Snapchat 创始人斯皮格尔在南加州大学毕业典礼英语演讲稿
Dean Ellis, honored guests, faculty, family, friends, and
the Class of 2019, I cannot begin to express my gratitude for
your generosity today. Thank you so much forinviting me to join
you in celebrating your graduation! Three years ago, I could
never havecomprehended such an opportunity. Thank you, thank
you, thank you. About three years ago today, I was right
where you are. I was sitting in a folding chair, justlike that
one, and I was wearing my cap and gown, waiting to walk on
stage. But I wasn'tgraduating. When they shook my hand and took
my picture, they handed me an empty see at Stanford,
they let you "walk" through graduation even if you haven't
actually finishedthe requirements necessary to get your diploma.
You get to pretend that you are graduatingjust like everyone
else, even though you aren't. The University had created this
program forstudents who were using the summer term to finish up
their degrees. I was using it because Iwas embarrassed, and I
didn't want to be left out of the celebrations. What was I going
to do?Stay in my dorm room while all of my friends processed
into the stadium and tossed their capsinto the air without me?
So I sat in the hot sun and I listened to Cory Booker talk for
what feltlike quite a while, and I waved to my family who had
traveled all the way to Stanford to watchme not to graduate. By
the way, hi, Mom! It only recently occurred to me, while
preparing this address, how totally absurd this wholecharade
was. It reminded me that oftentimes we do all sorts of silly
things to avoid appearingdifferent. Conforming happens so
naturally that we can forget how powerful it is – we want tobe
accepted by our peers – we want to be a part of the group. It's
in our biology. But the thingsthat make us human are those times
we listen to the whispers of our soul and allow ourselves tobe
pulled in another direction. Conformity is so fascinating and so
pervasive that it has beenstudied for a very long time. See, it
turns out there are two things that can dramatically
reduceconformity in a group setting. The first is a single
dissenting voice, and the second is theability to communicate
privately with other members of the group. Our government gives
usthe right to privacy and the right to express ourselves freely
in the hope that we mightmitigate conformity. Democracy wasn't
designed to promote popular thought. It wasarchitected to
protect dissent. For, as President Kennedy said, "Conformity is
the jailer offreedom and the enemy of growth." I recently
fell in love with a story about a great piece of American art.
And it's about a guynamed Bob Rauschenberg. He was a young
artist, and he went to go visit his idol. You know, hereally
loved this guy and he was totally terrified. He was so nervous
that he was clutching abottle of Jack Daniels for liquid
courage. And the truth is: he actually wasn't just visiting.
Hewas visiting Bill de Kooning to ask for something. He wanted
one of Bill de Kooning's see, Bill de Kooning, he
was a dumb guy, he knew exactly what Rauschenberg was up
to,because Rauschenberg had recently been experimenting with his
own art. He had been creatingthese drawings and then erasing
them. But that wasn't enough for Bob Rauschenberg, becauseBob
Rauschenberg didn't want to just erase his own art, he wanted to
erase the art of hishero. So de Kooning obliged but he took his
time, and he tortured the young artist as hewandered around his
studio in search of the perfect drawing. He didn't want to just
give him arandom drawing. He wanted it to be something really
great, something that he really he finally settled on
a drawing that was very, very hard to erase. It was comprised
oflayers of lead and charcoal. And he generously gave it to Bob
Rauschenberg. According to Bob,it took nearly two months to
erase the drawing. But it was Jasper Johns who came along
andframed it and he gave that drawing a title, called "Erased de
Kooning by Bob Rauschenberg." Itwas Jasper Johns who recognized
that in the process of erasing de Kooning's work,
BobRauschenberg had actually created something new, his own new
work of art. I love this story because Bill de Kooning had
the humility to recognize that the greatest thingwe can do is
provide the best possible foundation for those who come after
us. We mustwelcome our own erasure. So I'm asked one question
most often: "Why didn't you sell yourbusiness? It doesn't even
make money. It's a fad. You could be on a boat right now.
Everybodyloves boats. What is wrong with you?" And I am now
convinced that the fastest way to figureout if you are doing
something that is truly important to you is to find someone who
offers youa bunch of money to part with it. So the best thing is
that no matter whether or not you sell,you will learn something
very valuable about yourself. If you sell, you will know
immediatelythat it wasn't the right dream anyways. And if you
don't sell, you're probably onto you have the
beginning of something meaningful. But don't feel bad if you
sell out. Justdon't stop there. I mean, gosh, we would have sold
our first company, for sure. But no onewanted to buy it. When we
decided not to sell our business, people called us a lot of
thingsbesides crazy – things like arrogant and entitled. The
same words that I've heard used todescribe our generation time
and time again. The Millennial Generation. The "Me"
, it's true. We do have a sense of entitlement, a
sense of ownership, because, after all,this is the world we were
born into, and we are responsible for it. The funny thing
about "Erased de Kooning" is that it isn't for sale. It's safe
and sound in theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It's
tremendously valuable, but it bears no price. Youalready have
inside of you all of the amazing things you need to follow the
dreams that youhave. And if you get stuck along the way, there's
a ton of free information available on theInternet. Have faith
in yourself and the person you are going to become. Know that
you arecapable of all of the growth that will be expected of you
and that you expect from yourself. Youwill tackle every
challenge headed your way – and if you don't – it won't be for
lack of will always have an opinion about you.
Whatever you do won't ever be enough. So findsomething important
to you. Find something that you love. You are going to make a
lot ofmistakes. I've already made a ton of them – some of them
very publicly – and it will feelterrible, but it will be okay.
Just apologize as quickly as you can and pray for forgiveness.
When you leave here, you're going to face a great challenge: a
full-time job. And the hardestpart is going to be getting used
to solving problems that don't yet have answers. In times
ofdespair, you may believe the cynic who tells you that one
person cannot make a difference –and there are times it may be
hard to see your own impact. I beg you to remember that it isnot
possible at this time or at any time to know the end results of
our efforts. That is for ourGod alone. Please voice your
dissent, anticipate your erasure, and find something you
aren'twilling to sell. Congratulations to the class of 2019!
Fight on!
