Graduation

For in learning how to be a nobody, you will learn how not to be a jerk. You will tip well. You will empathize. You will be a mentor, and a generous one.

Be vigilant in the struggle toward empathy. Consider the Happy Birthday Sir Despite the Circumstances possibility — the possibility that the lives and experiences of others are as complex and unpredictable as your own.

There is no success without failure. There is no success without multiple failures, I promise you that.

You're stronger than you seem, you're braver than you believe, and you're smarter than you think.

Remember the Holland in your life. When you've ascended these great heights and done these great things, go back and find that person and say, 'I've come a long way in life and I just wanted to tell you that you had something to do with that.'

This is not about you.

Everything you know could already be wrong.

You don't have to be smarter than the next person. All you have to do is be willing to work harder than the next person.

You must always make the path for yourself. There is no secret society out there that will tap you on the shoulder one night and show you the way.

If you must find your own path, and we have left you no easy path, then decide now to choose the hard path that leads to the life and the world that you want.

Your life will not be defined by the society that we have left you. Every generation must define itself, and so make the world that suits itself.

Do not take no for an answer. Not when you're applying for jobs. Not when you actually get a job. The food court at the mall is littered with people who didn't fight for it. Fight for it.