Free Essay About Two Harvard University Commencement Speeches

[NOTE: Leave introduction blank]
- Oprah Winfrey
- The first point in Winfrey’s commencement address was that her message focuses on inspiration for anyone who has felt “inferior, disadvantaged, or screwed by life.” This point was explained when sharing her teenage years developing into a young adult in Tennessee. Based on those early years, she obviously felt inferior and screwed; yet she went on to do great things in life.
- The second point presented the success of her television show along with the ups and downs of raising the bar. She shared the importance of recalculating one’s life and seeking new territory. When closing the television show and starting OWN, there were down times of feeling stuck in a hole. She did some self talk remembering that “this too shall pass,” which eventually gave her the courage, strength, and motivation to eventually get out of that hole and turn the network around.
- Oprah’s third point cautioned listeners about failure and the importance of listening to that emotional GPA within ourselves — a small voice that speaks inside of us. She emphasized that at some point in life we all experience failure. However, Oprah sees this as life moving us in another direction as we learn from mistakes. She explains this as life forcing us to become more of who we are – forcing us to learn from every mistake, encounter, and experience.
- Bill Gates
- Gates’ main points had a global perspective in terms of inequities and disparities throughout the world. His first point focused on reducing inequity as the “highest human achievement.” He encouraged graduates to take on these inequities and seek ways to solve them. When speaking about health, he shared how third-world children are dying everyday of preventable diseases because, in part, they have no voice; there’s no market that rewards saving their lives; and the government doesn’t subsidize a program to eradicate these deaths.
- His second point focused on the “magic” of a global network that’s available today through technology. Now great minds can come together, combine resources, and work to solve identical problems. With graduates having access to technology, numerous opportunities exist for learning about and solving world hunger, clean water scarcity, preventable diseases, etc.
- And his third point reinforced the importance of giving as told by his ill mother who wrote, “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” Therefore, Gates encouraged members of the graduating class to look for opportunities to make a difference – see a problem, seek solutions to a problem, and see the positive impact it has on lives.