哈佛大学校长2022毕业演讲:带着激情去拥抱未知世界,拒绝它将是一场悲剧!(附视频&演讲稿)
当地时间5月24日,美国哈佛大学举行2022届本科生毕业典礼。此次哈佛毕业典礼是因疫情中断两年之后,重新回归线下。哈佛校长Lawrence S. Bacow向毕业生发表演说。
他在讲述让美国100万人死亡的新冠疫情对本届学生造成前所未有影响的同时,指出人生的道路有多种可能性,在探索未知世界的时候,会遇见出人意料的机会,他鼓励学生要相信自己,善于抓住这些预期之外的机会。带着激情和热情去拥抱未知世界。
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欢迎你们,2022届哈佛大学毕业生们!
1359天前,我们在开学典礼上相遇,我们共同开始了在哈佛的生活(注:Lawrence S. Bacow于2018年出任哈佛大学第29任校长),你们是本科生,我是校长。当时我谈到的学术,向你们提出挑战——利用本科生约21000小时的可用时间,来探索哈佛大学所能提供的一切。
当时我们并不知道,我们都将面临一场全球性新冠疫情,并以我们无法想象的方式考验我们。我认为,今天我们穿着毕业长袍服聚集在这里是很合适的,这不仅象征着我们是一个学习社区的成员,而且也象征着我们过去四年的经历,象征着我们在哈佛的经历,象征着一个被前所未有的风吹动的世界。我们所有人都带着这一切,走进未知世界。
新冠疫情比我们想象的要疯狂。坦率地说,当我在2020年3月疫情之初做出学校停课的艰难的决定,在如此短的时间内将你们所有人送回家时,我从未想过两年后,仅在美国就有100万人死于这种病毒之后,我们还在应对这场公共卫生危机。
你们这一届学生有这样的经历,你们表现出了非凡的韧性和耐心,这两项品质将为你在哈佛大学毕业后的生活做好准备。
基于我对你们的了解以及你们在哈佛的经历,我坚信你会像哈佛以前的毕业生一样,找到属于自己的道路,并在世界上留下自己的印记。
让我借此机会感谢你的毅力、宽容和理解!我想没有比2022年哈佛大学的毕业生更让我感到骄傲。今后总会有那么一天,我们会站在足够远的距离来回看我们作为一个群体在疫情下所经历的一切。
今天,你们在大学毕业前夕的这个时刻同时感到兴奋和焦虑是很常见的。当你开始人生旅程的下一章程时,你会为所有等待着你的东西感到兴奋,并对这段旅程可能带你去哪里感到焦虑。
你们中的一些人进入哈佛大学时,确信自己想去哪里,比如法学院、医学院、公共服务。你们中的一些人在这个校园里找到了自己的激情,现在打算在新闻、艺术或娱乐领域寻求学术职业或机会。你们中的一些人仍在寻找。你可能有一份薪水很高的工作,但是,在你的内心,你仍会担心这是否是正确道路,或者你是否会成功。
试图规划职业生涯的问题是,职业生涯只有在回顾时才能明了。在你退休的那天,你可以回顾过去,这一切都是有意义的。你可以确定拐点时刻的决定,这些决定将你带到了终点。但当你实时面对这些决定时,你会很挣扎。你将列出利弊。你将与朋友和家人协商。你会为这些选择痛苦到深夜。
我知道我在说什么,因为我有过这样的经历。
当我在哈佛完成博士学位时,阿黛尔(注:Lawrence S. Bacow校长的妻子)和我认为我们要去华盛顿特区了。当时卡特政府刚刚执政,我们对我们政治职业生涯的前途感到兴奋。但随后出现了一个意想不到的情况:
试想我会回到母校MIT去接替一个临时离职的人干两年吗?而且薪水远比华盛顿的岗位要低;而且两年之后能否继续干这个工作也无法保证。
结果我接受了MIT的工作。几年后,我还在MIT并且已经在被考虑是否能够拿到终身教授。但是我不是很开心,因为我的一位才华横溢的合作同事没有拿到。我认为如果他拿不到,我也肯定拿不到。为此我决定离开MIT和学术界,但在这个时候,我的系主任打来电话:
你考虑担任一个新学术项目的负责人吗?我选择了接受。
回顾我过去35年的职业生涯,我曾是大学校长选聘委员会的成员,在半退休的位置上待了7年(注:Lawrence S. Bacow在2011-2018年哈佛董事会成员),直到有一天,哈佛校长聘选委员会主席来问我:你会考虑成为哈佛校长的候选人吗?
如果我对其中任何一个问题说“不”,我今天就不会站在这里了。这并不是说我有先见之明或智慧,也不是说我勇敢,只是因为我愿意看到我没有考虑过的道路可能会把我引向何方。这种环游世界的方式把我带到了一些非常有趣的地方,现在我所站的这个讲台,就是其中之一。
你也将有机会为自己考虑其他路径,这些路径会出乎意料地出现在你面前,甚至很不方便。你要愿意抓住这些机会,相信自己,不要太担心失败。
我的母亲Ruth是一个非常聪明的女人。每当我担心一个决定时,她总是说:“最糟糕的情况是什么?你能忍受吗?如果可以,就去做吧。”我希望你能像我这辈子一样,从这个建议中解脱出来。
一些无法预料的机会会对你产生如此深远的影响,拒绝它们将是一场悲剧!
我们的演讲和修辞学教授乔丽·格雷厄姆(Jorie Graham),曾是纽约大学(NYU)的本科生,一心专注于电影制作。一天,她走过一个开放的诗歌课堂,听到《J. Alfred Prufrock爱情诗歌(The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock)的台词:“我听到美人鱼在唱歌,他们彼此歌唱。/我想他们不会为我而唱。”
正是因为那一刻,让乔丽教授成为了美国最杰出的诗人之一,普利策奖获得者,哈佛大学最受欢迎的教员之一。
鲁本·布莱兹(Ruben Blades),一位音乐巨人,是今年的哈佛艺术奖获得者。他曾是巴拿马的一名法律专业学生,一个周末,他所在学校的院长看到他和乐队一起表演。院长把他拉到一边,告诉他,如果他想成为一名律师,以体现这一职业的尊严,他就必须停止唱歌。鲁本最终在迈阿密推出了一张演示专辑,并最终获得了17项格莱美奖。
雷·哈蒙德(Ray Hammond)毕业于哈佛大学和哈佛医学院,是一位非常成功的外科医生。然后有一天,他听到另一个声音在呼唤他。今天,他是雷·哈蒙德牧师,波士顿最有影响力的精神领袖之一。
我之所以选择这些例子,是因为它们向您展示了新道路的随机性。Jorie、Ruben和Ray都无法想象一个声音会把他们带到哪里。但他们都在倾听,在密切关注着周围的世界。
现在,我要说一些你可能会不屑一顾的老话。但我希望你能记住:具有深远影响的随机事件不会发生在屏幕上。
想象一个人停下来听一行行陌生的诗。想象一个人在一个意想不到的、不受欢迎的警告中意识到了自己的内心的期望。想象一个人听到到比他自己更伟大的东西。想想这些事情可能发生的地点和方式,以及它们不能或不会发生的地点和方式。带着激情和热情去拥抱这个世界,如果你幸运的话,你也会有一天受到意外的启发。
2022届毕业生:愿你充分考虑未来几年你将遇到的道路。愿你体验诗歌和歌曲的甜美,跨越你在人生道路上出现的障碍。愿你免于焦虑、恐惧和不确定,愿你永远被爱你的人包围!祝你们好运!
To everyone who is assembled here today to celebrate the Class of 2022, welcome!
Congratulations to moms and dads, and spouses and children, and family and friends – cheerleaders and champions all.
And a special congratulations, and I really mean this, to all of you who are joining us online. I actually met last week with four graduating seniors – all international students – and we talked about this day. And I asked them, “Are your families going to be with you?” And unfortunately, some of them said, “No,” because given the pandemic, some of their families could not travel, and be sure that they could not only get into the country, but return home.
So many of them are watching online. And I think what we should all do is now turn and wave and welcome a special hearty hello, including to the Prime Minister’s father, who’s also watching online from New Zealand. So on the count three, let’s all turn towards the camera and wave. Welcome!
So, as you all know, the motto of this University is Veritas. So let me begin by sharing something that actually happens to be true.
The view from here is really, really amazing. I can’t actually believe that we finally did it. We all managed to come together in person like this. It’s just wonderful.
Being here – being together at long last – is, frankly, moving beyond words. But, to our graduates, you guys did not get here alone. Nobody in the world accomplishes anything on their own. So I wanna ask you now, to please rise, turn and thank the people – your friends, your family, your loved ones who actually helped you to make it to this moment. Let’s turn and congratulate and thank all of them for helping you all get here.
Thank you. I love seeing the waves coming back in the opposite direction.
So now that you’re all settled in your seats, let me share another truth with you.
Something very inconvenient happens when we combine a pandemic with a global supply chain shortage and problem, and that is: not enough folding chairs/seats to go around. I’m actually, I’m not kidding you, with all the commencements that are going on and dual commencements and extended commencements, just like we’re doing here, we actually had problems finding enough chairs. Half of you almost wound up sitting on blankets today. I’m not gonna tell you which half.
Fortunately, our amazing staff – the people who really make this place run – who make it possible for all of us to gather, who support us in so many ways, figured out a way around the Great Seat Scramble of 2022.
Now, I’m telling you all of this because this is likely the last time in your lives that you almost did not get a seat. Soon, you’re gonna have a degree from an institution whose name is known no matter where you go in the world, an institution whose name is synonymous with excellence, ambition, achievement – and maybe some other modifiers on which we needn’t dwell on today. You’ll hear those in the future.
But with your degree in hand, you may often find yourself invited to sit and stay awhile, invited to share your thoughts and ideas, invited to participate, to contribute, yes, to lead. Who knows? Someday, one of you may find yourself standing up here, like me, welcoming a future graduating class and congratulating them on their accomplishment. Now if that seems far-fetched, I guarantee you that when I graduated from this place, I never could have imagined this is where I would wind up.
Now, what have you all to make of all that – the fact that people are gonna make room for you, basically, to find a seat for you?
You could take that for granted. You could assume that you deserved it all along.
But what a waste that would be.
Today, I wanna challenge you – members of the Harvard Class of 2022 – to save a seat for others, to make room for others, to ensure that the opportunities afforded by your education do not enrich your life alone. You will have more chances than most to make differences in the world, more opportunities to give others a chance at a better life. Take advantage of these opportunities when they arise. Whatever you do with your Harvard education, please be known as much for your humility, kindness and concern for others as for your professional accomplishments. Recognize the role that good fortune and circumstance have played in your life, and please, please work to extend opportunity to others just as it has been extended to you.
That actually is how you will sustain the pride and joy you feel today. And that’s also true.
Congratulations, Class of 2022. You’ve accomplished great things just by being here, and I’m confident you’re gonna accomplish even more. Good luck to each and every one of you – and Godspeed.
And now, we will hear from the three students selected to deliver this year’s orations, the Latin Salutatory, in honorum Johannes Martini Annenberg inicis, candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies, Benjamin Porteus.
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