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№ 2013.017 — Syracuse University — Commencement address
George Saunders
Field: letters
George Saunders tells graduates that his deepest regret is his failures of kindness, illustrating this with the memory of a shy classmate he never bullied but also never truly helped. He argues that selfishness stems from built-in human confusions and that, while ambition and success have their place, the central goal of life should be becoming kinder and more loving. He urges graduates to accelerate that process rather than wait for it to come naturally with age.
Key moments
- 01 Recalling regret over not being kinder to a shy classmate named Ellen
- 02 Identifying built-in human confusions that drive selfishness
- 03 Warning that the pursuit of success can crowd out the big questions
- 04 Advising graduates to err in the direction of kindness and start now
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
Read the full transcript at source →Provenance
Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB
NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording