Accountancy, fathers’ community, administrators, faculty members, beloved parents, fellow candidates for graduation, Letranites:

We are graduating at a difficult period in our country’s history. Our government is a mess, the economy is a disaster—apathy, cynicism and hopelessness pervade the consciousness of our countrymen. Our nation is in a state that is more despicable than it was fours years ago when we entered the revered portals of our institution.

This year, over 400,000 diplomas are to be given out in commencement exercises in hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country. Of this number, 476 are to be released in our Colegio. Just another part of these statistics, are we? In answering this question, allow me to share my reflections on the fancy piece of paper we call the diploma.

To most people, the diploma is the ticket to success. I agree… but with reservations… for success is a relative and tricky term. Is success at hand when we clinch the best white-collared jobs in the skyscrapers and comfortable offices in Makati, Libis, Ortigas and other business districts? Is it attained when we leave our countrymen, take the next flight abroad, and spend a lifetime where the grass is greener and the sky is bluer? Is success directly proportional to the size of one’s bank account, or the value of one’s properties? Is it equivalent to fame and fortune? Is success synonymous to power and dominion over others? Is an honest and efficient janitor less successful than a corrupt politician who holds a doctorate in economics?

Before his death, my father bequeathed to me a spark of wisdom. He told me that there is more to college education than prestige and distinction. He always talked about discipline, honor and integrity. For her part, my mother stressed the importance of hard work and faith in the Almighty. These are things that the diploma does not and cannot guarantee, they said. Being young, I was puzzled. I did not readily get what they meant.

Now, I do. After years of Dominican education, I have realized that the diploma is not, as many would claim, the fruit of our labor. Rather, it is only a seed, the seed of greater, nobler things that we can do and should do. Our alma mater has taught us well—beyond what any curriculum and syllabus can contain. She has guided us in building a formidable character. In a cruel world of concessions and compromises, the real world beyond Muralla, our Dominican seed can thrive. Allowing it to grow, however, is a decision that we must constantly, consciously, and sometimes painfully, make.

The words of the late Pope John Paul II were prophetic, and I quote: “The problem of this world is not poverty, unemployment or prostitution. The problem of this world is materialism (unquote).” People are made to be loved and things are made to be used. Indeed, there is so much chaos in the world because people are being used and things are being loved.

Pessimists say that there are very few jobs waiting for us. I disagree… for there is so much to do in God’s vineyard, so many people waiting to hear the good news, so many of our brethren waiting for a ray of hope, so many children waiting for a chance to smile.

Yes, there are more than enough jobs waiting for each one of us. But these jobs are only for the brave, courageous and virtuous. Those who have transcended what modern-day society had mistakenly defined as success. At Letran we were taught that the diploma is more than just a ticket or a passport. It is a mission order, an order to build a better world. And thus would our diploma really mean something not only to us but also to those whose lives we have touched.

Having said all this, I, Alfred Adrian P. Chavez, in behalf of the 377 candidates for graduation of the College of Business Administration and Accountancy and the 99 candidates for graduation of the College of Liberal Arts, Sciences and Education, respectfully plead to Rev. Fr. Edwin A. Lao, O.P., rector and president, to confer on us our respective degrees so that we, in an empowered capacity as graduates, can continue to live and serve in the hallowed tradition of Deus, Patria, Letran.

[davidcorpuz_87]

2006 Valedictory Oration
Delivered by Chris Douthitt
Commencement
June 6, 2006
Princeton University Class of 2006

I want to begin by saying that I never, until about six weeks ago when they told me, pictured myself standing here and speaking before this audience. I consider it one of the greatest privileges of my life. And thank you to the class of 2006, and to the faculty and administration for this honor.

Frankly, though, this honor frightens me. Events like this tend to bring out the worst in my personality -- and as my friends would tell you, I get a little humorless and grave. When I was in high school I got to give a valedictory address, and I started out by telling everyone that, since we were all about 18 years old, and since everyone lives about 77 years in the United States, we could really all consider ourselves about 23 percent dead, give or take a few. I was really into the idea at the time, but I don't think the audience appreciated hearing it as much as I appreciated telling them.

Today we are gathered for a similar ceremony, and, as time would have it, four or five years have ticked away since the end of high school. Now everyone's a little older but also a little wiser. But I don't want to repeat my role as some sort of fake insurance actuary -- I've already learned in the past four years that there are better ways to get people's attention than telling them they're going to die -- but I do want to do right by the occasion, and today's occasion, or at least a good portion of it, feels as weighty to me as anything I've ever known. I think for all of us, graduating from Princeton marks a moment of transformation that will continue to reveal its significance to us as we live out the rest of our lives, all the way until the end. Even without the interpretive aid of a few made-up statistics, it should be plain for anyone to see that this graduation ceremony is a mixture of celebration and holy dread, with all its sunny prospects streaked by moving shadows of uncertainty. Today is the commencement of our new lives in the wider world, and, at least to me, that brings on its own little heart attack of excitement and fear.

Just look at us. I think I can say without bragging that today we stand together as one of the most capable, intelligent groups of people anywhere in the world. And it blows my mind to be a part of it. We've spent nearly half a decade together in the best University in the country, learning how to think for ourselves, how to criticize, how to solve problems for the greater good. Now we're ready to apply that education to the rest of our lives. And to that end, Princeton has been an incredible incubator: It has indulged our minds, and our minds have grown. Perhaps more importantly, it has kept us nestled away from the intellectually toxic culture of our time. This culture respects power more than ability, it respects answers more than inquiry and it respects naked opinion more than nuance. We should be grateful that Princeton has given us the safety to immerse ourselves in a rich suspension of people and ideas so that we could develop our intellect and our character uninterrupted. I think we should regard this moment of graduation, therefore, as a crowning moment, not just in the sense that we have achieved much in our time at Princeton, but in consideration of the more arcane sense of the word "crowning" that refers to the first moments of birth: Today we are delivered from this amniotic environment of campus life, vulnerable and untested, into a world that mostly reasons backwards. Let's remember that the receptiveness that we have to our lives right now is a beautiful and potentially catastrophic thing, so that when our surroundings try to change us, we know that we will always have the power to push back and change our surroundings.

Now, I have a friend back home in Spokane who once told me that he once read somewhere that someone once said that the people in history who have truly changed the world all made the decision to become world-changing people by the time they were 25, or 23, or some uncomfortably low number like that. Now factually speaking, there's no way this is true, but as a concept, for us, a group of people at a decisive age, I find it terribly compelling. We are leaving behind not only the careful structure of campus life, but also the broader phase of our lives marked by a careful adherence to structure. For the most part, we students have only known time in two divisions -- school and summer -- and we've always had a neat latticework of expectations and rewards to fit over the surfaces of our day-to-day existence. This school structure has allowed us to grow and flourish, but it has always been external to who we are as people, and to what we might want out of life. Graduating from college traps us in an exhilarating and terrifying moment: On the one hand, we finally have the freedom to choose for ourselves the rhythms and the priorities that will guide us through life. On the other hand, the burden of commitment is now upon us, and it will always be easier to adopt someone else's idea of what life should be than to formulate our own. Of course, there's no arbitrary cut-off age that renders the rest of our decisions impotent -- time is usually more forgiving than I think we would allow it to be. But we also shouldn't wait for courage to appear out of nowhere. Let's recognize our loves and passions and values, and have those determine what structure our lives take on, and not the other way around. I think this is the choice that will make all the difference in the world.

Now I'm not saying that I really have any answers here -- after all, I was a music major and I spent most of my time wearing headphones, hoping nobody would bother me with this kind of thing. But, while I was writing my thesis, I kept learning a lesson over and over again, as I'm sure many of you did, that I think relates to this moment of mixed emotion. You see, I came into the music department as someone mostly interested in writing songs, and for my thesis I got to write three songs and arrange them and perform them with a band I put together. The process went kind of like this. First Paul Muldoon, who advised me on the lyrics, would tell me, "Find good material and stick with the language of the material. Quit trying to write it into a song." Then Dan Trueman, who advised me on the music, would tell me, "Find the tunes and instruments and arrangements that will clarify the material that you have in the words." Finally, David Kellett, my voice teacher, would tell me, "Your job as a singer is to find the material that's already there in the words and the notes, and to make it come alive as music." By the end, what I had to say in my songs had a lot more to do with what lay dormant in the material I chose to write about at the beginning of the process than with how willfully I tried to manipulate this material later.

For the members of the class of 2006, I can think of no more relevant wisdom than to find whatever it is that constitutes the source material of your life, and to keep extracting that material throughout the years. We are about to walk out of those gates and into adulthood in a world that keeps shifting underneath our feet, so we must be able to distinguish for ourselves between the surface and substance of who we are. Personally, I'm glad I can count Princeton among the experiences that have changed the substance of my life undeniably for the better, and I hope you can, too. And, please, before too many years tick by again, let's all remember that we are young. I know, this is Princeton, and there are plenty of 57-year-old men trapped in 22-year-old bodies out there. But let's all have the presence of mind to do stupid, bold things with our lives, and to never take ourselves so seriously that we can't toss everything we've learned out the window if the time calls for it. Congratulations, Princeton University class of 2006, on your crowning accomplishment, thank you for your friendship, and good luck with the next 69.444 percent of your lives


*Note: Chris Douthitt, who delivered an address at the June 6 Commencement ceremony, has built a sterling academic record over the past four years, with just one A- keeping him from a perfect grade point average. In that time, he also has amassed an impressive catalog of compositions ranging from rock songs to a Mass movement to computer-generated music (as part of the Princeton Laptop Orchestra)

[mac_bolan00]

long, wordy, and often misinformed (especially that part about geologists :lol: ), it's still entertaining.
------------------------------------

IS UP STILL RELEVANT?
> Speech delivered by Dr. Jose M. Tiongco at the 9th Commencement Exercises
> of
> the University of the Philippines in Mindanao , 22 April 2006
>
> Were I to introduce myself, I would present a simple country bumpkin of a
> doctor, a surgeon who was born and raised in Mindanao. And will die here
> too. And that would probably be soon, if I do not finally learn in my old
> age to keep my mouth shut.
>
> I have gone around the world a few times and talked to quite a number of
> people of different races, people of different cultural, economic and
> educational backgrounds. And this is not the first time that I am speaking
> to a UP audience. But I get goose bumps every time I find myself in a UP
> institution. It is not easy to talk to UP people. I should know that. I
> come from UP myself. You can always tell a UP graduate from those of the
> other Universities. You would generally be looking at a person who is
> multi-talented, multi-tasked, interesting, interested, articulate,
> efficient, effective, competent, self assured, and eager to learn more;
> even if you understandably would also have to deal with a certain palpable
> cockiness. Would you agree?
>
> But if there were a Jesuit in the audience today, he will probably rise up
> to say that I am really describing an Ateneo person as well! I have been
> with the Ateneo much, much longer than I had been with UP. And I would
> have to agree, especially on the cockiness part. But I will argue that it
> is in the University of the Philippines that the student acquires on top
> of all that I described, a sense of Nationalism, of cultural identity, and
> a burning sense of outrage at the historical and present oppression of our
> country and our people.
>
> And this is what UP is really known for. Would you agree?
>
> Yes. I can attest to that, having graduated 35 years ago from the
> University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila. And those
> were the times in our nation's history when the UP students hurled
> themselves at the Marcos military in the cities and in the countryside to
> tell them and the rest of the world that they would rather die than
> tolerate oppression.
>
> That was 35 years ago. And today I often wonder what happened. How could
> such a pure and pristine movement that wore the invincible armor of love
> of country and resistance against fascism degenerate after all those years
> into the tattered rags of banditry, extortion and opportunism?
>
> Those who were fortunate enough to die in the struggle have remained true
> to the cause. But that cannot be said for the unfortunate many who
> survived.
>
> For one can now see quite a number of them carving out their opulent
> lifestyles in USA , paying only lip service to the sufferings here in the
> Philippines. And those who have decided to stay in the Philippines can now
> be seen walking the corridors of power, integral parts of the system they
> had previously fought against and wished to destroy.
>
> What started out with a bang has now ended with a pitiful whimper, if not
> with the clink and clatter of thirty pieces of silver.
>
> Is our history really meant to be this way?
>
> In a couple of years, the University of the Philippines System, the most
> venerable educational institution in the country will be celebrating its
> centennial.
>
> How would history judge UP in the last one hundred years? If the long
> suffering people of the Philippines were to examine the University of the
> Philippines System and grade its performance for the country in the last
> 100 years, would the UP pass or fail the examination?
>
> Or to put it bluntly and more graphically, if the President of the
> University of the Philippines System were to be dragged kicking and
> screaming into a people's court to account for the one hundred years the
> blood sweat and tears of the poor people of the Philippines were used to
> support UP as the citadel of the True, the Good and the Beautiful in the
> country, would she be able to give an answer that will be acceptable to
> the tubercular stevedore in Sasa wharf who eats only once a day and whose
> children sit in malnourished stupor by the roadside?
>
> Can she answer for the fact that up to 90% of the graduates of the UP
> College of Medicine are serving the Americans and not the Filipinos who
> sacrificed for their education and training?
>
> Can she answer for the fact that even as the graduates of UP College of
> Law top the Bar every year, the halls of Congress in the Philippines are
> filled with UP lawyers who use their legal gobbledygook to pass laws
> favorable to the multinational business industries in the country and
> detrimental to the poor in the Philippines? Can she justify why justice in
> the Philippines is officially and unofficially for sale and is out of the
> reach ofthe ordinary Filipino who lives below poverty level?
>
> Can she answer for the fact that the graduates from the UP College
> ofAgriculture in Los Banos devastate hundreds of thousands of hectares of
> prime land in Mindanao growing bananas, pineapples and oil palm for the
> transnational industries while the Philippines must still import the
> Filipinos' basic needs in rice and sugar?
>
> Can she answer for the fact that UP Geologists and Mining Engineers ravage
> our mountains and soil our pristine streams, our rivers and our seas and
> irreparably harm the environment and the health of our indigenous tribes
> and people as they extract minerals and precious metals for foreign
> business concerns?
>
> Can she answer for the fact that while UP College of Mass Communication
> supposedly teaches the loftiest principles of information dissemination
> and the responsibilities that come with the freedom of speech and
> expression, her graduates lead big Media organizations in the Philippines
> that are active and willing servants of big business interests and
> political pressure
> groups? The Philippine Media is a world wide marvel for its prattle and
> irresponsibility and for the naked arrogance of its power over our people.
> It has become more predatory, mercenary and corrupt than the government
> institutions it denounces every day in print and in lurid broadcast
> coverages.
>
> I could go down the line and pile up quite a lot of indictments against
> the UP system. But my time here as a speaker is limited. Of course, it
> could be argued that UP's role is that of Education and is different from
> that of the Government of the Philippines that makes the policies and
> enforces the laws of the land.
>
> But UP's role as the country's premier institution in education and
> training precedes that of the government; because it uses the Filipino
> taxpayers' money to train the leaders who eventually control the reins of
> government and private enterprises in the Philippines.
>
> If the University of the Philippines takes great pride that her graduates
> easily top the government examinations in any professional undertaking,
> the University of the Philippines must also bow its head in shame and
> sorrow because it cannot shirk the accountability and responsibility for
> her graduates who raid the coffers of the country, corrupt the morals of
> our
> people, and turn the Philippines into an international basket case and
> permanent laughing stock of the nations of the world.
>
> I am a simple country doctor. And I do not have claims to be part of the
> academe. But I do not believe in Education and Training for the sake of
> Education and Training themselves. I do not believe that Education does
> not have anything to do with Moral Duty and Accountability. I believe that
> UP, as an educational institution, must have something to do with the
> clouds of
> unmitigated materialism and greed that darken the cultural horizon of the
> Philippines today. I believe that a University education, especially in UP
> has to do with the constant search for what is Good, what is True and what
> is Beautiful, no matter how polluted these concepts may have become
> through their constant prostitution for personal motive and gain.
>
> What makes a UP student momentarily flash the bright colors of Nationalism
> and love of country, and then upon graduation, promptly fall into the grey
> colors of compromise and conformity just to be able to exist in a way of
> life that forces him to suppress the shame and the painful voice of
> conscience within himself, shut himself inside his own ego, praise with
> bitter half-smiles the oppression and exploitation of his own people so he
> can beg with his eyes for a small part of the loot to be thrown his way?
>
> What dulls the edge of his seething outrage?
>
> I came back to Mindanao from my studies in UP Manila to seek the answers
> to these questions.
>
> Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines. It comprises
> thirty percent (30%) of the country's land area and is home to twenty
> percent (20%) of the population. Seventy five percent (75%) of the
> Mindanawons are of migrant stock, from the different areas in the
> Philippines who came to escape the cultural, political and economic
> baggage that burdened them in their places where they were born. They came
> prepared to bear the new burdens of adjustments with and consideration for
> others of different cultures, traditions and religions. They came prepared
> to work. And work hard for their children and for their children's
> children as well.
> They came prepared to respect others and be respected in their own right.
>
> Mindanao is the richest island in the Philippines . It produces 54% of the
> Gross National Product but gets only 7% of the national Budget. One
> senator from Mindanao once describe it as the National Cash Cow that gets
> only dog food - crumbs from the tables of the rest of the country. But
> without Mindanao, the entire Philippines would starve to death.
>
> The Philippines is a typical example of external exploitation by the G-7
> countries, and Mindanao is the typical example of internal exploitation by
> the central government in Manila.
>
> But it is here in Mindanao where the real heart of the Philippines beats.
>
> The average Mindanawon is multi-cultural and multi-lingual. He lives in
> his community, comfortable in his culture, his own way of life, even when
> his next door neighbor and friend dresses differently, eats differently,
> talks to his children in another language, and adores another God. His
> children play happily with the children of people in his community whom
> his ancestors used to be afraid of and hated and waged continuous wars
> against.
>
> It is here in Mindanao where the people consider diversity not as a
> divisive factor but the key to Unity and progress. It is here where we
> respect the rights of others to their own thinking and culture. Here where
> the central government is physically and administratively distant, the
> people have learned that working together in mutual respect and
> consideration is the key to save our families, our communities and our
> country.
>
> For generations, your fathers and mine, products of different cultures in
> the Philippines , have worked hand in hand and side by side in peace and
> brotherhood with each other and the indigenous peoples here in Mindanao.
> We belong here.
>
> It is only when the Manila government makes moves in Mindanao that
> devastating wars happen among the inhabitants of our island. It is a past
> and present government practice that the undesirables in the military and
> civil services in Luzon and the Visayas are punished for their
> transgressions by sending them to Mindanao - where they usually wreak
> havoc on our lives.
>
> Generations of hard work and carefully nurtured goodwill among peoples in
> our island have been erased by thoughtless and exploitative laws that are
> passed in Congress in Manila by people who have never been to Mindanao and
> are even afraid to visit it.
>
> Twenty years or so ago, a group of UP graduates here in Mindanao visited
> the other sites of UP in other areas in the Philippines like,Baguio,
> Diliman, Manila, Los Banos, Iloilo and Cebu . And they wondered why there
> was no UP in Mindanao.
>
> Thus was born a dream. And the dream was brought to a reality ten years
> later. I have watched UP Mindanao 's development through the years as the
> youngest, least funded and most neglected institution in the UP system.
> And I have cheered your valiant efforts. I knew in my heart that you would
> be different from all the other UPs in all the other places in the
> Philippines
> because of the legacy of cultural belongingness, respect and tolerance you
> have been exposed to. And I never doubted your success.
>
> I do not believe that the majority of your students use UP Mindanao only
> as a jumping board to UP Diliman. Only the most calloused and unseeing
> students would not swear to the vision and mission of UPMindanao .
>
> The University of the Philippines in Mindanao is committed to lead in
> providing affordable quality education, scholarly research, and responsive
> and relevant extension services to diverse, marginalized and deserving
> sectors in Mindanao and neighboring regions through its programs in the
> sciences and the arts inculcating a passion for excellence, creative
> thinking, and nationalism in the context of cultural diversity in a global
> community.
>
> As you graduate from the youngest UP institution, aware of your role in
> community building in Mindanao , you are sending a dare to the older
> institutions in the University of the Philippines System. Here is UP
> Mindanao 's answer to the failures of the University of the Philippines
> System: Belong to the Land and to the People, and serve them well!
>
> From here onwards you have crowned yourself with the laurels of commitment
> to service.
>
> Do not listen when they tell you that the crown of laurels you wear is
> soaked in disappointments and bitterness and the dried leaves hide thorns
> and maggots. Do not listen when they say that a life dedicated to others
> is not a life; that it does not bring food and comfort to you and your
> children; that it brings you no honor and laurels serve not even as
> condiments for a meal. Do not sell your life of service to your countrymen
> for thirty pieces of silver.
>
> Because if you do, then deep in the night, years and years from now, when
> your remaining hair has turned to silver, a small voice will speak to you,
> just before you fall asleep. And you will have to listen to it. Or break
> apart.
>
> And it will be in Spanish. Because it was said by a man who died young,
> twelve years before the University of the Philippines was born in 1908. He
> was a man who spent the last years of his life here in the service of our
> people in Mindanao. And he said it to an old man like me, who had white
> hairs on his head. And this may well have been spoken by you, the
> graduates of a young and dynamic UP Mindanao to the old and failing
> University of the Philippines System.
>
> Cuando tenga canas come esas, senor, y vuelva la vista hacia mi pasado y
> vea
> que solo he trabajado para mi, sin haber hecho lo que buenamente podia y
> debia por el pais que me ha dado todo, por los cuidadanos que me ayudan a
> vivir, entonces, senor, cada cana me sera una espina y en vez de gloriarme
> de ellas, me he de avergonzar!
>
> Ug sa ato pa:
> Sir, pagabut sa panahon nga ang akong ulo, maora sad kadaghana ang uban
> susama sa inyo, unya balikon nako ug lantaw ang akong kinabuhi,unya Makita
> nako nga ang akong mga paningkamut diay, alang lang sa akong kaugalingon
> ug
> walay kalabutan sa mga maayong butang nga ako untang nabuhat u di kaha
> kinahanglan buhaton alang sa lungsod nga mao'y naghatag sa ako sa tanan,
> alang sa akong mga isigkatao ng mitabang sa ako arun manginabuhi; nianang
> panahuna, Sir, ang tagsa-tagsa ka uban nga anaa sa akong ulo mahimo ug
> maidlot nga tunok nga muduksak sa akong panghunahuna ug inay nga
> mahimayaon
> ako sa akong katigulangon, iduko hinuon nako ang akong ulo sa tumang
> kanugon
> ug kaulaw!
>
> So if there is anything then, that Mindanao has taught you here in
> University of the Philippines, it is to belong to land, to belong to
> others, especially those who have made you what you are; to be sensitive
> to their needs, to constantly consider the other person's way of thinking,
> in much
> the same way as you considered everyday, what language to use to talk to
> the little child of a jeepney conductor who took your fare, or to the
> daredevil habal-habal driver who took you over the butt breaking roads to
> your refreshing little UP Mindanao campus.
>
> Look up to the mountain that you see everyday. Breathe in the pure air of
> Mindanao This may be your last day in the campus. Take it all in. And
> remember it well. Most of you will wander far over yonder, but you will
> never find anything more beautiful.
>
> Because you will never find the True, the Good and the Beautiful in the
> world, no matter where or how you search, unless you find them first here
> on that mountain where the gods of our beloved Mindanao dwell, here among
> your people who made you what you are now, and finally, here in your own
> heart.
>
> (Dr. Jose M. Tiongco is a graduate of the University of the Philippines
> College of Medicine Class 1971. He writes a column titled "Child of the
> Sun" for MindaNews and is the author of "Child of the Sun Returning," a
> book about the early years of the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and
> Health Services Cooperative- Philippines Federation, where he is chief
> executive officer).

[Precious84]

i could feel for what he's saying most especially last year. i'm a UP law student. a UP speech comm grad too. the time i was working for the opposition (no political bias here) as a legal researcher for the first impeachment last year was the time i was starting to learn the supposedly basic principles and interpretations of the law. imagine how i would cringe in my seat in the congress session hall every time i'd hear solons who were UP law or at least UP grads distorting every subjective interpretation or book-based definition of the law. i seriously would have screamed in utter shame and outrage had it not been for the decorum required of audience in the session hall.

sadly, when i mentioned this to my dad (who's not a UP grad but had been working for the Congress for almost two decades before i replaced him), our conversation ended in hurtful words. i'd often speak of him as balimbing, sticking to whoever's in power regardless of his personal beliefs. he would, more often than not, give me a look of scorn every time i'd say something that would insult, however selective or objective my choice of words were, the primary source of our income. kumbaga nga, sabi ng former boss ko sa isang private company, "don't bite the hand that feeds you or at least the hand that helps you put food on your table".

there are, of course, two sides to the issue.

one side says UP grads should be aggressive in their principles all throughout or at least, not stagnant or apathetic to whichever is happening in the country as payback to the citizens whose money was used to put them through college.

other side says how about if the better life for your family is in another country serving for a foreign company?

it cannot be generalized or for the very least, stuffed in two boxes - box A for one side and box B for the other side. there are a lot of factors why people choose to be this or that. we cannot say that one UP summa cum laude graduate who chooses to practice in another country or for a foreign company is a traitor or at least walang utang na loob to his homeland. again there are just so many things we can't expect from grads. iba-iba yan e. we seriously can't expect every grad to join the alternative power or forces that criticize the traditional politicians.

if the person chooses to do something illegal or against the interests of the country, then i guess it's the only legit time when we can cringe in our seats and go beyond decorum.

[SUX2BÜ]

I always find speeches with the speaker mentioning Marcos and how s/he (the speaker) has fought dictatorship, how freedom was won, and how s/he was part of this "battle royal" against the oppression terribly flat and interminable.

What makes great speeches is the heart.

:)

[totoolangnaman]

long, wordy, and often misinformed (especially that part about geologists :lol: ), it's still entertaining.
------------------------------------

IS UP STILL RELEVANT?
> Speech delivered by Dr. Jose M. Tiongco at the 9th Commencement Exercises
> of
> the University of the Philippines in Mindanao , 22 April 2006
>
..............................................
> Yes. I can attest to that, having graduated 35 years ago from the
> University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila. And those
> were the times in our nation's history when the UP students hurled
> themselves at the Marcos military in the cities and in the countryside to
> tell them and the rest of the world that they would rather die than
> tolerate oppression........................................
>
> (Dr. Jose M. Tiongco is a graduate of the University of the Philippines
> College of Medicine Class 1971. He writes a column titled "Child of the
> Sun" for MindaNews and is the author of "Child of the Sun Returning," a
> book about the early years of the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and
> Health Services Cooperative- Philippines Federation, where he is chief
> executive officer).

Wonderful speech! :D

It's great that people of his generation often remind the youth about what Marcos and his regime did to our country. *okay*

[jakesalcedo1]

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The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
Harvard University Commencement Address
J.K. Rowling

Copyright June 2008

(As prepared for delivery)


President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates,

The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke, I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.

I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.

These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.

I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs. Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International's headquarters in London.

There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.

Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.

I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime, his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.

Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.

Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.

And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21. The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I've used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom:

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

I wish you all very good lives.

Thank you very much.

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Must Do:

1. Give your short reaction to the speech.

2. If you were to graduate again, who would you choose as commencement speaker?

3. If you were the one chosen to be a commencement speaker, give a synopsis of your speech.

[lowtides]

Jon Stewart's Commencement Address at The College of William & Mary

Date: May 20, 2004

Thank you Mr. President, I had forgotten how crushingly dull these ceremonies are. Thank you.

My best to the choir. I have to say, that song never grows old for me. Whenever I hear that song, it reminds me of nothing.

I am honored to be here, I do have a confession to make before we get going that I should explain very quickly. When I am not on television, this is actually how I dress. I apologize, but there’s something very freeing about it. I congratulate the students for being able to walk even a half a mile in this non-breathable fabric in the Williamsburg heat. I am sure the environment that now exists under your robes, are the same conditions that primordial life began on this earth.

I know there were some parents that were concerned about my speech here tonight, and I want to assure you that you will not hear any language that is not common at, say, a dock workers union meeting, or Tourrett’s convention, or profanity seminar. Rest assured.


I am honored to be here and to receive this honorary doctorate. When I think back to the people that have been in this position before me from Benjamin Franklin to Queen Noor of Jordan, I can’t help but wonder what has happened to this place. Seriously, it saddens me. As a person, I am honored to get it; as an alumnus, I have to say I believe we can do better. And I believe we should. But it has always been a dream of mine to receive a doctorate and to know that today, without putting in any effort, I will. It’s incredibly gratifying. Thank you. That’s very nice of you, I appreciate it.

I’m sure my fellow doctoral graduates—who have spent so long toiling in academia, sinking into debt, sacrificing God knows how many years of what, in truth, is a piece of parchment that in truth has been so devalued by our instant gratification culture as to have been rendered meaningless—will join in congratulating me. Thank you.

But today isn’t about how my presence here devalues this fine institution. It is about you, the graduates. I’m honored to be here to congratulate you today. Today is the day you enter into the real world, and I should give you a few pointers on what it is. It’s actually not that different from the environment here. The biggest difference is you will now be paying for things, and the real world is not surrounded by three-foot brick wall. And the real world is not a restoration. If you see people in the real world making bricks out of straw and water, those people are not colonial re-enactors—they are poor. Help them. And in the real world, there is not as much candle lighting. I don’t really know what it is about this campus and candle lighting, but I wish it would stop. We only have so much wax, people.

Lets talk about the real world for a moment. We had been discussing it earlier, and I…I wanted to bring this up to you earlier about the real world, and this is I guess as good a time as any. I don’t really know to put this, so I’ll be blunt. We broke it.

Please don’t be mad. I know we were supposed to bequeath to the next generation a world better than the one we were handed. So, sorry.

I don’t know if you’ve been following the news lately, but it just kinda got away from us. Somewhere between the gold rush of easy internet profits and an arrogant sense of endless empire, we heard kind of a pinging noise, and uh, then the damn thing just died on us. So I apologize.

But here’s the good news. You fix this thing, you’re the next greatest generation, people. You do this—and I believe you can—you win this war on terror, and Tom Brokaw’s kissing your *** from here to Tikrit, let me tell ya. And even if you don’t, you’re not gonna have much trouble surpassing my generation. If you end up getting your picture taken next to a naked guy pile of enemy prisoners and don’t give the thumbs up you’ve outdid us.

We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror—it’s not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I’m sure we’ll take on that ******* ennui.

But obviously that’s the world. What about your lives? What piece of wisdom can I impart to you about my journey that will somehow ease your transition from college back to your parents' basement?

I know some of you are nostalgic today and filled with excitement and perhaps uncertainty at what the future holds. I know six of you are trying to figure out how to make a bong out of your caps. I believe you are members of Psi U. Hey that did work, thank you for the reference.

So I thought I’d talk a little bit about my experience here at William and Mary. It was very long ago, and if you had been to William and Mary while I was here and found out that I would be the commencement speaker 20 years later, you would be somewhat surprised, and probably somewhat angry. I came to William and Mary because as a Jewish person I wanted to explore the rich tapestry of Judaica that is Southern Virginia. Imagine my surprise when I realized “The Tribe” was not what I thought it meant.

In 1980 I was 17 years old. When I moved to Williamsburg, my hall was in the basement of Yates, which combined the cheerfulness of a bomb shelter with the prison-like comfort of the group shower. As a freshman I was quite a catch. Less than five feet tall, yet my head is the same size it is now. Didn’t even really look like a head, it looked more like a container for a head. I looked like a Peanuts character. Peanuts characters had terrible acne. But what I lacked in looks I made up for with a repugnant personality.

In 1981 I lost my virginity, only to gain it back again on appeal in 1983. You could say that my one saving grace was academics where I excelled, but I did not.

And yet now I live in the rarified air of celebrity, of mega stardom. My life a series of Hollywood orgies and Kabala center brunches with the cast of Friends. At least that’s what my handlers tell me. I’m actually too valuable to live my own life and spend most of my days in a vegetable crisper to remain fake news anchor fresh.

So I know that the decisions that I made after college worked out. But at the time I didn’t know that they would. See college is not necessarily predictive of your future success. And it’s the kind of thing where the path that I chose obviously wouldn’t work for you. For one, you’re not very funny.

So how do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t. And accepting that greatly eases the anxiety of your life experience.

I was not exceptional here, and am not now. I was mediocre here. And I’m not saying aim low. Not everybody can wander around in an alcoholic haze and then at 40 just, you know, decide to be president. You’ve got to really work hard to try to…I was actually referring to my father.

When I left William and Mary I was shell-shocked. Because when you’re in college it’s very clear what you have to do to succeed. And I imagine here everybody knows exactly the number of credits they needed to graduate, where they had to buckle down, which introductory psychology class would pad out the schedule. You knew what you had to do to get to this college and to graduate from it. But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life, is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. And it can be maddening to those that go here, especially here, because your strength has always been achievement. So if there’s any real advice I can give you it’s this.

College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade, or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong…although I’m sure downloading illegal files…but, nah, that’s a different story.

Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may.

And the last thing I want to address is the idea that somehow this new generation is not as prepared for the sacrifice and the tenacity that will be needed in the difficult times ahead. I have not found this generation to be cynical or apathetic or selfish. They are as strong and as decent as any people that I have met. And I will say this, on my way down here I stopped at Bethesda Naval, and when you talk to the young kids that are there that have just been back from Iraq and Afghanistan, you don’t have the worry about the future that you hear from so many that are not a part of this generation but judging it from above.

And the other thing….that I will say is, when I spoke earlier about the world being broke, I was somewhat being facetious, because every generation has their challenge. And things change rapidly, and life gets better in an instant.

I was in New York on 9-11 when the towers came down. I lived 14 blocks from the twin towers. And when they came down, I thought that the world had ended. And I remember walking around in a daze for weeks. And Mayor Giuliani had said to the city, “You’ve got to get back to normal. We’ve got to show that things can change and get back to what they were.”

And one day I was coming out of my building, and on my stoop, was a man who was crouched over, and he appeared to be in deep thought. And as I got closer to him I realized, he was playing with himself. And that’s when I thought, “You know what, we’re gonna be OK.”

Thank you. Congratulations. I honor you. Good Night.

[crescent19]

Valedictory Speech for the 141st Commencement Exercises, De La Salle University - Manila

St. Anthony Tiu

B.S. Chemical Engineering, Honorable Mention, Student Leadership Awardee, Community Development Leadership Awardee

(Student Council President 2003-2004, two-time Chairperson of the Union of Catholic Student Councils of the Philippines, Chairperson of NAMFREL-Manila, Inaugural Awardee of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. for Nationalism, Jose Rizal Outstanding Model Student of the Philippines 2003, two-time awardee of Francisco V. Ortigas Jr. Most Outstanding Student Leader, Fr. Gratian Murray AFSC Most Outstanding Student in Community Development, Recipient of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) 2004 of the Philippines and the United Nations Millenium Development Goals Inaugural Award, BPI Science Awardee 2004, two-time awardee of The Outstanding Coeds – The Outstanding Young Men (TOCTOYM), Procter & Gamble Student Excellence Awardee)

All of us are now situated in a country called the Philippines. For most people, both Filipinos and non-Filipinos, it is a country where even doctors, lawyers and engineers are unemployed, where the school is considered the second home and the mall considered as the third, where kids dream of becoming pilots, doctors and basketball players. It is where everything can be forged, where everything is spoofed, where even being an hour late is still considered as punctual. It is where every street has a basketball court yet every town has only one public school, where the fighter planes of the 1940’s are used for military engagements while new fighter planes are displayed in museums, where even the poverty-stricken people have the latest cell phones and get to wear Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. It is where driving 4 kilometers can take as much as 4 hours, where traffic signs are merely suggestions and not regulations, where flyovers bring you from the freeway to the side streets. It is where people can pay to defy the law, where people can get away with stealing trillions of pesos but not for a thousand. It is where the church governs the people while the government makes the people pray for miracles, where soap operas tell the realities of life while the news provides the drama, where actors and actresses make the rules while politicians provide the entertainment. Worst, it is where everyone wants to leave the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the country we have inherited and might have let our children and our children's children inherit soon. How funny it seems on how we sometimes make fun of our situation that continues to worsen each day. Probably, this is the easiest thing we can do to console ourselves that there is still hope. But, have we sought the possibilities of lifting a finger and making a difference?

When I entered La Salle four years ago, I was totally different. Not until I heard of this story during my freshman days that had changed my life since then. It's a story about a man who was walking along a beach while sunset. As he walked, he saw a young boy in the distance. As he drew nearer, he noticed the boy kept on bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. As the man approached even closer, he saw that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water. The man asked the boy what he was doing. "I am throwing these starfish back into the ocean or else they will die," the boy replied. "But, you can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference," said the man. The boy smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, "I made a difference to that one!"

Fellow graduates, we have already lifted our fingers and made a difference. By achieving a college diploma, we have lighted hundreds of candles that signify there’s still hope residing in our motherland. More than ever, our country and its people are counting on us now. De La Salle University has not only prepared us to be leaders and shakers in the fields of business, industry, academe and government. Most importantly, it molded us to be men and women of this nation and men and women of our time.

Now that our college diploma is in our hands, it is about time to seriously reflect how we matter in a society that is very much in need of transformation. It is about time to be propagandists and catalysts for nation-building. It is about time to dream not only our dreams, achieve not only for our personal gain and work not only for our own sustenance. It is about time to remind ourselves that our primary motivation in whatever we do and in wherever we are should be to serve our country, because aside from the various roles we play in our lives, we are first and foremost Filipinos. It is about time that we become empowered citizens!

As we begin a new journey, a new chapter in our lives, let us not forget the people, the memories and the learning that honed us to what we are today. As such, it is with deep sincerity that I thank our parents, who made nights into days to afford us our education, our Lasallian brothers, administrators, faculty and the littlest employees, who followed the footsteps of our founder St. John Baptist dela Salle in teaching our minds, touching our hearts and transforming our lives. Most importantly, to God, who provided us with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. All of you are our young boys who picked us up as your starfish and made a difference in our lives and in our nation.

In ending, let me share with you a scene from The Lord of the Rings 2 that struck me the most – this was the last dialogue that transpired between Sam and Frodo.

Sam said, “Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t because they were holding on to something.” Frodo asked, “What are we holding on to, Sam?” Sam replied, “That there’s some good in this world Mr. Frodo and it’s worth fighting for.”

Five to ten years from now, I’m pretty sure that most of us will be leaders in our own respective fields. One thing that will help people recognize that we are Lasallians, that we are true Christian Achievers for God and Country, is that when we are true D.L.S.U. – doers, learners, servers and unifiers in our own spheres of influences. And when people ask us what are we holding on to, each of us will be proud to say, “I am a Lasallian and it’s worth living for.”

Thank you and good afternoon.