Graduation Season

Today on Youtube I'm on a roll watching Harvard speeches. Listening to graduation speeches are not only made for the momentous send off but for many relevant moments in life when you need inspiration fuel for life's mileage.

Commencement remarks can either range from poignant messages or a lackluster address laden with standard cliches. Here are a few keynote speeches made by celebrities that hit home for me:

"Sometimes, your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you, too, to embrace other people's expectations, standards or values"

Attending Harvard with the intention of being taken seriously Natalie Portman recalled how she had to constantly prove herself worthy of the intellectual rigor of Harvard by taking intensive courses to counter her feeling insecurity; of not being smart enough or to be dismissed as another dumb actress alongside her Ivy League peers. What made a mark in her speech is how she urged the youth to utilize their naivete as their best asset to take risks in order to forge their own path, clumsy it may be.

"The answer to a lot of you life's questions is often in someone else's face" 

Amy Poehler imparted a lesson on humility and teamwork by noting how most of our achievement in life is done so with the help of others. No one makes it far in life without meaningful collaborations be it on sundry projects or simply surrounding yourself with people who uplift you. Truly, there is nothing like having somebody to hold your hand when you're scared to take risks, to commiserate with you in your failures or celebrate in your triumphs. 

"I'm afraid a couple of you are probably evil. That's just the odds."

Comedian and writer Mindy Kaling is probably the most unlikely person you have in mind relishing advice before an elite set of graduates from Harvard Law School. Acknowledging her lack of in-depth knowledge of the law whatsoever Mindy pokes fun at only knowing the law by 'loving to sue' and how the graduates may help her sort out the details of her pre-nup and divorce proceedings in the future. Although it was mostly a stream of jokes and hilarious quotes from Mindy she mentioned the law's significance by touching base on her parent's immigration to the U.S and for many other movements to be done on the rights of immigrants.