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The original documents are located in Box D31, folder "Commencement Address, Byron
Center High School, Byron Center, MI, June 10, 1971" of the Ford Congressional Papers:
Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D31 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS, BYRON CENTER HIGH
SCHOOL, BYRON CENTER, MICH. , JUNE 10, 1971
1971 Parents
IT IS A PRIVILEGE AND AN HONOR
FOR ME TO BE HERE WITH YOU TONIGHT
SHARING
ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS MOMENTS IN YOUR
LIVES.
FOR YOU GRADUATES, TONIGHT MARKS
A BEGINNING AND AN END -- THE END OF YOUR
YEARS AT BYRON CENTER HIGH SCHOOL, AND THE
BEGINNING OF A WHOLE NEW LIFE. FOR YOU.
BECAUSE I AM SO PLEASED AT BEING
ALLOWED TO SHARE THIS BIG MOMENT WITH YOU,
I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE YOU ALLA
GRADUATION PRESENT. THAT GIFT -- TO YOU
ALL -- IS
A SHORT COMMENCEMENT SPEECH.
I FIGURE THAT IS THE BEST
GRADUATION PRESENT I COULD GIVE YOU BECAUSE
IBRARY
-2-
YOU HAVE ALREADY ATTENDED A BACCALAUREATE
SERVICE AND BEEN PUT THROUGH REHERSALS AND
COUNTLESS OTHER PREPARATIONS.
I LL BET ALL OF YOU ARE LOVERS
OF POETRY, AREN'T YOU? ANYWAY, I RAN
ACROSS A LITTLE POEM BY A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
THE OTHER DAY, AND IT WAS THIS BIT OF
VERSE THAT GAVE ME THE IDEA FOR MY
COMMENCEMENT GIFT TO YOU. THE POEM GOES
LIKE THIS:
"THE MONTH OF JUNE APPROACHES
AND SOON ACROSS THE LAND
THE GRADUATION SPEAKER (GESTURE TO
SELF
WILL TELL US (GESTURE TO GRADUATES
WHERE WE STAND.
WE STAND AT ARMAGEDDON
IN THE VANGUARD OF THE PRESS
WE RE STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS
AT THE GATEWAY TO SUCCESS.
-3-
WE STAND UPON THE THRESHOLD
OF CAREERS ALL BRIGHTLY LIT
AND IN THE MIDST OF ALL THIS
STANDING
WE SIT AND SIT AND SIT."
TONIGHT IS YOUR NIGHT, SO I WANT
YOU TO SIT ONLY/FOR AS LONG AS YOU ENJOY IT.
I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT YOU ARE
REALLY JUST BEGINNING YOUR LIVES NOW THAT
YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR HIGH SCHOOL STUDIES
AND RECEIVED A DIPLOMA IN RECOGNITION OF
YOUR EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
THERE ARE 103 IN YOUR GRADUATING
CLASS. LET'S IMAGINE THAT 20 YEARS FROM
NOW YOU ALL COME BACK HERE FOR A CLASS
REUNION AND COMPARE NOTES. IF THE
STATISTICIANS AND THEIR PROJECTIONS ARE
RIGHT, YOU WILL FIND THAT IN TWO DECADES
YOU AND YOUR SPOUSES WILL HAVE PRODUCED
-4-
309 CHILDREN. YOU WILL HAVE EARNED
$20,600,000. AND YOU WILL HAVE GONE
$2,575,000.INTO DEBT. THAT'S PERSONAL
DEBT, NOT NATIONAL DEBT, BY THE WAY.
THIS BEING A NATION aN WHEELS YOU ALSO
WILL HAVE TRADED IN OR SMASHED UP 309 CARS.
SAY, HOPE YOU ALL GET BACK HERE FOR THAT
20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BYRON CENTER HIGH
SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS OF 1971.
AND WHEN YOU DO YOU WILL PROBABLY
SAY -- AS YOUR PARENTS ARE SAYING NOW --
WHAT IS THIS YOUNGER GENERATION COMING TO ?
I HAVE FOUR CHILDREN, RANGING
IN AGE FROM 14 TO 21. I HAVE A SON AND A
DAUGHTER IN HIGH SCHOOL AND TWO SONS IN
COLLEGE -- SO I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDEA
OF WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH AND WHAT
YOUR PARENTS ARE GOING THROUGH. AS A
MATTER OF FACT, AT THIS POINT I WOULD LIKE
-5-
even though 17
TO CONGRATULATE YOUR PARENTS.
I'M SURE
THEY FEEL THEY'VE HAD AN AWFUL LOT TO PUT
UP WITH.
TRADITIONALLY, A COMMENCEMENT
SPEAKER IS SUPPOSED TO OFFER ADVICE TO
will
GRADUATES. I AM GOING TO DO THAT, KNOWING
FULL WELL THAT THOSE WHO NEED ADVICE THE
MOST ARE THE LEAST LIKELY TO TAKE IT.
MARK TWAIN ONCE PUFFED ON HIS
CIGAR AND REMARKED: "WHAT A SHAME YOUTH
IS WASTED ON THE YOUNG "/ I BEG YOU
TONIGHT, DON'T WASTE IT.
YOUTH IS A TIME OF DREAMS. THIS
IS ONE OF THE WONDERFUL QUALITIES OF
YOUTH. WHEN A MAN STOPS DREAMING, HIS
YOUTH HAS PASSED FROM HIM.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO DREAM, BUT
DON'T BECOME LOST IN YOUR DREAMS.
HENRY DAVID THOREAU ONCE WROTE
-6-
THAT "THE YOUTH GETS TOGETHER HIS MATERIALS
TO BUILD A BRIDGE TO THE MOON, OR
PERCHANCE, A PALACE OR A TEMPLE ON THE
EARTH, AND AT LENGTH THE MIDDLE-AGED MAN
CONCLUDES TO BUILD A WOODSHED WITH THEM."
SO DON'T BECOME LOST IN YOUR
DREAMS. KNOW WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF --
AND DO LT.
THE GREAT ENGLISH WRITER OF
RHYMING COUPLETS, ALEXANDER POPE, ONCE
SAID:
"KNOW THYSELF; PRESUME NOT GOD
TO SCAN.
THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS
MAN."
I DON'T KNOW THAT POPE WAS
?
ENTIRELY RIGHT. IT IS NATURAL TO THIRST
AFTER GOD. BUT CERTAINLY A MAN MUST KNOW
HIMSELF IF HE IS TO MAKE A MARK IN THE
-7-
WORLD AND IF HE IS TO FIND ANY KIND OF
HAPPINESS.
A MAN MUST KNOW HIMSELF. HE MUST
KNOW AND REALIZE HIS CAPABILITIES IF HE IS
TO FULFILL HIMSELF, AND HE MUST ALSO GAUGE
HIS LIMITATIONS TO KEEP FROM BEATING HIS
HEAD AGAINST THE WALLS OF FAILURE.
A MAN MUST KNOW HIMSELF IN ORDER
TO GROW UP. AND HE WILL NEVER BE HAPPY
UNLESS HE DOES GROW UP,/UNLESS HE REACHES
FULL MATURITY.
A MAN REACHES MATURITY WHEN HE
MASTERS HIMSELF, FOR NEARLY ALL OF US HAVE
SOME IMPULSES THAT WOULD LEAD US TOWARD
DESTRUCTION
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT
SELF-DISCIPLINE IS THE SINGLE MOST
IMPORTANT INGREDIENT OF HAPPINESS. IT IS
ONE THING TO BE OBEDIENT AND TO RESPOND
-8-
TO THE DICTATES OF OTHERS. IT IS QUITE
ANOTHER TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOURSELF
AND TO TELL YOURSELF WHAT IS THE RIGHT
THING TO DO.
I BEGGED YOU EARLIER NOT TO
WASTE YOUR YOUTH, FOR THAT IS WHEN YOU ARE
VERY STRONG PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY AND
NOTHING SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE.
IT IS SO EASY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
TO WASTE THEIR LIVES, TO LITERALLY THROW
THEM AWAY.
WHEN YOUTH IS WASTED, IT IS
BECAUSE SOME YOUNG PEOPLE ARE FEARFUL OR
FOOLISH OR BOTH
FEAR PARALYZES. YOU NEVER KNOW
WHAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH UNTIL YOU TRY.
HENRY THOREAU ONCE SAID: "NOTHING IS SO
MUCH TO BE FEARED AS FEAR " AND MANY
YEARS LATER PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
-9-
MADE FAMOUS THE PHRASE: "WE HAVE NOTHING
TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF "
FOOLISHNESS.
THE BEST ANTIDOTE
FOR FOOLISHNESS IS SELF-DISCIPLINE
SELF-RESTRAINT.
FOOLS LAUGH AT PEOPLE WHO SHOW
GOOD SENSE. OLIVER GOLDSMITH WROTE OF
"THE LOUD LAUGH THAT SPOKE THE VACANT MIND. "
THE TRUE BEGINNING OF WISDOM IS
THE DESIRE FOR DISCIPLINE: AND THE BEST
FORM OF DISCIPLINE IS DISCIPLINE OF SELF
AND NOT DISCIPLINE FROM FEAR OF OTHERS.
BY SELF-DISCIPLINE I MEAN DOING
WHAT IS RIGHT SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT
TO BE RIGHT; OR, CONVERSELY, REFRAINING
FROM WRONGDOING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT
TO BE WRONG. A PERSON WHO DESIRES TO DO
EVIL CAN ALWAYS FIND THE OPPORTUNITY. IT
IS RESTRAINT WHICH IS DIFFICULT AND
ADMIRABLE AND REWARDING.
-10-
KNOW YOURSELF AND PRACTICE
SELF-DISCIPLINE. THIS IS THE FOUNDATION
OF WHAT I CALL "THE GOOD LIFE."
YOU WILL FIND -- OR PERHAPS YOU
HAVE ALREADY -- THAT THE GOOD LIFE IS NOT
IN BREAKING THE RULES OF LIFE AND IT IS
NOT IN HURTING OTHERS.
YOU KNOW THE RULES. WE NEED
THEM. THEY RANGE ALL THE WAY FROM THE
TEN COMMANDMENTS TO THE SIMPLE BUT MOST
DIFFICULT-TO-FOLLOW RULE DO UNTO OTHERS
AS YOU WOULD HAVE OTHERS DO UNTO YOU.
THERE ARE RULES THAT GOVERN
EVERYTHING WE DO. MAN HAS MADE THEM -- AND
FOR A PURPOSE MAN IS HIGHER THAN THE
ANIMALS. HE HAS THE POWER TO REASON
IT IS WITH THAT POWER TO REASON THAT HE
FORMULATES THE RULES BY WHICH HE LIVES.
WITHOUT THE RULES -- OR IF TOO MANY MEN
-11-
BREAK THEM -- WE BECOME AS ANIMALS. WE
DESCEND INTO A PIT OF TERROR AND LIVE BY
ONLY ONE RULE -- THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE.
NOBODY CAN DECIDE WHAT LAWS
HE LIKES AND WILL OBEY AND WHICH LAWS HE
DOESN'T LIKE AND WON'T OBEY -- ANY MORE
THAN ANY PLAYER IN A FOOTBALL GAME CAN
MAKE UP HIS OWN RULES.
OF COURSE, SOME RULES SEEM TO
US BURDENSOME, OR SILLY, OR UNJUST. AND
SOME OF THEM ARE.
BUT WE HAVE A SYSTEM IN THIS
COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH ORDERLY CHANGE IS
ALWAYS POSSIBLE.
THERE ARE SOME COUNTRIES WHERE
FREEDOM IS SO RESTRICTED THAT REBELLION AND
DISRUPTION ARE THE ONLY WAY TO BRING ABOUT
REFORM. BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE IN THE
UNITED STATES -- AND ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU
-12-
IT IS IS EITHER IGNORANT OR IS
DELIBERATELY MISLEADING YOU.
THE GOOD LIFE IS BUILT ON LOVE
AND DISCIPLINE AND HARD WORK. ALL OF
THESE ARE IMPORTANT. NOT THE LEAST OF
THEM IS LOVE. THE GOOD LIFE FLOWS FROM
LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF FAMILY OF PARENTS
FOR CHILDREN, CHILDREN FOR PARENTS, AND
PARENTS FOR EACH OTHER. THE GOOD LIFE
FLOWS FROM LOVE FOR YOUR FELLOWMAN AND
LOVE FOR YOUR COUNTRY.
THE LATE PRESIDENT DWIGHT D.
EIWENHOWER SAID JUST BEFORE HE DIED: "I
HAVE ALWAYS LOVED MY WIFE. I HAVE ALWAYS
LOVED MY FAMILY. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED MY
COUNTRY."
"
IKE KNEW WHAT THE GOOD LIFE WAS
BECAUSE HE LIVED IT. SO, TOO, CAN YOU
IKE LOVED YOUNG PEOPLE. HE
people but he particularly loved
-13-
BELIEVED IN THEM. SO, TOO, DO I
I LOOK AT YOU TONIGHT AND I DO
NOT FEAR FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA
DESPITE DOMESTIC TURMOIL AND OUR
INVOLVEMENT -- NOW ENDING -- IN A
FRUSTRATING AND BLOODY WAR HALFWAY AROUND
THE WORLD.
I LOOK AT YOU AND I SEE WHAT
PERHAPS YOU YOURSELVES DO NOT SEE -- THAT
YOU ARE HONEST AND COURAGEOUS.
I LOOK AT YOU AND I FEEL A NEW
CONFIDENCE THAT AMERICA WILL SURVIVE IN
THIS AGE OF SWIFT AND ALMOST UNCONTROLLABLE
CHANGE THIS AGE OF SUPER WEAPONS AND
NUCLEAR TERROR AND, YES, TURMOIL AT HOME.
YOUNG PEOPLE WANT SOMETHING TO
BELIEVE IN. BELIEVE IN AMERICA. IT IS
WORTHY OF YOUR FAITH.
-14-
TAKE PRIDE IN AMERICA FIGHT
THE GROWING TENDENCY IN THIS COUNTRY TO
ACCEPT THE POSITION OF SECOND-BEST, THE
PREACHMENTS OF THE CYNICS WHO BRAND AS
A JINGOIST ANY LEADER WHO URGES THAT
AMERICA NOT TAKE A BACK SEAT TO ANY OTHER
NATION.
HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELVES AND YOU
WILL PREVAIL. HAVE FAITH IN EACH OTHER
KEEP THE FAITH, AND YOU AND I WILL
GO ON TOGETHER TO PROVE TO THE WORLD THAT
IN AMERICA MAN CAN BE AND IS "JUST A LITTLE
LOWER THAN THE ANGELS.' "
--END--
Office copy
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BYRON CENTER HIGH SCHOOL
BYRON CENTER, MICHIGAN
JUNE 10, 1971
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
It is a privilege and an honor for me to be here with you tonight, sharing
one of the most precious moments in your lives.
For you graduates, tonight marks a beginning and an end--the end of your
years at Byron Center High School, and the beginning of a whole new life for you.
Because I am so pleased at being allowed to share this big moment with you,
I have decided to give you all a graduation present. That gift--to you all--is
a short commencement speech.
I figure that is the best graduation present I could give you because you
have already attended a baccalaureate service and been put through rehearsals and
countless other preparations.
I'll bet all of you are lovers of poetry, aren't you? Anyway, I ran across
a little poem by a high school senior the other day, and it was this bit of verse
that gave me the idea for my commencement gift to you. The poem goes like this:
"The month of June approaches
And soon across the land
The graduation speaker
Will tell us where we stand.
We stand at Armageddon
In the vanguard of the press
We're standing at the crossroads
At the gateway to success.
We stand upon the threshold
Of careers all brightly lit
And in the midst of all this standing
We sit and sit and sit."
Tonight is your night, so I want you to sit only for as long as you enjoy
it.
I mentioned earlier that you are really just beginning your lives now that
FORD
you have completed your high school studies and received a diploma in recognition
of your educational achievements.
(more)
GERAL
LIBRARY
-2-
There are 103 in your graduating class. Let's imagine that 20 years from
now you all come back here for a class reunion and compare notes. If the
statisticians and their projections are right, you will find that in two decades
you and your spouses will have produced 309 children. You will have earned
$20,600,000. And you will have gone $2,575,000 into debt. That's personal debt,
not national debt, by the way. This being a nation on wheels, you also will have
traded in or smashed up 309 cars. Say, I hope you all get back here for that
20th anniversary of the Byron Center High School graduating class of 1971.
And when you do, you will probably say--as your parents are saying now--what
is this younger generation coming to?
I have four children, ranging in age from 14 to 21. I have a son and a
daughter in high school and two sons in college--so I have a pretty good idea of
what you are going through...and what your parents are going through. As a matter
of fact, at this point I would like to congratulate your parents. I'm sure they
feel they've had an awful lot to put up with.
Traditionally, a commencement speaker is supposed to offer advice to
graduates. I am going to do that, knowing full well that those who need advice
the most are the least likely to take it.
Mark Twain once puffed on his cigar and remarked: "What a shame youth is
wasted on the young." I beg you tonight, don't waste it.
Youth is a time of dreams. This is one of the wonderful qualities of youth.
When a man stops dreaming, his youth has passed from him.
Don't be afraid to dream, but don't become lost in your dreams.
Henry David Thoreau once wrote that "the youth gets together his materials
to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance, a palace or a temple on the earth, and
at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them."
So don't become lost in your dreams. Know what you are capable of--and do it.
The great English writer of rhyming couplets, Alexander Pope, once said:
"Know thyself; presume not God to scan.
The proper study of mankind is man."
I don't know that Pope was entirely right. It is natural to thirst after
God. But certainly a man must know himself if he is to make a mark in the world
and if he is to find any kind of happiness.
A man must know himself. He must know and realize his capabilities if he is
to fulfill himself, and he must also gauge his limitations to keep from beating his
head against the walls of failure.
(more)
-3-
A man must know himself in order to grow up. And he will never be happy
unless he does grow up, unless he reaches full maturity.
A man reaches maturity when he masters himself, for nearly all of us have
some impulses that would lead us toward destruction.
I firmly believe that self-discipline is the single most important
ingredient of happiness. It is one thing to be obedient and to respond to the
dictates of others. It is quite another to make decisions for yourself and to tell
yourself what is the right thing to do.
I begged you earlier not to waste your youth, for that is when you are very
strong physically and mentally and nothing seems impossible.
It is so easy for young people to waste their lives, to literally throw them
away.
When youth is wasted, it is because some young people are fearful or foolish
or both.
Fear paralyzes. You never know what you can accomplish until you try. Henry
Thoreau once said: "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear." And many years later
President Franklin D. Roosevelt made famous the phrase: "We have nothing to fear
but fear itself."
Foolishness. The best antidote for foolishness is self-discipline, self-
restraint.
Fools laugh at people who show good sense. Oliver Goldsmith wrote of "the
loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind."
The true beginning of wisdom is the desire for discipline; and the best form
of discipline is discipline of self and not discipline from fear of others.
By self-discipline I mean doing what is right simply because you know it to
be right; or, conversely, refraining from wrongdoing simply because you know it to
be wrong. A person who desires to do evil can always find the opportunity. It is
restraint which is difficult and admirable and rewarding.
Know yourself and practice self-discipline. This is the foundation of what
I call "the good life."
You will find--or perhaps you have already--that the good life is not in
breaking the rules of life and it is not in hurting others.
You know the rules. We need them. They range all the way from the Ten
Commandments to the simple but most difficult-to-follow rule. do unto others as
you would have others do unto you.
(more)
-4.-
There are rules that govern everything we do. Man has made them--and for a
purpose. Man is higher than the animals. He has the power to reason. It is with
that power to reason that he formulates the rules by which he lives. Without the
rules--or if too many men break them--we become as animals. We descend into a pit
of terror and live by only one rule--the law of the jungle.
Nobody can decide what laws he likes and will obey and which laws he doesn't
like and won't obey--any more than any player in a football game can make up his
own rules.
Of course, some rules seem to us burdensome, or silly, or unjust. And some of
of them are.
But we have a system in this country through which orderly change is always
possible.
There are some countries where freedom is so restricted that rebellion and
disruption are the only way to bring about reform. But this is not true in the
United States--and anyone who tells you it is is either ignorant or is deliberately
misleading you.
The good life is built on love and discipline and hard work. All of these
are important. Not the least of them is love. The good life flows from love of God
and love of family...of parents for children, children for parents, and parents for
each other. The good life flows from love for your fellowman and love for your
country.
The late President Dwight D. Eisenhower said just before he died: "I have
always loved my wife. I have always loved my family. I have always loved my
country."
Ike knew what the good life was because he lived it. So, too, can you.
Ike loved young people. He believed in them. So, too, do I.
I look at you tonight and I do not fear for the future of America, despite
domestic turmoil and our involvement--now ending--in a frustrating and bloody war
halfway around the world.
I look at you and I see what perhaps you yourselves do not see--that you are
honest and courageous.
I look at you and I feel a new confidence that America will survive in this
age of swift and almost uncontrollable change, this age of super weapons and nuclear
terror and, yes, turmoil at home.
Young people want something to believe in. Believe in America. It is worthy
of your faith.
(more)
-5.-
Take pride in America. Fight the growing tendency in this country to
accept the position of second-best, the preachments of the cynics who brand as a
jingoist any leader who urges that America not take a back seat to any other
nation.
Have faith in yourselves and you will prevail. Have faith in each other.
Keep the faith, and you and I will go on together to prove to the world that
in America man can be and is "just a little lower than the angels."
###
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
BYRON CENTER HIGH SCHOOL
BYRON CENTER, MICHIGAN
JUNE 10, 1971
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
It is a privilege and an honor for me to be here with you tonight, sharing
one of the most precious moments in your lives.
For you graduates, tonight marks a beginning and an end--the end of your
years at Byron Center High School, and the beginning of a whole new life for you.
Because I am so pleased at being allowed to share this big moment with you,
I have decided to give you all a graduation present. That gift--to you all--is
a short commencement speech.
I figure that is the best graduation present I could give you because you
have already attended a baccalaureate service and been put through rehearsals and
countless other preparations.
I'll bet all of you are lovers of poetry, aren't you? Anyway, I ran across
a little poem by a high school senior the other day, and it was this bit of verse
that gave me the idea for my commencement gift to you. The poem goes like this:
"The month of June approaches
And soon across the land
The graduation speaker
Will tell us where we stand.
We stand at Armageddon
In the vanguard of the press
We're standing at the crossroads
At the gateway to success.
We stand upon the threshold
Of careers all brightly lit
And in the midst of all this standing
We sit and sit and sit."
Tonight is your night, so I want you to sit only for as long as you enjoy
it.
I mentioned earlier that you are really just beginning your lives now that
you have completed your high school studies and received a diploma in recognition
of your educational achievements.
(more)
-2-
There are 103 in your graduating class. Let's imagine that 20 years from
now you all come back here for a class reunion and compare notes. If the
statisticians and their projections are right, you will find that in two decades
you and your spouses will have produced 309 children. You will have earned
$20,600,000. And you will have gone $2,575,000 into debt. That's personal debt,
not national debt, by the way. This being a nation on wheels, you also will have
traded in or smashed up 309 cars. Say, I hope you all get back here for that
20th anniversary of the Byron Center High School graduating class of 1971.
And when you do, you will probably say--as your parents are saying now--what
is this younger generation coming to?
I have four children, ranging in age from 14 to 21. I have a son and a
daughter in high school and two sons in college--so I have a pretty good idea of
what
you
are going through and what your parents are going through. As a matter
of fact, at this point I would like to congratulate your parents. I'm sure they
feel they've had an awful lot to put up with.
Traditionally, a commencement speaker is supposed to offer advice to
graduates. I am going to do that, knowing full well that those who need advice
the most are the least likely to take it.
Mark Twain once puffed on his cigar and remarked: "What a shame youth is
wasted on the young.' I beg you tonight, don't waste it.
Youth is a time of dreams. This is one of the wonderful qualities of youth.
When a man stops dreaming, his youth has passed from him.
Don't be afraid to dream, but don't become lost in your dreams.
Henry David Thoreau once wrote that "the youth gets together his materials
to build a bridge to the moon, or perchance, a palace or a temple on the earth, and
at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them."
So don't become lost in your dreams. Know what you are capable of--and do it.
The great English writer of rhyming couplets, Alexander Pope, once said:
"Know thyself; presume not God to scan.
The proper study of mankind is man."
I don't know that Pope was entirely right. It is natural to thirst after
God. But certainly a man must know himself if he is to make a mark in the world
and if he is to find any kind of happiness.
A man must know himself. He must know and realize his capabilities if he is
to fulfill himself, and he must also gauge his limitations to keep from beating his
head against the walls of failure.
(more)
-3-
A man must know himself in order to grow up. And he will never be happy
unless he does grow up, unless he reaches full maturity.
A man reaches maturity when he masters himself, for nearly all of us have
some impulses that would lead us toward destruction.
I firmly believe that self-discipline is the single most important
ingredient of happiness. It is one thing to be obedient and to respond to the
dictates of others. It is quite another to make decisions for yourself and to tell
yourself what is the right thing to do.
I begged you earlier not to waste your youth, for that is when you are very
strong physically and mentally and nothing seems impossible.
It is so easy for young people to waste their lives, to literally throw them
away.
When youth is wasted, it is because some young people are fearful or foolish
or both.
Fear paralyzes. You never know what you can accomplish until you try. Henry
Thoreau once said: "Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.' And many years later
President Franklin D. Roosevelt made famous the phrase: "We have nothing to fear
but fear itself."
Foolishness. The best antidote for foolishness is self-discipline, self-
restraint.
Fools laugh at people who show good sense. Oliver Goldsmith wrote of "the
loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind."
The true beginning of wisdom is the desire for discipline; and the best form
of discipline is discipline of self and not discipline from fear of others.
By self-discipline I mean doing what is right simply because you know it to
be right; or, conversely, refraining from wrongdoing simply because you know it to
be wrong. A person who desires to do evil can always find the opportunity. It is
restraint which is difficult and admirable and rewarding.
Know yourself and practice self-discipline. This is the foundation of what
I call "the good life."
You will find--or perhaps you have already--that the good life is not in
breaking the rules of life and it is not in hurting others.
You know the rules. We need them. They range all the way from the Ten
Commandments to the simple but most difficult-to-follow rule do unto others as
you would have others do unto you.
(more)
-4.-
There are rules that govern everything we do. Man has made them--and for a
purpose. Man is higher than the animals. He has the power to reason. It is with
that power to reason that he formulates the rules by which he lives. Without the
rules--or if too many men break them--we become as animals. We descend into a pit
of terror and live by only one rule--the law of the jungle.
Nobody can decide what laws he likes and will obey and which laws he doesn't
like and won't obey--any more than any player in a football game can make up his
own rules.
Of course, some rules seem to us burdensome, or silly, or unjust. And some of
of them are.
But we have a system in this country through which orderly change is always
possible.
There are some countries where freedom is so restricted that rebellion and
disruption are the only way to bring about reform. But this is not true in the
United States--and anyone who tells you it is is either ignorant or is deliberately
misleading you.
The good life is built on love and discipline and hard work. All of these
are important. Not the least of them is love. The good life flows from love of God
and love of family. of parents for children, children for parents, and parents for
each other. The good life flows from love for your fellowman and love for your
country.
The late President Dwight D. Eisenhower said just before he died: "I have
always loved my wife. I have always loved my family. I have always loved my
country. 11
Ike knew what the good life was because he lived it. So, too, can you.
Ike loved young people. He believed in them. So, too, do I.
I look at you tonight and I do not fear for the future of America, despite
domestic turmoil and our involvement--now ending--in a frustrating and bloody war
halfway around the world.
I look at you and I see what perhaps you yourselves do not see--that you are
honest and courageous.
I look at you and I feel a new confidence that America will survive in this
age of swift and almost uncontrollable change, this age of super weapons and nuclear
terror and, yes, turmoil at home.
Young people want something to believe in. Believe in America. It is worthy
of your faith.
(more)
-5-
Take pride in America. Fight the growing tendency in this country to
accept the position of second-best, the preachments of the cynics who brand as a
jingoist any leader who urges that America not take a back seat to any other
nation.
Have faith in yourselves and you will prevail. Have faith in each other.
Keep the faith, and you and I will go on together to prove to the world that
in America man can be and is "just a little lower than the angels."
###
LIBRARY
Remarks by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Fifth Reformed Charch young people's group,
7 p.m., Dec. 1, at Grand Rapids,
Mich.
[with June 10, 1971 folder
phone
Office Copy
If ever a the dialogue was needed between young people and adults, it is needed
today between youth and the so-called Establishment. In my view, however, there
should not only be an opening of every possible avenue of communication. There should
thre
be a partnership between Youth and the Establishment,
a joining of hands toward
the solution of society's problems.
There are a number of channels of communication. One is the White Hourse
Conference on Youth, which I think should be conducted periodically. This year
a White House Conference on Youth took place April 18 through 22 at Estes Park, Colo.
This conference no only brought together large numbers of young people--nearly 1,000
delegates--but it was truly representative.
But the White House Conference does not answer adequately the need of young people
carry nih then levies and
to communicate with the Establishment. What we need is to bring together the energy
and idealism and social consciousne 88 of the young with the experience and money and
organizational ability of Establishment leaders.
I think the Establishment needs the ability and enthusiasm of young people today.
older
in all cashs
I
happen
to
know
that
-
Establichment leaders are deeply concerned about social
1
problems and
would like to make use of young people's energy and idealism to help
then elders
solve them. The result of a
partnership between youth and the
Establishment
would be more direct and effective action on the problems about which young people,
along with adults, concerned--the problems of our cities, of our environment,
of
racial
injustice,
of overpopulation, of poverty and of
others war. our society
To bring about this partnership between youth and the Establishment, new programs
and institutions must be developed.
One would be what I call "Disalogue Week." This concept involves setting aside a
week for bringing young people and community leaders together in a number of communities.
The purpose would be to stimulate better communication between the two groups. Business
and community leaders would gain a better understanding of youth's point of view and young
people would gain more insight into the process of getting things done within the
constraints of established institutions.
The dialogue might focus, for instance, on the causes and effects of poverty in
each community and the actions needed to eliminate poverty there.
Individual projects would be planned to give young people primary roles in diagnosis
and problem identification and adult members primary roles in problem solving. Technical
experts could be brought in where appropriate.
Another
avenue for youthful communication is supporting candidates for political
office. A number of young people's groups are being formed to support political
GERAL FOR NERARY
candidates whose views on poverty, race relations, pollution and other
issues most closely parailels their own. These groups tend to be bipartisan, to stress
specific issues, to emphasize working within the system, to aim at reform of the
political process, and to stress communication with the public-at-larrge via
advertising, doorbell ringing and political organization work.
Still another avenue for youth action might be youth group consortiums--students
from several colleges in one geographic location getting together or the youth groups
from various churches banding together to work on a single major problem of the region
like cleaning up a river, upgrading inner city schools, delivering health serfices,
housing, transportation, crime, drug addiction, job development,
or the involving
of the elderly in community life.
The project would be organ ized and directed by the young people--the
students in collaboration with faculty and college administrators, the church youth
groups with adult leaders from the various churches. Young people engaged in these
projects would become involved in community action directed at achieving widespread
support and interest for the project and in actual implementation of the program.
Whaterve the barriers, the potential for a partnership between Youth and the
Establishment exists.
The areas where such a partnership can be most fruitful are poverty fighting,
pollution control and political action.
I think young people will find that three out of four adults are willing to join
in a partnership between Youth and the Establishment. What is needed most now is
for someone to make the first move.
I am anjoino ###### that we do it locally,
on a State wide bans and nationally
Rap Aessions at all levels would be
useful.