One of the lessons in history, one of the most important lessons in history, isthat no man or woman is self-made. Nothing happens in isolation and none of ushas arrived where we are here today without a great deal of help from manyother people, some present, some not. I would certainly not be here were itnot for the most important person in my life, my editor-in-chief, mybraintrust, my mission control, my first wife, my present wife, Rosalee BarnesMcCullough.
So here we are. On the hill. Clinton, New York. Latitude 43 degrees 4 minutesnorth. Longitude 75 degrees 23 minutes west. May 19, 1996. On the verge of the21st century. But let me start with this, written in the 16th century, duringthe Renaissance, by Francesco Guicciardini: "Past things shed light on futureones. The world was always of a kind. What is, and will be, was, at some othertime. The same things come back, but under different names and colors. Noteveryone recognizes them, but only who is wise and considers them diligently."
I love that passage for its meaning and for the beauty of the prose ... andbecause I love to say Francesco Guicciardini.
My remarks in the main are addressed to the graduating class of 1996. You willbe hearing soon, if you're not already, "Welcome to the real world." Or, "Howdo you like it here in the real world?"
But please never forget that the Renaissance, too, is the real world, thatHamilton College is the real world. Mozart, and Willa Cather, the poetry of theGolden Gate Bridge, the eloquence of Ella Fitzgerald, the engineering of agrasshopper, they are all the real world. The Song of Solomon, the Sermon onthe Mount, Lincoln's second inaugural address: the real world.
Reading aloud to a child is the real world. Read The Little Engine ThatCould. Read Dr. Seuss, for your benefit, as well as for theirs. Nowpersonally, I'm a Horton Hatches The Egg man. "Sighed Mayzie, a lazybird, hatching her egg, `I'm tired and I'm bored with kinks in my legs. Fromsitting here, sitting here, day after day, it's work how I hate it, I'd muchrather play!'"
And in what you read don't limit yourself only to your own relatively shorttime on Earth. There is no more reason to be provincial in time than in space.No reason whatsoever to cut yourself off from the larger experience of allthose who have gone before us. And all of us here, every one of us, owes somuch of what we are, and what we have, and what we can be because of those whowent before us. Our great institutions, our laws, our traditions, our music,our freedoms -- all created by others before us. And to be indifferent tothat, isn't just to be stupid, it's to be rude. We have so very much to begrateful for.
You know what your SAT scores were. You know how tall you are. You know thecolor of your eyes. You know your class standing, your final grade. But whatabout your determination?
You know there are people sleeping in the streets of our cities, you've seenthem. You know there is the poison of bigotry infesting our society, you'veheard it; You know that we are poisoning our rivers and our skies, you'vesmelled it, you've choked on it, you've shed tears over the tragedy of it. Butwhat are you going to do about it? Do you have the will?
You know what opportunity you have, more than ever before. You know how manydifferent kinds of mountains there are to climb, how many books to be written,music to be composed, diseases to be cured. But do you have the will? Do we,all of us, have the will?
When I think, looking at you, today, how good-looking you are, how muchbrainpower you represent, the horsepower you have, I feel very good for thefuture, not just for our country, but for the world. Never, ever, lose yourenergy, and never, ever, lose your idealism. "Yes, I'm an idealist," WoodrowWilson said. "That's how I know I'm an American."
We need you. You are needed. You're not just welcomed. You are needed. Have thecourage to be what you want to be, and don't be overly concerned about success.Real success, real success is finding life work that you love. That'sit. Don't worry about making a living, don't worry about popularity or fame.Make what you do and what you make count more than what you own. Find work youlove.
I am especially proud, especially thrilled, to be now one of the Continentals,because of four men, who for me are shining examples -- all graduates of thiscollege. Three I know very well personally, one I wish I knew but feel I knowbecause of a film I worked on: Sol Linowitz, class of 1935; William Luers,class of 1951; Robert Moses, class of 1956; and David Grubin, class of 1965.Sol Linowitz pioneered a whole new industrial breakthrough with a great careerat the Xerox Corporation, and then went on to be one of the peacemakers of ourtime, distinguishing himself in diplomcy both in the settlement of the Panam
