commencement

Read. Read all the time. Read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life._ (Wellesly High School commencement speech, __ou Are Not Special_, 6-12)

The beginning seems bitter to you, but the end is sweeter for you. However, you can__ get through to the end without having a beginning. You must begin by all means.

For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined to be probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life. If you__e lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you__e alive.

If I show up at your house ten years from now and find nothing in your living room but The Readers Digest, nothing on your bedroom night table but the newest Dan Brown novel, and nothing in your bathroom but Jokes for the John, I__l chase you down to the end of your driveway and back, screaming __here are your books? You graduated college ten years ago, so how come there are no damn books in your house? Why are you living on the intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese?

Have you ever seen the dawn? Not a dawn groggy with lack of sleep or hectic with mindless obligations and you about to rush off on an early adventure or business, but full of deep silence and absolute clarity of perception? A dawning which you truly observe, degree by degree. It is the most amazing moment of birth. And more than anything it can spur you to action. Have a burning day.