I cried when he died. And I love when I hear his words and have the opportunity to keep them alive. This morning my national Transcendental Meditation teacher ended his morning meditation with words from Fred Rogers’ 2002 graduation speech at Dartmouth college where he was an alum.
His words are about life for us all to be inspired by, not just college students in this graduation season. When I looked up the full text, I found not only the transcript and video from Dartmouth, but also a beautiful article about it on Payscale.com entitled Mister Rogers Speech is All the Career Advice You Need. Both articles were revisiting the memorable speech on the 50th anniversary of the Mister Rogers Neighborhood premiere. Links are at the end of the article.
And, of course, I’m proud that such a fine person is from my city of Pittsburgh.
Graduation speech excerpt from my meditation:
“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about the part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see, or hear, or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate. Peace that rises triumphant over war. And justice that proves more powerful than greed. So, in all that you do in all of your life, I wish you the strength and the grace to make those choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.”
~ Excerpted from Fred Roger’s Commencement address to Dartmouth College in 2002
Whether you are a recent graduate or simply trying to find your way to career happiness and success, I also would be honored to help you on your path.
Links to more of his speech:
https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2018/03/revisiting-fred-rogers-2002-commencement-address
https://www.payscale.com/career-advice/mister-rogers-speech-is-all-the-career-advice-you-need
