Speeches
2010 Brown Mackie College Commencement Address June 23, 2010
PERSEVERANCE
A Commencement Address by Pima County Fourth District .tabs Raymond J. Carroll to the 2010 Graduating Class of Brown Mackie College in Tucson, Arizona on June 23, 2010.
GOOD EVENING.
THANK YOU MR. MAISH FOR THAT KIND INTRODUCTION. PRESIDENT HELSCHER, DISTINGUSHED FACULTY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND -- MOST IMPORTANTLY -- THE GRADUATING CLASS OF 2010, I AM HONORED TO BE WITH YOU, TONIGHT.
SEEING THESE GRADUATES REMINDS ME OF MY OWN REGIS COLLEGE GRADUATION 26 YEARS, AGO. FRANKLY, I WAS AMAZED I MADE IT. SO WAS MY FAMILY! MAYBE SOME OF YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY.
YOU GRADUATES WORKED HARD AND PERSEVERED TO BE HERE. HARD WORK DESERVES RECOGNITION. SO, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE AUDIENCE, LET'S GIVE THIS GRADUATING CLASS A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED I USED THE WORD PERSEVERED A MOMENT AGO, AND THAT IS WHAT I WANT OF TALK TO YOU ABOUT, TONIGHT-- PERSEVERENCE.
BUT, FIRST, I HAVE TO TELL YOU A STORY.
I GREW UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. THE GARDEN SPOT OF THE ENTIRE WORLD, THE BUNGALOW BELT. MY FATHER WORKED IN THE FLEET DIVISION OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO. MY MOTHER WAS A PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE IN COOK COUNTY.
MY NEIGHBORHOOD WAS PRETTY TOUGH, BUT WE WERE A TOUGH IRISH FAMILY. ONE DAY WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER, WALKING HOME FROM MORGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL, I SAW A CLASSMATE BEING BULLIED BY TWO OLDER BOYS. I STEPPED IN TO HELP, AND A STREET FIGHT BEGAN. IT LASTED A LONG TIME, BUT I GUESS I WAS LUCKY BECAUSE I HIT BOTH BOYS HARD ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM RUN OFF.
LATER THAT NIGHT, AFTER SUPPER, THERE WAS A KNOCK ON OUR FRONT DOOR. MY FATHER CALLED TO ME, "RAYMOND, THERE ARE TWO POLICEMEN AT THE DOOR." I KNEW I WAS IN TROUBLE BECAUSE HE ONLY CALLED ME "RAYMOND" WHEN HE WAS MAD.
HOWEVER, I WAS WRONG.
IT SEEMS THOSE TWO BULLY BOYS WERE WELL KNOWN DOWN AT THE POLICE PRECINCT FOR CAUSING TROUBLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. MORE IMPORTANTLY FOR ME, THE POLICEMEN ASKED IF I WOULD LIKE TO JOIN A BOXING CLUB. I DID, AND I SPENT NEARLY FIVE YEARS CLUB BOXING.
AT FIRST, I WAS AWFUL. I USED TO SAY, "I WOULD HAVE WON THE FIGHT, BUT I RAN OUT OF ROUNDS", OR "I WOULD HAVE WON, BUT MY HANDS WERE SORE FROM THE REFEREE STEPPING ON THEM."
EVENTUALLY, I BECAME A PRETTY GOOD BOXER AND A SOUGHT AFTER SPARRING PARTNER. HARD WORK AND PERSEVERANCE PAID OFF.
SO MUCH FOR MY YOUTHFUL MIS-ADVENTURES. NOW LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SOMEONE WHO REALLY PERSEVERED.
THIS YOUNG MAN WAS SO SICKLY HE HAD TO BE TUTORED AT HOME. HE WAS ASTHMATIC. HE WAS VERY NEARSIGHTED. HE WAS SO WEAK AND THIN THAT A GOOD WIND WOULD BLOW HIM AWAY. EVEN HIS FATHER DISPAIRED THAT HE WOULD LIVE TO MANHOOD.
BUT THIS YOUNG MAN DECIDED HE WOULD CHANGE HIS CONDITION. HE THREW HIMSELF INTO BODYBUILDING WITH EVERY KIND OF STRENUOUS EXERCISE. HE RAN, HE HIKED, HE LEARNED TO HUNT AND CAMP OUTDOORS IN THE WILD. AFTER COLLEGE HE WENT WEST FROM NEW YORK TO THE DAKOTA TERRITORY WHERE HE LEARNED TO RIDE A HORSE AND ROPE A STEER. IT TOOK HIM NEARLY THIRTEEN YEARS TO BUILD HIMSELF UP, BUT HE PERSEVERED.
THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE HE USED THIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF PERSEVERANCE TO SHAPE HIS ACTIONS. THIS MAN WAS THEODORE ROOSEVELT. AMONG HIS MANY ACHIEVEMENTS AS PRESIDENT WAS CREATING THE NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE. THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS AND FORESTS OF THE CATALINAS AND THE SANTA RITAS ARE HIS HERITAGE TO US.
NOW I AM NOT SUGGESTING YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO ROPE A STEER TO BE SUCCESSFUL. I AM SUGGESTING THAT -- LIKE TEDDY ROOSEVELT -- YOU WORK HARD AT WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED BY FAILURE. IN OTHER WORKS -- PERSEVERE. TRY YOUR BEST, AND KEEP TRYING. TEDDY ROOSEVELT SAID IT BEST: "IT IS FAR BETTER TO DARE MIGHTY THINGS, TO WIN GLORIOUS TRIUMPHS, EVEN THOUGH CHECKERED BY FAILURE, THAN TO TAKE RANK WITH THOSE POOR SPIRITS WHO NEITHER ENJOY MUCH NOR SUFFER MUCH, BECAUSE THEY LIVE IN THE GRAY TWILIGHT THAT KNOWS NOT VICTORY NOR DEFEAT."
YOU WILL NOT BE "POOR SPIRITS" once you endeavor to PERSEVERE.
I MUST TELL YOU, YOU MAY BE CRITICIZED FOR YOUR PERSEVENCE. PEOPLE MAY TELL YOU TO TAKE THE FIRST JOB THAT COMES ALONG, NOT THE JOB YOU WANT; PEOPLE MAY SAY DON'T GO BACK TO SCHOOL; DON'T TRY TO START A BUSINESS; DON'T FOLLOW YOUR DREAM.
I SAY TO YOU -- DO NOT PAY ANY ATTENTION TO THAT CRITICISM. PERSEVERE.
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT TEDDY ROOSEVELT SAID ABOUT THAT SORT OF CRITICISM, HE SAID,"IT IS NOT THE CRITIC WHO COUNTS, NOT THE ONE WHO POINTS OUT HOW THE STRONG MAN STUMBLED OR HOW THE DOER OF DEEDS MIGHT HAVE DONE THEM BETTER. THE CREDIT BELONGS TO THE MAN WHO IS ACTUALLLY IN THE ARENA, WHOSE FACE IS MARRED WITH SWEAT AND DUST AND BLOOD; WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY; WHO ERRS AND COMES SHORT AGAIN AND AGAIN; WHO KNOWS THE GREAT ENTHUSIASMS, THE GREAT DEVOTIONS, AND SPENDS HIMSELF IN A WORTHY CAUSE."
I HOPE THAT YOUR PERSEVERENCE DOESN'T REQUIRE "SWEAT, DUST AND BLOOD" BUT, IF IT DOES, REMEMBER IT IS YOUR LIFE, YOUR DREAM, YOUR "WORTHY CAUSE."
THERE ARE MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE PERSEVERED, BEEN CRITICIZED AND ULTIMATELY TRIUMPHED.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, WHO STRUGGLED FOR AN EDUCATION AND HAD TO APPRENTICE HIMSELF TO A SPRINGFIELD ATTORNEY TO BECOME A LAWYER, BECAUSE HE COULD NOT AFFORD COLLEGE OR LAW SCHOOL. HE SERVED ONLY ONE TERM IN CONGRESS; WAS DEFEATED FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE; YET, WENT ON TO BECOME OUR GREATEST PRESIDENT. THAT IS PERSEVERANCE.
IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING, POLITICANS ARE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO PERSEVERE. THOMAS EDISON TRIED MORE THAN ELEVEN HUNDRED FILAMENTS BEFORE HE INVENTED THE ELECTRIC LIGHT BULB. ORVILLE AND WILBUR WRIGHT SPENT TEN YEARS FLYING KITES TO PERFECT A CONTROL MECHANISM THAT LED TO MAN'S FIRST POWERED FLIGHT.
ROBERT GODDARD, THE AMERICAN SCIENTIST WHO INVENTED THE FIRST LIQUID-POWERED ROCKET IN 1926, SPENT YEARS WATCHING HIS CREATIONS CRASH TO THE GROUND BEFORE HE FINALLY SUCCEEDED. THAT IS PERSEVENCE.
WE ALL DON'T HAVE TO BE ROCKET SCIENTISTS TO SUCCEED, BUT TO REACH OUR FULL POTENTIAL, WE ALL HAVE TO PERSEVERE.
AS I LOOK AT THIS GRADUATING CLASS, ALL OF WHOM ARE RECEIVING ASSOCIATE OR BACHELOR DEGREES OF SCIENCE, I SEE THAT THE GRADUATES RANGE IN AGE FROM YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN TO OBVIOUSLY MATURE ADULTS. I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE MADE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS PROUD. YOU HAVE ALREADY PERSEVERED. YOU HAVE WORKED HARD TO BE HERE. TO PARAPHRASE SAINT PAUL, "YOU HAVE RUN THE RACE, YOU HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT." I AM PROUD OF YOU AND -- MORE IMPORTANTLY -- YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF YOURSELVES.
BUT, REGARDLESS OF YOUR AGE, YOUR JOURNEY IS NOT OVER. YOU HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES TO THOSE WHO HELPED YOU MAKE IT HERE, TONIGHT: FAMILIES, FRIENDS, TEACHERS. ALL EXPECT THE BEST FROM YOU. SO, YOU MUST DO YOUR BEST FOR THEM AND FOR YOURSELF. YOU MUST PERSEVERE.
IT WAS AN IRISHMAN WHO GAVE THE BEST ADVICE I'VE EVER HEARD ABOUT DELIVERING A COMMENCEMENT SPEECH. FATHER JOSEPH FLYNN, WHO WAS THE PRESIDENT OF ST. JOHN'S, SAID, "COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS, SHOULD THINK OF THEMSELVES AS THE BODY AT AN OLD-FASHIONED IRISH WAKE. THEY NEED YOU IN ORDER TO HAVE THE PARTY, BUT NOBODY EXPECTS YOU TO SAY VERY MUCH, OR CARRY ON TOO LONG!"
THAT'S THE ADVICE I INTEND TO FOLLOW, TONIGHT.
IN CONCLUSION, I WOULD LIKE TO GO BACK TO ONE OF MY HEROS – (THE HERO OF THIS SPEECH) TEDDY ROOSEVELT. IN HIS LAST BOOK "THE GREAT ADVENTURE" HE TALKS ABOUT PERSEVERENCE AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO HAVE PERSEVERED TO PASS ALONG WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED TO OTHERS. HE SAYS, "ALL OF US WHO GIVE SERVICE, AND STAND READY FOR SACRIFICE, ARE THE TORCH-BEARERS. WE RUN WITH THE TORCHES UNTIL WE FALL, CONTENT IF WE CAN PASS THEM TO THE HANDS OF OTHER RUNNERS. THESE ARE THE TORCH-BEARERS. THESE ARE THEY WHO HAVE DARED THE GREAT ADVENTURE."
BROWN MACKIE GRADUATES OF 2010 MAY YOU ALL BE TORCH-BEARERS, MAY YOU ALWAYS PERSEVERE AS EACH OF YOU BEGINS A GREAT ADVENTURE.
IT HAS BEEN AN HONOR TO SPEAK TO YOU.
MAY GOD BLESS YOU.
THANK YOU.
Brown Mackie College
4585 East Speedway Boulevard
Tucson, AZ 85712-5311
(520) 319-3300
www.brownmackie.edu
