Two Commencement Talks
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Maybe you’ve already listened to Steve Jobs’ talk at the Stanford graduation in 2005. I had heard of it but didn’t get around to watching it till this week. I really like how he talks about not seeing till afterwords some of the benefits of things we’ve done. In his case, that included dropping out of college and later getting fired from Apple, which he had been a founder of.
So I had this in mind to blog about, and just now I wandered over to my husband’s desk and said, “Whatcha doing?” He was reading a really good commencement address by Paul Hawken, given earlier this month at the University of Portland. You Are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring is the title of his talk, on the organicconsumers.org website, which is well worth a browse, or many browses.
Here’s a bit of it:
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.
You join a multitude of caring people. No one knows how many groups and organizations are working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. This is the largest movement the world has ever seen.
Rather than control, it seeks connection…
