“All of you can’t imagine the sense of joy and the sense of
relief your parents are experiencing today,” Gov. Ed Rendell told
the 2007 graduates of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford
during Sunday’s commencement.
“This is an opportune time to ask them for money,” he said,
taking the audience by surprise with humor instead of politics.
Rendell said he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in
1965, “and I can’t remember one whit about who my graduation
speaker was.”
He quoted Gary Trudeau, the cartoonist, who said graduation
speakers were invented because “graduates should not be allowed
into the real world until they are properly sedated.”
Along with some unexpected levity, Rendell offered the graduates
some advice for making their way in the world.
“You can’t let someone else define success for you,” he said,
explaining the materialistic view of today’s society is not a true
measure of the success of a person.
“I’ve met some of the richest, most famous people. Many of them
are bitterly unhappy people,” he said. “If you love what you do,
you’ll always be successful.”
The governor presented a hypothetical situation of a wealthy
woman, prominently known in the business industry – but divorced
three times with three children who did not speak to her; versus a
man who teaches school, is happily married, gets by on his monthly
bills and has five children who love him very much.
“Who is more successful? I think you know the answer to that,”
he said.
His next piece of advice was one he said he has followed through
his life.
“Don’t let anybody else out there tell you what you can’t do …
what you can’t accomplish.”
Rendell said when he first ran as the Democratic candidate for
Philadelphia mayor, he was told that a white man could not win. Not
only did he win the office, but he won 20 percent of the African
American vote, he explained.
“You can’t be afraid of failing,” he told the graduates. “There
is no disgrace in failing.”
Gesturing towards Pitt-Bradford President Dr. Livingston
Alexander, Rendell said, “Everyone in this audience, with the
possible of exception of your president, has failed at doing
something.
“If you do fail, go back to Plan B, which is usually do it
exactly like your mother told you to.”
The parents in the audience laughed heartily at Rendell’s
joke.
“Be the best you can at everything you do,” Rendell said. “Don’t
fail to spend some time giving back and helping others.
“Every day of my life, I get up in the morning and I realize I
get paid for trying to make people’s lives better,” he said, adding
he loves to go to work for that reason.
He spoke of adding money for tutoring to the budget a few years
ago, and then visiting a school in Pittsburgh where the tutoring
had already begun – before the budget money arrived – with teachers
as volunteers.
One sixth grade student got up to address the crowd. “I’ll never
forget his words,” Rendell said. “He said, ‘Last year I was
stupid.'”
The boy then explained that a teacher had tutored him, spending
time to make sure he understood what he was learning. “He said,
‘Now I’m not stupid anymore.’ He was proud of himself. He thought
he could accomplish anything.”
Rendell told the graduates that they could help someone achieve
that confidence.
“You can be a teacher. You don’t have to be governor. Take four
or five hours a week and help a third-grader read. It’ll turn that
third-grader’s life around. And you’ll feel great, too.
“Find time to give back,” he said.
“Go out and do great things. And do it in Pennsylvania.”
After Rendell’s speech, Alexander said, “I can assure you with
100 percent confidence our graduates will remember their
commencement speaker.”
Also at graduation, Madeline Miles, a 27-year member of the
Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board, received the Presidential Medal of
Distinction for her service to the university.
