Dr. Ruth built her case for risk-taking by sharing the arc of her own improbable life. Born into a loving Orthodox Jewish family in Frankfurt, she was separated from her parents at age ten and sent to a Swiss boarding school where, because she was female, she was only allowed to study housekeeping — not academics. She never saw her parents again. From that devastating starting point, she went on to earn a doctorate from Columbia, become a professor, and reinvent herself as America's most recognizable voice on sexual health. Her message to the Trinity graduates was simple and hard-won: the pain of failure is real, but it is temporary and survivable. The regret of never having tried is permanent.