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When I first found out I'd been chosen to speak at commencement I was tempted to turn
it down because I had originally planned on staying home and watching the World Cup today.
But I guess this takes precedent. If I could go back in time to my freshman
year and visit my eighteen year-old self, I would smack some sense into him. Once for
the backward baseball hat he was wearing. Once for the awful emo music blaring through
his headphones. And once, with extra force, for his dreams of becoming an investment banker.
When I was eighteen years old, I knew nothing. I close my eyes and smile fondly as I imagine
my revenge against that freshman whose memory would one day cause such humiliation for his
21 year-old incarnation. However, my mind soon wanders four years into the future, where
25 year-old Ben is engaged in the same exercise-eyes shut, tenderly envisioning punishing his 21
year-old self for being such an embarrassment. I'm relieved to find that there are no time
machines in sight, and I am not about to be harassed by any future versions of myself.
I realize with a sigh that in four years, I will be just as unhappy with my past self
as I am today. And I can't help but wonder. . .when does this process stop? When I am
80 years old, will I have a burning desire to confront 75 year-old Ben with my wheelchair?
As I turn the question over in my mind for a minute, I decide that I sincerely hope my
80 year-old self feels this way. Partly because I hope to have the strength left to pick up
a wheelchair when I reach that age. But mostly because it will mean that I have learned something
over the previous years. If I looked back today and found myself completely satisfied
with the way I was as a freshman, it would be a sure sign that I have wasted four years,
not to mention lots of my parents' tuition money.
So, what have I learned at K College, and why does it matter? Once again, my mind wanders
back to my first fall at Kalamazoo College, when I took a freshman seminar called "Inside
the Hallowed Halls." The topic was college life, and among other things, we discussed
the value of a college education. My professor, Dr. Stauffer, stressed that college was not
about memorizing every theory and intricate detail in class. Those things are part of
the process, obviously. But the real beauty of going to college, he said, is the opportunity
to make your mind a more interesting place to live. Not just for the four years we spend
here-for the rest of our lives. And while I really hate to invoke a corny K College
slogan, the phrase "4 and Forever" is pretty much unavoidable at this point. Fortunately,
it happens to perfectly encapsulate what I am trying to say. Everything we've learned
these past four years will stay with us forever. One thing I've learned is that inspiration
comes in unexpected places. To put it slightly more bluntly, you really don't learn all that
much from class. The stuff you do learn-the stuff that really matters, anyway-rarely happens
in the conventional way. My favorite example of this comes from my study abroad in Madrid,
where we took classes on Spanish language and culture. I'd like to think I learned a
little bit from class about the way Spaniards live, and the way they speak. But I can guarantee
you that it was not in class that I learned how to teach a team of eight year old Spanish
girls to shoot a basketball, or how to cancel a stolen credit card from a foreign country,
or how to talk the Madrid police out of arresting my poor American friend.
This kind of learning isn't limited to study abroad, either. To the best of my knowledge,
Kalamazoo College does not offer a class on how to tell a girl you love her, or how to
talk your friend through depression. Nevertheless, these are things I learned while at college.
And maybe some stuff about supply and demand, too. But while my economics degree might land
me my first job, all those little graphs and equations that I've studied won't carry me
through life. What will stick with me is the creativity and problem solving skills it took
to balance all that studying with two sports, an internship, and a social life. Are these
skills worth the tuition price? Ask my parents, they're in the crowd. But I would answer that
question with an emphatic "yes." These are the things that matter, and these
are the things you'll take with you wherever you go. Because the learning process never
stops. We're supposed to question the things we learn, the things we do, who we are. That's
what makes life interesting. When I'm 80 years old, I want to be shaking my head at how clueless
I was when I was 75, because that would mean that I'd still be learning how to make my
mind a more interesting place to live. Hopefully, we can all look back on these last four years
and see how much we've changed. And four years from now, when I look back on what I've said
today, I'll realize how ridiculous it sounds. But for the moment, it's all I've got. Congratulations,
class of 2010. Never stop learning.