Sunday, May 23, 2010

Commencement 2010: You are Not Special

Centre College held Commencement today.

The unexpected element of the address by Wayne Meisel, head of the Bonner Foundation, was "you are not special." Evidently he had been running across some young people who had been told they were special so often that they didn't think they had to work hard, pay their dues, or pitch in unasked.

His illustration was "wash the dishes in the office sink without an attitude."

Sage advice. Unusual in a commencement address. A corollary, I think, of the Protestant work ethic, from a self-described preacher's kid.

3 comments:

Black Sea said...

If you have access to a text version of the speech, maybe you could provide a link. I'd like to see it.

Ben said...

I'd love to see the text as well.

Gruntled said...

I have asked the President's Office for a copy.