My advanced apologies to whoever arranged Ohio Wesleyan University’s 2013 commencement, but: my commencement speaker was a JOKE. It was a wealthy white male alumni from the university, with zero name recognition, who spent some awful number of minutes in prime Mother’s Day heatwave temperatures lecturing my graduating class about the importance of being on time and dressing appropriately.
Natalie Portman is the kind of commencement speaker I wish I could have had. The Oscar-winning actress and Jewish mother swung by her alma mater Harvard University to deliver their 2015 Commencement address, which focused on the merits of being wide-eyed, inexperienced, and passionate about life and one’s career.
I know we’ve been kvelling a lot about Portman recently, because she’s been everywhere. She’s been starring in movies, directing movies, and also delivering poignant and gorgeous speeches to boot!
I won’t spoil the magic for you (seriously, watch the whole damn thing), but I had to pluck out this one line to share, just to make my point clear about how touching this speech was:
“If your reasons are your own, your path, even if it’s a strange and clumsy path, will be wholly yours, and you will control the rewards of what you do by making your internal life fulfilling.”
Dayum.
Watch the full address below:
