It is June and it is once more the season of commencement speakers at high school and college graduate events across the US. Some good speeches and some not very good ones are delivered.
My “Gold Prize” for the best speech for 2013 goes to JIM HIGHTOWER* who gave the commencement lecture at his old high school in Denison, Texas. A simple speech with a powerful message, and combined with many words of wisdom and inspiration.
Let Us Commence Toward the Common Good
*(JIM HIGHTOWER
National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.)
...“Then I hit them with my main message: Now that you've had a dozen years in the classroom and earned this important credential, DON'T BE AN IDIOT! I used "idiot" in the same way that ancient Greeks originally meant it. Idiotes were not people with low-watt brains, but individuals who cared only about themselves, refusing to participate in public efforts to benefit the larger community — to serve the common good.
The Greeks, I told the students, considered such people selfish, contemptible and stupid ... and so should we.
The encouraging news is that this crop of graduates from Denison High nodded in agreement. After all, they've seen that the idiots are running things in Washington and on Wall Street, and the youngsters seem to be hungry for less selfishness and more togetherness as our society's guiding ethic.
To stress the rich possibilities of a society working together, I noted that any of us who rise in life do so because many helping hands give us a lift. While this night of celebration belonged to the students, the achievement being celebrated belonged to the whole community — the families, friends, teachers, taxpayers and others who were part of the lifting.”…
Read the rest of the speech at the original source:
http://www.nationofchange.org/let-us-commence-toward-common-good-1371132380#