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Tom Hanks delivers the Commencement Address | Harvard Commencement 2023

Mar 18, 2024
- Now listen, it's not fair, but please don't be bitter about this fact. Now, without having worked a bit, without having spent any time in class, without once entering that library to have anything to do with the promotion of Harvard, its faculty or its distinguished alumni, I make a good living. play someone who did it. (people laughing) That's the world, kids. On behalf of all of us who studied for two years at Chabot Community College in Hayward, California, two semesters at California State University, Sacramento, and for 45 years at the School of Hard Knocks earning a bachelor of arts degree from a damn thing later another, thank you.
tom hanks delivers the commencement address harvard commencement 2023
Not me t

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. I don't know much about Latin. I have no real passion for enzymes and global public policy is something I read in the newspaper just before writing the text and yet here I am closing. Closing for Josiah, Pallas and Vic. T

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guys. (people applauding) Some of us here can recite on repeat the preamble to a television show we could have watched five days a week about a strange being from another planet with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, Superman , who disguised himself as the mild-mannered Reporter of a great metropolitan newspaper, there were once many metropolitan newspapers, and some of them were great ones, who could change the course of mighty rivers and bend steel with their bare hands.
tom hanks delivers the commencement address harvard commencement 2023

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tom hanks delivers the commencement address harvard commencement 2023...

He was faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive and he could jump tall buildings in a single bound and those are very, very impressive superpowers. No, well, the most impressive thing about his powers was how he chose to wield them. Yes Yes Yes. Cats were saved from trees, evildoers were banished to the ghost zone, and innocents were rescued with reliable and safe regularity. But in those half hours, which have since been turned into many feature films and multiverses and God, you kids see them all, there was the continuing fight not only for the protection and safety of the world, but also to expose the criminals and his lies. in the daylight.
tom hanks delivers the commencement address harvard commencement 2023
Superman, you see, and his representatives from Wonder Woman and Captain America and Black Panther and Black Widow and the Fantastic Four, my God, there are a million of them. They are all entangled in that never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way and in that fight being a Superman is an advantage, even with his only lethal weakness: exposure to pieces of the remains of his home planet destroyed by his own. arrogance. and apathy. But hey, there's no Superman or anyone else in his Justice League. There is only us on this planet. Now, on occasions like this, beware of certain orders that resort to the use of wise quotes from historical figures or the words of legends of literature and the arts or the mention of names of famous friends, as a pretense of some kind of wisdom or supercapacity.
tom hanks delivers the commencement address harvard commencement 2023
Some people on this podium shouldn't be considered much more than lucky guys who happen to be in the right place at the right time with the right assets and the right attitude or as a man named Marlon Brando once told me: Vic, what? Could you pick up that name I just dropped. Marlon Brando, could you save it until we're done? Thank you. Give it back to me at the end. I'm going to need it back. Yes, as a man named Marlon Brando once told me in a message he left on my phone's answering machine: "Tommy, Tommy Hankerchief.
It's Marlon Branflakes calling to ask where you are." Then later, he told me that when he was young and registered for the draft, he filled out the form with his name and age, but when it came to his race, he wrote human. "To Tommy, Tommy, what are we, all of us, but human? Yes, we all are, but human. Now, as an armchair historian who reads nonfiction for pleasure, the books guess that there has never been a promotion that hasn't ". faced the greatest challenges of all time. Comes every spring the maelstrom of history swirls so wildly that no matter the year or the era or the generation, there is always an atmospheric river of events that makes now the hinge on which our destiny depends.
And we here in the stands look at all of you in caps and gowns and wait, "Oh, finally, help is on the way." Somewhere enrolling today there is a man of iron, a woman of steel, a superhuman. "Right at the last moment. Now, this is not because we have failed in our duties or are completely exhausted. We have done some great things throughout our generations. It is because we are all in a cage fight, a mixed martial arts battle royale with agents of arrogance, apathy, intolerance and braying incompetence, the evil equals of the imperial stormtroopers, Lex Luthor and Loki, and we could all use a superhero right now. (people applauding) Now looking at the flowing colors of the Harvard quad, the big, silly hands clapping, the balls that represent the world we live in, the streamers on the piatas, and someone's very big face blown up out there.
There she is. That's it everything. That's all. We see young and restless beings with energy and imagination, with righteousness, enlightenment, joy and compassion, and we celebrate their proclaimed wisdom and work ethic. We know that no one is faster than a speeding bullet. To our shame, every day, to our shame. But we can still muster more power than a locomotive and can jump tall buildings in a single bound, if we have the right gadget. We can change the course of mighty rivers if such a thing were done and we make machines that bend steel as easily as with our own hands and we know it among ourselves, we often seem like strange beings from another planet in habits and tastes. and languages ​​with holidays and foods we eat and names of the days of the week, all varied.
We all have special powers and abilities that are far beyond the reach of other mortals. Some of us can repair a screen door with ease. Some of us can care for a five-year-old and a toddler 24 hours a day and never stop loving them. Some of us make sense of physics, economics, and global politics. Some of us survive somehow on minimal income. Some of us graduated from universities after years of confinement in Zooms. Now, all of these achievements are stellar, although yes, we are all human. Still, we'd like to look up at the sky and see not a bird, not a plane, but, well, someone who's young, strong, and super who will fight the never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way. .
Someone to take care of that job. (people applauding) Now, okay. Now, a crazy guy once told me, "We should all stay in school as long as we can because by the time we graduate, we have to work every day for the rest of our lives." Now that guy was a little bitter, but he wasn't wrong. We all complain about man and we all have debts that we must pay and we all have the right to a day off to rest. But the work we must do has no expiration date. It is the construction of our most perfect union and that work will never, ever be completed.
It is something that requires rigorous attention, unwavering means and all hands. The work is the fulfillment of the promises of our promised land, the practice of decency, the protection of liberty and the promotion of liberty for all without exceptions. And man, that takes a lot of work. (people applauding) It's work that happens at multiple job sites every day and you can call each one the battle for truth, justice and the American way. Yes, American style. The American way is exemplified both in plain sight and in subtle attitudes, in moments of routine exchange and in broad expectations.
Is it in places of historical weight and importance and in the small spaces in which we all find ourselves, the American way could be an example when the law and the rights of all are respected? Because if you don't do it, who will? When they bring you food, when you thank the waiter. Because if you don't do it, who will? When you pick up trash that has been lost in the recycling bin? Because if you don't do it, who will? When you vote your conscience and ensure that your neighbor has the opportunity to do the same with theirs.
Because if you don't do it, who will? (people applauding) When you realize your victories and learn from your losses because both are the result of noble and proud efforts. If you don't do it, who will? The American way was first proposed not far from here, when a king's subjects demanded more control over their lives than dictated by someone else's definition of providence. At the same time, women had no legal recourse. An entire segment of the population had been taken from their homeland and enslaved to work as chattel regardless of their age and the original inhabitants of this continent from sea to shining sea, the only ones who carried the DNA of America, were considered subhuman.
Yet even with such a paradox it was written how to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the benefits of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, regardless of time, conflict, and the institutions of the world. our democracy would determine our gender, our race, our creed, our color, our chosen deities or who we love, because it is our manifest destiny to seek our own happiness. All of us, without exception, have the inalienable rights of liberty and freedom because we live in the United States of America. (people applauding) The American-style vocabulary of law and the rights we share is partly philosophical, partly funny, partly answers a question with another question, and partly tries to fool us all with its knowledge of Latin.
One part answers the question with a question and the rest is all practical. It is even physical and certainly tangible. It is the language of telling the truth. What is truth again in Latin? -Veritas. -Veritas. The language of telling the truth. It is in the search for the truth that we hope the newly joined members of the Avengers Justice League will come to the rescue, because for some the truth is no longer empirical. It is no longer based on data, or common sense, or even common decency. Telling the truth is no longer the norm of public service.
It is no longer the balm for our fears or the guide to our actions. Truth is now considered malleable by opinion and zero-sum endings, images are boldly manufactured, for the purpose of accomplishing the primary task of marring the truth with simulated logic to achieve it with false experience, with false sincerity, with phrases like I'm just saying, oh, well, I'm just asking. I just wonder. Now, you literally can't believe that your eyes and ears help others lie to you. Someone will tell you about the world exactly as you would like it to be, full of alternative facts, of conjured narratives intended to reinforce the status quo and deny its offenses or readjust the rules and muddy the playing field, depending on where you are in the chain. food. and the moral spectrum.
The American way can be demonstrated endlessly as a perpetual prayer for every big shot from any Jane or Joe Blow. Justice can be an everyday pursuit, case by case, at lightning speed and with the slow and inevitable effect of gravity. The truth, however, oh the truth, the truth feeds in the highlands, as elusive as serenity, but as sure as the northern star and the southern cross. Truth is drawn from the intersections of our chosen behaviors and our fixed habits at our personal boundaries. Truth has synonyms like honesty, honor, transparency, and yet the common practice of many is to play fast and loose with those very words to create enemies, claim victimhood, elevate the mediocre to merit, and cloud a perspective that is truly true. very clear.
Likewise, truth has opposites. Omission. You don't need to know that. Distraction. That's not the real story, this one is. Opinion disguised as clairvoyance, oh, this is what's going to happen. And it influences pedaling. Many people say it. The truth also has an enemy equal to any colored kryptonite. That, lack of wild dog, is never too far from the path in the undergrowth and in the shadows, lurking for the lethal opportunity to overthrow the truth and that beast is indifference, which will make moot all the permanence found in the truth. Indifference will rust the promise of our promised land.
Propaganda and outright lies will erode over time. Idolatry and images lose luster and effect, ignorance and intolerance can be replaced by experience in the blink of an eye, but indifference will narrow the vision of the American people and dim the light of the symbolic torch of the Lady of freedom. Indifference turns citizens into indentured servants of despots and tyrants whose default setting is cynicism, who forbid dissent, and forbid art, dialogue, and books. They take power however they can. Enabled by the subterfuge of his co-conspirators,rewarding their complicit logic and emerging in the void caused by the indifference of a people who have grown tired of the struggle, so tired that they lose hope and are left longing to be saved. for superhero fiction.
Every day, every year and for every graduating class, a decision must be made. It is the same choice for all adults who have to decide to be one of three types of Americans: those who embrace liberty and freedom for all, those who do not want it, or those who are indifferent. Only the former do the work of creating a more perfect union and an indivisible nation. The others get in the way. In the never-ending battle, all of you have officially joined together as of today, the difference is how truly you believe and how loudly you promote and how firmly you hold on to the self-evident truth.
That, of course, we are all created equally, but differently. And of course we are all in this together. If we do the work, justice and the American way are within our reach, regardless of our gender, our faith, our position, our heritage or genetic makeup, the shade and tone of our flesh, or the continental birthplace of our ancestors. . Why do some find it so difficult to accept that truth, much less respect it? If you live in the United States of America, the responsibility is yours, ours. Effort is optional, but the truth, the truth is sacred, unalterable, chiseled into the foundation stone of our republic.
We are all capable, none of us is super. We are the Americans. Freedom and justice are for all of us because yes, we have specific names and we have lived every year of our ages, but when it comes to race, we are all uniquely magnificent, simply human, or so Marlon Brando told Tommy Tommy Hankerchief . May goodness and mercy follow you every day, all the days of your lives. Good luck. Congratulations. (people applauding)

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