July 8, 2021
Graduation Speech
Dear students. Dear faculty. Respected community of mothers, and fathers who are in streaming. First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to formally bid farewell to this magnificent graduating class.
I want to say a few words. I will talk about three ideas: about the dream, about courage, and about patience. And I want to give you three advice
About the dream:
It’s natural and necessary that, in these occasions, the student body be always the protagonist. However, I would like you to allow me to tell a brief anecdote about your teachers, about the teachers who have spent so many hours, we have spent in a classroom with you.
About a month ago, I don’t know if you have noticed , we decide to put a TV in the teacher’s room; we connected it to computer, we put Internet. The idea is that it uses as a window for good practices and as an information panel. But it was a bit cold and technical, so we decided to make a little game to give it a less ‘formal’ use
We set up the typical Who’s Who game. We asked colleagues to send a photo with half their current age, anonymously, and the rest of us had to guess who it was.
I was in charge of receiving the images and .. , when I was receiving them, I was storing them in the cloud, Drive of course; but as I was uploading then, I began to notice that they all looked a bit alike, that they all had something in common, I would say that there was a pattern in all of them. Days want by, more and more photos were sent and I still didn’t know what they had in common.. in the end I almost forgot it.
But one morning, I walked into a classroom, I don’t know exactly which one or when, I looked at my students and I understood the key. All those photos of the teacher's youth had a connection with the students, something that was enough to look into their eyes to understand. What the students and the photos of their teachers' youth had in common was illusion. That illusion for the future without limits. The illusion that comes from knowing that you have all the time in the world to achieve anything.
It is possible that sometimes, maybe soon, when you are in college or in vocational training, or in a job, you will look at people older than you, with a steady salary, a house, a family and maybe you think you would like to have all that, maybe you think that would be a good end, …. but believe me you are wrong. There is not a single one of these people 'who seem to have their life figured out' who wouldn't trade places with any of you right now.
And they would not change for your radiant physique, not because you are stronger, or faster or better looking or even because you have better health or learn some things faster.... We would trade for any of you to get to have that illusion in your eyes. The illusion that was in the youthful photos of your teachers.
However, it is true that time will also pass for you.
Mountaineers say that what gives a route its character is the most difficult stretch. Well, what gives life its character is that it is ephemeral, that everything we have will eventually disappear.
So my first piece of advice is: 'stay dreamers for as long as you can'.
My second idea is about courage; and I also want to start with a story. A few weeks ago, I talked to some friends who had first-hand knowledge of the case of the teacher who sadly died in Marbella after receiving a vaccine. These friends are doctors and they told me that they knew, from the beginning, that the official information was not correct. In the end, it all came out but they thought with sadness that nobody wanted to tell the truth. They felt that the specialist lacked courage
We will never be as brave as we were young. You may need courage many times in your future. You may need to tell the truth to your partner, your boss, your friends, or yourselves. If you have a boss who, shall we say, 'doesn't think much', you will find that many will agree with him even if he is not right. If you are the boss, you will see that there are people who never disagree with you. Be wary of all that. All the great social conquests: civil rights, freedom, democracy, the end of slavery, etc., etc., have been made not only thanks to very intelligent people, but thanks to very brave people. Society needs you to be bold and courageous.
That's my second piece of advice: stay courageous as long as possible.
Finally, I want to talk about patience. And it’s not patience with your family, or with your teachers or with your friends. It's patience with yourselves. They say that we live in the ‘comparison society’ . You only have to pick up your mobile for a few seconds to receive dozens of messages from people who are having a great time anywhere in the world. We know so many people directly or indirectly that we are always going to look bad if we compare ourselves with them. There will always be people who are prettier, nicer or more intelligent. However, all those people around us, around you, lack something fundamental: They are not you.
The social scientist S.Pinker wrote “Life and happiness depend on an infinitesimal fraction of ordered arrangements of matter". Which, roughly translated, "twitter style" means, "it's almost a miracle that we are alive" :-) But also, that ordered arrangement of matter that each one of us is, has consciousness. And it is unique.
Each of us represents a unique perspective of the Universe. And when we are no longer here, that perspective, that gaze, will disappear with us. So don't compare yourself.
In everyday life, when we don't like a TV programme, we change it. When a car disappoints us, we try to buy another one. We can change our job, our city, our partner... but we can't change ourselves for another person. So we are all we have and it is good to develop the mental strength to maintain that awareness.
Throughout your life there are bright and joyful moments ahead of you; but there are bound to be darker moments. Always remember that you represent a unique way of understanding the world. Have the patience to deal with it and that will give you the strength to keep your calm when things go wrong.
So here is my final piece of advice: be patient.
Let me sum up the three pieces of advice: stay dreamers, be brave and be patient.
Thank you all very much.
It has been a pleasure and an honour to address you all.
Graduation Speech
Dear students.
Dear faculty.
Respected community of mothers, and fathers who are in streaming.
I'm not sure of the exact terminology used for virtual graduations, but I think would be a little more natural to "mothers and fathers who have joined this stream" or "mothers and fathers who are watching this stream".
First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to formally bid farewell to this magnificent graduating class.
I want to say a few words.
I will talk about three ideas: about the dreams, about courage, and about patience.
And I want to give you three pieces of advice.
About the dreams:
It’s natural and necessary that, in these occasions, the student body bewill always be the protagonist.
However, I would like you to allow me to tell a brief anecdote about your teachers, about the teacherswe who have spent so many hours, we have spent in a classroom with you.
About a month ago, I don’t know if you have noticed , we decide to put a TV in the teacher’s room; we connected it to computer, we put Internetthe internet via a computer.
The idea is that it can be usesd as a window for good practices and as an information panel.
But it was a bit cold and technical, so we decided to make a little game to give it a less ‘formal’ use
We set up the typical Who’s Who game.
We asked colleagues to send a photo withfrom when they were half their current age, anonymously, and the rest of us had to guess who it was.
I was in charge of receiving the images and .. , when I was receivinged them, I was storinged them in the cloud, Drive of course; b. But as I was uploading thenm, I began to notice that they all looked a bit alike, that they all had something in common,. I would say that there was a pattern in all of them.
But one morning, I walked into a classroom, I don’t know exactly which one or when, I looked at my students and I finally understood the key.
Using "the key" here is a bit of an awkward metaphor to me.
All those photos of the teacher's' youth had a connection with the students, something that was enough toyou could sense just by looking into their eyes to understand.
What the students and the photos of their teachers' youth had in common was an illusion.
Thate illusion for theof a future without limits.
The illusion that comes from knowing that you have all the time in the world to achieve anything.
It is possible that sometimes, maybe soon, when you are in college, or in vocational training, or ion a job, you will look at people older than you, with a steady salary, a house, a family and maybe you think you would like to have all that, maybe you think that would be a good end, ….
but believe me you are wrong.
There is not a single one of these people 'who seem to have their life figured out' who wouldn't trade places with any of you right now.
And they would not change for your radiant physique, notr because you are stronger, or faster, or better looking, or even because you have better health or learn some things faster.... We would trade forwith any of you to get to have that illusion in your eyes.
The illusion that was in the youthful photos of your teachers.
However, it is true that time will also pass for you.
Mountaineers say that what gives a route its character is the most difficult stretch.
Well, what gives life its character is that it is ephemeral, that everything we have will eventually disappear.
So my first piece of advice is: 'stay dreamers for as long as you can'.
My second idea is about courage; and I also want to start with a story.
A few weeks ago, I talked to some friends who had first-hand knowledge of the case of the teacher who sadly died in Marbella after receiving a vaccine.
These friends are doctors and they told me that they knew, from the beginning, that the official information was not correct.
In the end, it all came out but they thought with sadness that nobody wanted to tell the truth.
They felt that the specialist lacked courage
We will never be as brave as when we were young.
You may need courage many times in your future.
You may need to tell the truth to your partner, your boss, your friends, or yourselves.
If you have a boss who, shall we say, 'doesn't think much', you will find that many will agree with him even if he is not right.
If you are the boss, you will see that there are people who never disagree with you.
Be wary of all that.
All the great social conquestadvances: civil rights, freedom, democracy, the end of slavery, etc., etc., have been made not only thanks to very intelligent people, but thanks to very brave people.
"Conquests" is a bit of an aggressive term with potentially negative connotations. You've probably heard of the conquistadors...
Society needs you to be bold and courageous.
That's my second piece of advice: stay courageous as long as possible.
Finally, I want to talk about patience.
And it’s not patience with your family, or with your teachers or with your friends.
It's patience with yourselves.
They say that we live in thea ‘comparison society’ .
You only have to pick up your mobilphone for a few seconds to receive dozens of messages from people who are having a great time anywhere in the world.
We know so many people directly or indirectly that we are always going to look bad if we compare ourselves with them.
There will always be people who are prettier, nicer or more intelligent.
However, all those people around us, around you, lack something fundamental: They are not you.
The social scientist S.Pinker wrote “Life and happiness depend on an infinitesimal fraction of ordered arrangements of matter".
Which, roughly translated, "twitter style" means, "it's almost a miracle that we are alive" :-) But also, that ordered arrangement of matter that each one of us is, has consciousness.
And it is unique.
Each of us represents a unique perspective of the Universe.
And when we are no longer here, that perspective, that gaze, will disappear with us.
So don't compare yourself.
In everyday life, when we don't like a TV programme, we change it.
When a car disappoints us, we try to buy another one.
We can change our job, our city, our partner... but we can't change ourselves for another person.
So we are all we have and it is good to develop the mental strength to maintain that awareness.
Throughout your life there are bright and joyful moments ahead of you; but there are bound to be darker moments.
Always remember that you represent a unique way of understanding the world.
Have the patience to deal with it and that will give you the strength to keep your calm when things go wrong.
So here is my final piece of advice: be patient.
Thank you all very much.
It has been a pleasure and an honour to address you all.
Feedback
Very nice speech! It's weird to imagine I might be influencing what's said at a graduation ceremony in another country.
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Dear faculty. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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In the end, it all came out but they thought with sadness that nobody wanted to tell the truth. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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Graduation Speech This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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Dear students. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Respected community of mothers, and fathers who are in streaming. Respected community of mothers I'm not sure of the exact terminology used for virtual graduations, but I think would be a little more natural to "mothers and fathers who have joined this stream" or "mothers and fathers who are watching this stream". |
|
First of all, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to formally bid farewell to this magnificent graduating class. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
I want to say a few words. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
I will talk about three ideas: about the dream, about courage, and about patience. I will talk about three ideas: about |
|
And I want to give you three advice And I want to give you three pieces of advice. |
|
About the dream: About |
|
It’s natural and necessary that, in these occasions, the student body be always the protagonist. It’s natural and necessary that, in these occasions, the student body |
|
However, I would like you to allow me to tell a brief anecdote about your teachers, about the teachers who have spent so many hours, we have spent in a classroom with you. However, I would like you to allow me to tell a brief anecdote about your teachers, about |
|
About a month ago, I don’t know if you have noticed , we decide to put a TV in the teacher’s room; we connected it to computer, we put Internet. About a month ago, I don’t know if you have noticed |
|
The idea is that it uses as a window for good practices and as an information panel. The idea is that it can be use |
|
But it was a bit cold and technical, so we decided to make a little game to give it a less ‘formal’ use This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
We set up the typical Who’s Who game. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
We asked colleagues to send a photo with half their current age, anonymously, and the rest of us had to guess who it was. We asked |
|
I was in charge of receiving the images and .. , when I was receiving them, I was storing them in the cloud, Drive of course; but as I was uploading then, I began to notice that they all looked a bit alike, that they all had something in common, I would say that there was a pattern in all of them. I was in charge of receiving the images and |
|
Days want by, more and more photos were sent and I still didn’t know what they had in common.. in the end I almost forgot it. |
|
But one morning, I walked into a classroom, I don’t know exactly which one or when, I looked at my students and I understood the key. But one morning, I walked into a classroom, I don’t know exactly which one or when, I looked at my students and I finally understood Using "the key" here is a bit of an awkward metaphor to me. |
|
All those photos of the teacher's youth had a connection with the students, something that was enough to look into their eyes to understand. All those photos of the teacher |
|
What the students and the photos of their teachers' youth had in common was illusion. What the students and the photos of their teachers' youth had in common was an illusion. |
|
That illusion for the future without limits. Th |
|
The illusion that comes from knowing that you have all the time in the world to achieve anything. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
It is possible that sometimes, maybe soon, when you are in college or in vocational training, or in a job, you will look at people older than you, with a steady salary, a house, a family and maybe you think you would like to have all that, maybe you think that would be a good end, …. It is possible that sometime |
|
but believe me you are wrong. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
There is not a single one of these people 'who seem to have their life figured out' who wouldn't trade places with any of you right now. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
And they would not change for your radiant physique, not because you are stronger, or faster or better looking or even because you have better health or learn some things faster.... We would trade for any of you to get to have that illusion in your eyes. And they would not change for your radiant physique, no |
|
The illusion that was in the youthful photos of your teachers. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
However, it is true that time will also pass for you. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Mountaineers say that what gives a route its character is the most difficult stretch. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Well, what gives life its character is that it is ephemeral, that everything we have will eventually disappear. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
So my first piece of advice is: 'stay dreamers for as long as you can'. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
My second idea is about courage; and I also want to start with a story. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
A few weeks ago, I talked to some friends who had first-hand knowledge of the case of the teacher who sadly died in Marbella after receiving a vaccine. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
These friends are doctors and they told me that they knew, from the beginning, that the official information was not correct. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
They felt that the specialist lacked courage This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
We will never be as brave as we were young. We will never be as brave as when we were young. |
|
You may need courage many times in your future. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
You may need to tell the truth to your partner, your boss, your friends, or yourselves. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
If you have a boss who, shall we say, 'doesn't think much', you will find that many will agree with him even if he is not right. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
If you are the boss, you will see that there are people who never disagree with you. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Be wary of all that. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
All the great social conquests: civil rights, freedom, democracy, the end of slavery, etc., etc., have been made not only thanks to very intelligent people, but thanks to very brave people. All the great social "Conquests" is a bit of an aggressive term with potentially negative connotations. You've probably heard of the conquistadors... |
|
Society needs you to be bold and courageous. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
That's my second piece of advice: stay courageous as long as possible. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Finally, I want to talk about patience. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
And it’s not patience with your family, or with your teachers or with your friends. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
It's patience with yourselves. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
They say that we live in the ‘comparison society’ . They say that we live in |
|
You only have to pick up your mobile for a few seconds to receive dozens of messages from people who are having a great time anywhere in the world. You only have to pick up your |
|
We know so many people directly or indirectly that we are always going to look bad if we compare ourselves with them. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
There will always be people who are prettier, nicer or more intelligent. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
However, all those people around us, around you, lack something fundamental: They are not you. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
The social scientist S.Pinker wrote “Life and happiness depend on an infinitesimal fraction of ordered arrangements of matter". This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Which, roughly translated, "twitter style" means, "it's almost a miracle that we are alive" :-) But also, that ordered arrangement of matter that each one of us is, has consciousness. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
And it is unique. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Each of us represents a unique perspective of the Universe. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
And when we are no longer here, that perspective, that gaze, will disappear with us. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
So don't compare yourself. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
In everyday life, when we don't like a TV programme, we change it. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
When a car disappoints us, we try to buy another one. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
We can change our job, our city, our partner... but we can't change ourselves for another person. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
So we are all we have and it is good to develop the mental strength to maintain that awareness. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Throughout your life there are bright and joyful moments ahead of you; but there are bound to be darker moments. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Always remember that you represent a unique way of understanding the world. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Have the patience to deal with it and that will give you the strength to keep your calm when things go wrong. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
So here is my final piece of advice: be patient. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Let me sum up the three pieces of advice: stay dreamers, be brave and be patient. |
|
Thank you all very much. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
It has been a pleasure and an honour to address you all. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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