Yesterday as I was doing some research for my new book and I rediscovered Ken Burns 2004Commencement address to the graduates of Georgetown University. I have always enjoyed his documentary films. As a student of history I appreciate what he has done to keep history alive for current generations. His words resonated with me in light of what I see and hear in the world today and in the smaller less significant world of athletic development. Burns words are in bold, italics and my comments are in regular font.
As you pursue your goals in life, that is to say your future, pursue your past. Let it be your guide. Insist on having a past and then you will have a future.
Be careful that you are not living in the past, learn from the past, use it as a reference point
Do not descend too deeply into specialism in your work. Educate all your parts. You will be healthier. Replace cynicism with its old-fashioned antidote, skepticism.
Be a generalist, follow your curiosity, go outside your field and see how others think and do.
Don’t confuse success with excellence. The poet Robert Penn Warren once told me that “careerism is death.”
The pursuit of excellence has it’s own rewards.
Insist on heroes. And be one.
Be the best you, you can be, regardless of other people’s judgments and expectations.
Read. The book is still the greatest manmade machine of all — not the car, not the TV, not the computer.
Get off the Internet and read real books, get familiar with the library and all it’s resources. Build your own library.
Write: write letters. Keep journals. Besides your children, there is no surer way of achieving immortality.
Writing a journal, a bloging even tweeting gives you a focus. Write for yourself, no one else needs to read it.
I hope Ken Burn’s thoughts and my comments will cause you to take a few moments to reflect, to slow down and appreciate where we have come from so that we can move forward in a positive direction with a true sense of purpose.