1 00:00:01,500 --> 00:00:03,530 Congratulations to the Class of 2020. 2 00:00:03,530 --> 00:00:07,430 Now, before I begin, I'd like to ask you to do one thing. 3 00:00:07,430 --> 00:00:11,630 If you're watching this with your family and friends, please take a moment to thank them 4 00:00:11,630 --> 00:00:13,059 for their support. 5 00:00:13,059 --> 00:00:17,770 No one makes it to graduation alone, and I hope you'll take this opportunity to thank 6 00:00:17,770 --> 00:00:19,410 those who helped you along the way. 7 00:00:19,410 --> 00:00:23,340 And I'm serious-- I'm happy to wait a few seconds. 8 00:00:27,260 --> 00:00:32,660 OK, now, if this were a normal year, and I were giving a traditional graduation speech, 9 00:00:32,660 --> 00:00:37,980 I'd begin by recounting all that you've experienced during your time here, like electrifying national 10 00:00:37,980 --> 00:00:43,050 championships, for example, or the terrifying Unite the Right rally, or the bewildering 11 00:00:43,050 --> 00:00:45,970 exodus from Grounds this past March. 12 00:00:45,970 --> 00:00:51,690 I'd rhapsodize about the Blue Ridge mountains and Bodo's Bagels, the faculty and friendships, 13 00:00:51,690 --> 00:00:55,720 Madison House and Mad Ball, the Range, and the Rotunda. 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,670 We probably share our laugh about streaking the lawn and a knowing exchange about the 15 00:01:00,670 --> 00:01:03,070 complexity of Jefferson. 16 00:01:03,070 --> 00:01:08,070 I'd give a nod to your collective futures and the uncertain world awaiting you, while 17 00:01:08,070 --> 00:01:13,300 expressing my confidence-- which is sincere-- that you'll figure it out and make the world 18 00:01:13,300 --> 00:01:15,680 a better place along the way. 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:18,720 But this is no normal year, and this is not a normal ceremony. 20 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,170 And in fact, I've been told I only have about six to seven minutes for this speech so as 21 00:01:23,170 --> 00:01:27,850 not to bore you to tears and cause you to turn this whole program off. 22 00:01:27,850 --> 00:01:33,150 Which is why I need to dispense with the traditional messages of graduation and focus on a more 23 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:37,580 pressing topic-- coffee, or at least the idea of coffee. 24 00:01:37,580 --> 00:01:39,210 Let me explain. 25 00:01:39,210 --> 00:01:45,540 In the summer of 1991, my now-wife, then-girlfriend Katie, a fellow Wahoo, by the way-- Katie 26 00:01:45,540 --> 00:01:50,659 and I went on a three-day camping trip in Alaska with Katie's sister and her sister's 27 00:01:50,659 --> 00:01:54,060 boyfriend, a Norwegian guy named Inge, who was a bush pilot. 28 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:59,439 Inge flew us to a remote cabin miles from any trace of civilization. 29 00:01:59,439 --> 00:02:03,930 The first afternoon and evening were glorious, and all was well until the next morning when 30 00:02:03,930 --> 00:02:08,649 we awoke, and I discovered that we had forgotten to bring coffee. 31 00:02:08,649 --> 00:02:13,190 Now, I won't say whose fault it was because it's just not that important to rehash the 32 00:02:13,190 --> 00:02:17,230 fact that Katie assured me she had packed the coffee before we left. 33 00:02:17,230 --> 00:02:22,340 What matters is that for the next three days, Katie and I experienced caffeine withdrawal, 34 00:02:22,340 --> 00:02:25,670 which is, in a word, unpleasant. 35 00:02:25,670 --> 00:02:30,620 When we returned to civilization, Katie and I made quite different resolutions. 36 00:02:30,620 --> 00:02:34,590 She resolved never to become addicted to caffeine again. 37 00:02:34,590 --> 00:02:40,270 I resolved never again to be more than 100 yards away from coffee. 38 00:02:40,270 --> 00:02:43,970 You might think the moral of this story is that Katie is a stronger and better person 39 00:02:43,970 --> 00:02:45,069 than I am. 40 00:02:45,069 --> 00:02:47,940 That is true, but that's not my point. 41 00:02:47,940 --> 00:02:52,430 My point is that I've kept my resolution, and coffee has continued to play a crucial 42 00:02:52,430 --> 00:02:53,599 role in my life. 43 00:02:53,599 --> 00:02:58,580 It's the main character in my morning ritual, where I make a cup of coffee, greet our two 44 00:02:58,580 --> 00:03:03,000 dogs, sit next to the window, take a look at the newspaper and watch the birds at our 45 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,300 feeder, while our dogs nudge me to take them out. 46 00:03:06,300 --> 00:03:11,349 Once I finish my coffee, I'm awake enough to go on a run, which in turn makes me ready 47 00:03:11,349 --> 00:03:13,550 to face the day ahead. 48 00:03:13,550 --> 00:03:20,190 I tell you this story because deprivation has a way of helping you focus on what's important. 49 00:03:20,190 --> 00:03:25,420 You've all been deprived of a great deal over these last couple of months, as have we all. 50 00:03:25,420 --> 00:03:29,230 We've had to do without much of what makes up our normal lives. 51 00:03:29,230 --> 00:03:32,870 My guess is that this has helped you think about what's important to you, what you can 52 00:03:32,870 --> 00:03:35,510 live without, and what you can't. 53 00:03:35,510 --> 00:03:40,810 And my hope is that as you prepare to reenter the world at some point and to start the next 54 00:03:40,810 --> 00:03:46,379 chapter of your lives, you're thinking hard about what you want to bring with you. 55 00:03:46,379 --> 00:03:50,410 If it helps, you might even think about a line from a Bruce Springsteen song, as I'm 56 00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:51,970 want to do myself. 57 00:03:51,970 --> 00:03:54,489 The song is called "The Land of Hope and Dreams." 58 00:03:54,489 --> 00:03:58,970 It's about a couple who, for unstated reasons, quickly leave their home to board a train 59 00:03:58,970 --> 00:04:00,810 in search of a better life. 60 00:04:00,810 --> 00:04:06,159 And the main character says to his partner, "We'll take what we can carry, and we'll leave 61 00:04:06,159 --> 00:04:07,850 the rest." 62 00:04:07,850 --> 00:04:11,709 Many of you faced a similar challenge when we asked you to quickly vacate your dorms 63 00:04:11,709 --> 00:04:12,709 and apartments. 64 00:04:12,709 --> 00:04:16,310 What did you carry, I wonder. 65 00:04:16,310 --> 00:04:17,800 What did you leave behind? 66 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:19,610 And did you miss any of it? 67 00:04:19,610 --> 00:04:25,000 More generally, what have you discovered or rediscovered during this time of isolation 68 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,740 that you want to carry with you when the world reopens and your life restarts? 69 00:04:29,740 --> 00:04:33,070 And what, in particular, do you want to carry from UVA? 70 00:04:33,070 --> 00:04:37,490 Now, if I had 15 more minutes or so, I might offer some suggestions about what you should 71 00:04:37,490 --> 00:04:40,330 carry with you, especially from UVA. 72 00:04:40,330 --> 00:04:45,990 I might suggest that you carry forward the values of this place, like trust, honor, integrity, 73 00:04:45,990 --> 00:04:50,810 and inclusion; that you bring with you the willingness and capacity to build bridges; 74 00:04:50,810 --> 00:04:55,930 that you carry forward qualities that are the hallmarks of a great and good education, 75 00:04:55,930 --> 00:05:02,180 like skepticism, so you don't believe everything you read, even when you wrote it, and empathy, 76 00:05:02,180 --> 00:05:06,630 so you can see the world through the eyes of others, and passion, so you'll have something 77 00:05:06,630 --> 00:05:12,060 other than coffee that makes you excited to get up in the morning, and vulnerability, 78 00:05:12,060 --> 00:05:15,830 because when you drill down, that's at the heart of all true friendships. 79 00:05:15,830 --> 00:05:21,240 If we had more time, I might also tell you that there's one other thing about my coffee 80 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,560 ritual that I forgot to mention. 81 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:30,680 I pour my coffee every morning into a mug that says, "I Heart Dad," which roughly translates 82 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,990 to "I love Dad." 83 00:05:32,990 --> 00:05:38,620 My daughter Phoebe gave me this mug a couple of years ago, and as corny as it might sound, 84 00:05:38,620 --> 00:05:44,139 when I look at that mug, I remind myself that there are people in this world whom I love 85 00:05:44,139 --> 00:05:47,400 deeply and those who love me in return. 86 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,960 And I remind myself to be grateful for both. 87 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:56,550 This gratitude, I would tell you, is what I try to carry forward every day, and I'm 88 00:05:56,550 --> 00:05:59,390 pretty sure I could leave the rest behind. 89 00:05:59,390 --> 00:06:03,680 And so you would get that it's not really about the coffee after all. 90 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,710 The coffee is just a conduit. 91 00:06:06,710 --> 00:06:10,530 But there's not time for all of that, and besides, I shouldn't answer the question of 92 00:06:10,530 --> 00:06:13,760 what you should carry with you and what you should leave behind. 93 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,930 It's far better that you answer it for yourself. 94 00:06:16,930 --> 00:06:22,580 My only hope is that because of your time here, you have the proclivity to ask the question 95 00:06:22,580 --> 00:06:27,639 repeatedly, if need be, and that you have the ability to answer it; that because of 96 00:06:27,639 --> 00:06:33,430 your time at UVA, you're in a better position to know what you should carry with you and 97 00:06:33,430 --> 00:06:38,060 what you should leave behind; that you're in a better position, in other words, to answer 98 00:06:38,060 --> 00:06:43,940 not just the age-old question of what is the good life, but the more specific question 99 00:06:43,940 --> 00:06:46,330 of what is my good life? 100 00:06:46,330 --> 00:06:51,919 Because at the end of the day, our basic business at UVA is to help people live their very best 101 00:06:51,919 --> 00:06:57,729 lives, and I'm pretty sure that if you know what to carry with you and what to leave behind, 102 00:06:57,729 --> 00:06:59,800 you will do just that. 103 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:01,680 Congratulations, and best of luck.