Commencement

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' speech to the graduating class of Butler University is the best I have ever heard in my entire life. You can read the text, or watch it on YouTube (part 1; part 2).

With blunt humility and a razor-sharp wit - two qualities not often found in combination - Daniels eviscerates his own generation for its failings while pleading with the new graduates to strive for something much better. It's a speech which ought to go down in history as a classic, particularly for lines such as these:

"As a generation, you are off to an excellent start. You have taken the first savvy step on the road to distinction, which is to follow a weak act."

"In sum, our parents scrimped and saved to provide us a better living standard than theirs; we borrowed and splurged and will leave you a staggering pile of bills to pay. It's been a blast; good luck cleaning up after us."

"Selfishness and irresponsibility in business, personal finances, or in family life, are deserving of your disapproval. Go ahead and stigmatize them. Too much such behavior will hurt our nation and the future for you and the families you will create."

And,

"Live for others, not just yourselves. For fulfillment, not just pleasure and material gain. For tomorrow, and the Americans who will reside there, not just for today. ... Do worry 'bout tomorrow, in a way your elders often failed to do."

[emphasis mine]

One of the most refreshing features of Daniels' words, in addition to their plain-spoken wisdom, is fact that he refuses to condemn or pass blame without also pointing the finger at himself. It's clear that he does not embrace the bankrupt values of the Baby Boomer generation, he assumes that most parents in the audience do not, and I can say that my own parents did not live this way either. Yet his words of condemnation - and repentance - are always on behalf of "we," not "they." Like Ezra, Isaiah , and his Biblical namesake before him, he humbly chooses to identify himself with these failings instead of locating the problem elsewhere.

Would that more of his peers had the same courage.