More from John Jacob Scherer

If you have 50 years left, or 50 days left, or even 50 minutes left, it's never too late to become what you might have been.

JJS

John Jacob Scherer

Roanoke College Commencement 2010, 2010

22:59

Video starts at 22:59 — the moment this quote was spoken

The Story Behind This Quote

Scherer closed his speech with the concept of 'tov' — the Hebrew word from Genesis that is typically translated as 'good' but which he argued means something far richer: a moment when the essence of who you are gets expressed fully into the world. He illustrated this with a story of his son Asa playing Rachmaninoff — the house wasn't reverberating with the piano or the composition, but with Asa himself. In the same way, whatever job or organization a graduate enters is just the piano; the music happens when they bring their full self to it. His parting challenge: 'Go for tov' — lean your ladder against the right wall, and it's never too late to begin.

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