In the waking time, pursue what you think is the most meaningful

Remember the high hopes we place on you, even if you feel that they are impossible to achieve, remember that they are vital and that the Polaris of your life will guide you to the other side that makes sense for yourself and the world. The meaning of your life is created by you.

This highly respected school has always been eager to learn, so you expect my speech to teach eternal wisdom. I stood on this pulpit and dressed like a Puritan priest - this dress may frighten many of my predecessors, and may also allow some of them to re-enter the cause of destroying witches, let Inkris and Courter and his son appeared on the "bubble party" of today. But now, I am on stage, you are underneath, this is a moment that belongs to the truth and pursues the truth.

You have been studying for four years, and I have been a principal for less than a year; you know three principals, I only know a senior in a class. So, where does wisdom come from? Maybe you are the one who should impart wisdom. Maybe we can swap the characters and ask questions from Harvard Law School professors to ask questions in the next hour.

Let us imagine this graduation ceremony as a question-and-answer session, you are the questioner. "President Foster, what is the meaning of life? What are we studying for four years at Harvard? President Foster, you have learned a lot from the university you graduated from forty years ago?"

It can be said that in the past year, you have been asking questions to let me answer, but you have limited the scope of the questions. I have been thinking about how to answer, and the motivation for your questions. This is more interesting to me.

In fact, since I met with the school board, I have been asked these questions. It was in the winter of 2007, and my appointment was announced shortly. Since then, I have been eating lunch at Kirkland House. I have dinner at the Lefre House. During my working hours with my students, even when I met graduates abroad, I was asked these questions. The first thing you ask me is not to ask the course, not the teacher's counseling, not the teacher's contact, nor the space for the students to study and live. In fact, it is not even an alcohol restriction policy. What you repeatedly ask me is: "Why do many of us go to Wall Street? Why do so many of our Harvard graduates enter the financial, consulting industry and investment banks?"

There are many ways to think about and answer this question. Such as Willie-Sutton. When he was asked why he wanted to rob the bank, he replied: "Because there is money." Many of you have seen Claudia Golding and Larry Katz in economics. According to their research on student career choices since the 1970s, the conclusions are much the same. They found that it is worth noting that although the financial industry has a very high return on money, many students have chosen other jobs.

Indeed, 37 of you have signed with "Teach for America"; one will go to Tango, go to Argentina to study dance therapy; another will be devoted to the development of agriculture in Kenya; one with an honorary degree in mathematics People are going to study poetry; another is going to the US Air Force to be trained as a pilot; and another is going to fight breast cancer. Many of you will go to law, medicine, or other graduate students. However, the vast majority of people have chosen finance and counseling, which coincides with the findings of Golding and Katz. The Crimson newspaper surveyed last year's graduating class and found that 58% of boys and 43% of girls who participated in the work made the above choice. Although the economy has been sluggish this year, this figure has reached 39%.

High salaries, hard-to-reject recruiters, working with friends in New York, enjoying life, and fun work – there are many reasons to explain these options. Some of you have decided to live like this, at least in a year or two. Others believe that they must first be self-interested to benefit others. However, you still ask me why you should follow this path.

In a way, I feel that I am more concerned about why you ask these questions instead of giving answers. If Golding and Professor Katz’s conclusions are correct; if the financial industry is indeed a “rational choice,” why do you keep asking me this question? Why does this seemingly rational choice give you a lot? People find it difficult to understand, not reasonable, even in a sense because they are forced or necessary, not voluntary? Why does this problem plague so many people?

I think that what you ask me is actually the meaning of life, but the questions you ask are disguised. The angle of questioning is an observable and measurable phenomenon in advanced career choices, not abstract, incomprehensible, The metaphysical category of human beings. "The meaning of life" - is a big problem - and it's a cliché - it's easy to answer the ironic title of a movie by Monti Piesson or the theme of a certain "Simpsons", but The topic of seriousness complicates the problem.

However, for the time being, let the Harvard people think that they are sleek, calm and impeccable, try to find the answer to your question.

I think that you are worried because you don't want your life to be a success in the traditional sense, but also make sense. But you don't know how to coordinate these two goals. You don't know whether you can do a well-paid job in a company with a gold-plated sign, plus the foreseeable future wealth, can you satisfy your heart.

Why are you worried? How much is the fault of our school. From the beginning of the school, we will tell you that you will become the leader responsible for the future. You are the best and the brightest is our dependence, you will change the whole world. We have high hopes for you, and it has become your burden. In fact, you have achieved extraordinary results: you participate in various extracurricular activities and show a spirit of service; you strongly advocate sustainable development and reveal your concern for the future of this planet; you are actively participating in this year's presidential campaign to inject US politics. A new vitality.

And now, many of you don't know how to combine these achievements with career choices. Is it necessary to make a choice between a work of interest and a meaningful work? If you have to choose, which one do you choose? Is it possible to have both?

You ask me and ask yourself some of the most fundamental questions: about value, about trying to reconcile potentially conflicting things, about not knowing both fish and bear's paw. You are at a moment of change and need to make a choice. You can only choose one option—work, career, and graduate study—that means giving up other options. Every decision means that there is something wrong with it - one door is open and the other is closed. The question you ask me is almost like this - about the road to life.

The financial industry, Wall Street and "recruitment" have become the hallmark of this dilemma, representing a series of problems that are far more meaningful and profound than choosing a career path. In a sense, these are the problems that all of you will encounter sooner or later—when you graduate from medical school and choose a professional direction—whether you choose a general family doctor or a dermatologist; when you get a law degree, Choose whether to work in a company or as a public defense lawyer; when you are "teaching for the United States" for two years, decide whether to continue education. You are worried because you want to live meaningfully and want to live a success. You know that your education is to make you not only for yourself, for your own comfort and satisfaction, but also for creating value for the world around you. Now, you have to figure out a way to achieve this goal.

I think there is another reason why you are worried - it is related to the first reason, but it is not exactly the same. That is, you want to be happy. You are eager to choose "positive psychology" - psychology 1504 - and "science of happiness" to find the secret. But how can we find happiness? I can give an inspiring answer: grow up. The survey shows that older people, such as those of my age, are more happy than young people. However, you may not want to wait.

I’ve heard you talk about the choices you face, so I know that you’re upset about the relationship between success and happiness – or, more accurately, how to define success so that it produces and contains true happiness, not just money and fame. . The choices you worry about the most economic returns may not be the most meaningful or satisfying. But you want to know how you should survive, whether as an artist, an actor, a civil servant or a high school teacher. How do you find a way to journalism? After many years, you have completed graduate studies and papers. Find a job as an English professor?

The answer is: I only know if I have tried it. But whether it's painting, biology or finance, if you don't try to do what you like; if you don't pursue what you think is the most meaningful, you will regret it. The road to life is long and there is always time to implement alternatives, but don't go back to the bottom.

I call it the theory of career parking, and I have been sharing it with my classmates for decades. Don't park your car 20 yards from your destination because you don't think there is a parking space. Go directly to the place you want to go, if the parking space is full, then wrap it back.

You may like investment banking, finance or consulting, and it may be your best choice. Maybe you and the senior student I met at lunch at Kirkland House, she just came back from a well-known consulting company on the West Coast. She asked: "Why should I do this? I hate flying, I don't like to live in a hotel, I don't like this job."

Then find a job you like. If more than half of your waking hours are doing things you don't like, you are hard to feel happy.

But the most important thing is that you ask questions, both asking me and asking yourself. You are choosing the road and questioning your choice. You know what kind of life you want, just don't know if you have chosen the right path. This is the best message. This is also, I hope, to some extent, our fault.

Pay attention to your life, reflect on it, think about how you can live well, and think about how to be useful to society: these may be the most precious things that humanities education teaches to you.

Humanities education requires you to live consciously, giving you the ability to find and define the inner meaning of what you do. It allows you to learn to self-analyze and judge, let you take care of your own life and control its development path. It is in this sense that "humanity" is a veritable liberare - freedom.

They give you the ability to act, discover things and make choices. The only way to a meaningful and happy life is to let yourself work hard. Don't stop. Always ready to change direction. Remember the high hopes we place on you, even if you feel that they are impossible to achieve, remember that they are vital and that the Polaris of your life will guide you to the other side that makes sense for yourself and the world. The meaning of your life is created by you.

I can't wait to know what you will be like. Be sure to come back often and tell us how it works.