In his closing, Whitford dropped the comedy and spoke with raw urgency. He told the graduates he wanted them to stay out of show business — 'The last thing I need is a bunch of young people invading my job market' — but he wanted them to be actors in their own lives. Whatever their beliefs, they should honor their creator not by passively waiting for grace to come down from on high, but by doing what they could to make grace happen — themselves, right now, right here on Earth. He ended by reminding them that 'we sit in the shade of trees planted long ago' and urged the Class of 2004 to go out and plant some trees.