Graduation Speeches

This weekend was graduation at the School of Law, so it was a long week. It made me appreciate the fact that we do not work 6 day work weeks anymore. By the end of the day on Saturday I was wiped out.

However, the events of the weekend have kicked off a pretty good discussion of what it takes to be a good graduation speaker. I'm tempted to go with the easy two part definition of my friend Dave. They are two pretty easy points, don't be offensive and be brief. It seems to me that doing anything else is like showing up the bride on her wedding day. Everybody is there to see the graduate not you. Unless you are attending at protesting at Notre Dame this year would anybody really be there if it weren't for the graduate. I promise this, if you invite me to speak at your graduation I will be gracious enough to realize that I'm just the warm up act. The success of the day has far more to do with little Jimmy or Susie crossing the stage than any particular pearls of wisdom I have. There are probably more guidelines to truy great graduation speeches, but it occurs to me those are a good place to start.

The New York Times has a story today about the resolution of the court case in Libby and grace and asbestos. This one has been going on for a lot of years and is sad all the way around. I have recently been looking into the Exxon Valdez spill for a magazine article I’m working on and this has a similar ring but gets much less attention because there are no stunning pictures of oil covered birds. The tragedy is just as great, and is another example of how justice is lost in the legal process. (Thanks to my buddy Phil H. for getting me onto this story).