Inspiring speeches

I’m still on my mini vacation, so why not surf the web and catch up on all the stuff I’ve always wanted to read or watch? I avoid surfing the web on busy days because it is a time consuming activity and often, before you know it, you’ve spent an hour clicking here and there and have strayed pages away from your original site.

But I’ve been a bit indulgent in the last week. I’ve spent time reading and watching commencement speeches on the Internet. Many of the better known speeches are familiar to me, but it’s always fun to watch speakers working their speeches. And why is it I, who have been to several universities, have not been to a real commencement speech? After searching my ageing mind, I remember attending one at Stanford University in 1987. Unfortunately, the only thing I remember about the occasion was my friend getting told off for chatting too loudly during the speech. Perhaps it wasn’t such an inspiring speech, but I bet none of my friends would remember the speaker too. It’s not our fault because back then, they didn’t have celebrities giving commencement speeches.

So it was with some glee that I spent an evening watching some of the more memorable commencement speeches. I found them in a site that described these as “The Top Celebrity Commencement Speeches of All time” and you can get to the site here.

Among the celebrities are Conan O’Brien (in his usual maniacal style), Jodie Foster, Ellen DeGeneres (very funny), Oprah Winfrey and my favourite, JK Rowling. If you don’t care for the others, do watch Rowling. She spoke about the importance of failure and the power of imagination. Another inspiring speech that’s not in the list must be Steve Job’s speech (so he’s not a celebrity?) and you can find that here.