Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Steve Jobs gave this great commencement address to students at Stanford in 2005. Of course, he himself had dropped out of college! Talking about that, he said: “But looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.” One of those courses that interested him was on calligraphy. Years later, that appreciation and understanding would get translated into the fonts of the world’s first GUI on computers; and expand further into the focus he gave to esthetic beauty of all of Apple’s gadgets. The lesson from all that? “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.” He talked about his ouster from Apple at age 30 and why he was able...

Jon Stewart gave the commencement address at his alma mater the year they gave him an honourary doctorate, 2012. Given his occupation (he’s a comedian), you know what kind of address he’d have made. He started with something most people feel about, well, everything: “I had forgotten how crushingly dull these ceremonies are.” He then reassured parents about the language he’d use by saying: “I want to assure you that you will not hear any language that is not common at, say, a dock workers union meeting, or Tourrett’s convention, or profanity seminar.” He thanked the university for the honourary doctorate: “It has always been a dream of mine to receive a doctorate and to know that today, without putting in any effort, I will. It’s incredibly gratifying. Thank you.” And in the next breath, remarked on the falling standards of the university! “When I think back to the people that have been in this position (being awarded an honourary doctorate) before me from Benjamin Fr...

When David Foster Wallace gave the commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005, he started off with: “Of course the main requirement of speeches like this is...to try to explain why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff...most pervasive cliché...is about “teaching you how to think.”” He then points out how that cliché is received by most normal students: “You tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed anybody to teach you how to think.” So true. That is why Wallace goes on to explain what the saying really means: “The really significant education in thinking that we're supposed to get…(is) about the choice of what to think about .” Because that choice translates into something very important: “It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.” Philosophy aside, that choice has practical use...

I somehow never imagined that Bill Watterson would give a commencement address . After all, the guy is so anti-publicity. But he did, at his alma mater , Kenyon College, way back in 1990. Watterson talked about his fondest college memories, “where things were done out of some inexplicable inner imperative, rather than because the work was demanded”. Like the time he painted Michelangelo's “Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of his dorm room! Was it good? Nope, but “what the work lacked in color sense and technical flourish, it gained in the incongruity of having a High Renaissance masterpiece in a college dorm that had the unmistakable odor of old beer cans and older laundry.” Which led him to this Great Truth: “It's surprising how hard we'll work when the work is done just for ourselves.” Watterson advocated keeping the mind active because “the mind is like a car battery -- it recharges by running”. He points this is tough once out of school/college because: “A...