Reply #21: That's One Fascinating Read....and here is a "snip" that struck me.... [View All]

[KoKo]

(as one grows older...it's interesting to see the "snips" of our lives as we try to piece together what we have lived and justify where we did good and where we compromised our values. A couple of things stood out to me in Chris's cynical speech...(btw...there were a few gems of hope), but a couple of things stood out...to me that I had a problem with ...idealistically..not saying that what he said is WRONG...but that some might differ in approach)
--------------------------------------------


FROM MATTHEWS..end of speech

I promised five bits of advice. I've given you three: get in the game you want to get in; don't be afraid to ask for help; follow your dream.

Here are the last two.

Hang on to your ideals. Most of all, the ideal you have of yourself. I don't have to tell you, warn you, that you will meet people out there - you've met them already - who aren't honest, who don't deal in truth. They will lie and cheat to get what they want. Their only code is what will get them what they want.

How can they live with themselves, you'll ask. Don't they know they're giving away the one thing that matters from the start - that will always matter - their integrity? Don't they know that is who they are?

The hardest things in life, you'll soon learn, are the small things. The big decisions are the easy ones. It's the day- to-day trouble of having to choose between confronting the petty corruption around you or letting things slide, going with the flow. That's the tough stuff. And how you decide will show whether you have the right stuff.

Finally: this is a competitive world. You're going to face rivals out there, somebody who wants pretty much what you want. You've got to learn how to compete - passionately - without making it personal.

That's one of the good things I learned from the best of the politicians. And I'm not talking about the most famous ones.

I recall watching a heated debate on the house floor, then watching a Congressman cross the aisle that separates the two parties, walk over to the man he'd just been debating, both with red faces, and say, "What are you doing this weekend?" And then as he was leaving, "Say hello to your wife for me."

That's how you have to do it. It makes you feel better about your rival. It makes you feel much better about yourself.

Besides, as my hero Winston Churchill liked to say, "I like a man who grins when he fights."

So today is your day. But don't worry. There will be time to dream, to think, to try, to fail, to learn, to carry on, and then to dream some more. You leave one of the nation's finest liberal arts colleges - Hobart and William Smith - with two gems for which men and women have long to America:

A rebellious spirit that keeps government in check and people free;

An only-in-America attitude that anything is possible.

They are this country's crown jewels and today, through the grace of God, hard work and hope, they are yours.