Advice to Graduates
“Advice to Graduates”
George Saunders convocation speech, “Congratulations, by the way” was delivered at Syracuse University for the class of 2013. In this speech, George aims to convince his audience that we are going to have a lot of regrets in our lives but the one we will regret most is the failures of unkindness. In order to live a full happy life we need to become kinder. Saunders says, “All we want in our hearts is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving.” Ethos, pathos, logos, kairos and style are all appeal techniques George Saunders skillfully uses to create a strong, convincing speech. At the end of May, George Saunders gives some insightful words of advice to graduates. He asks them what they would regret when they got older looking back on time. He tells them a story about a girl named Ellen that was made fun of when she was younger and then out of nowhere she moved away. Saunders tells us what he regrets. His biggest regret was failures of unkindness. He says we can do worse in life than try to be kinder. He says the million dollar question is why aren’t we kinder? He says the second million dollar question is how do we become kinder? He says kindness is hard and it comes naturally when you become older because you have fewer reasons to be selfish, but why do you want to wait until you’re old? Start now! You will diminish and you will grow in love. If you have kids you want them to benefit. He tells us we have to take ourselves seriously and since our lives will be a gradual process of being kinder then hurry it up. Right from the get go, reading Saunders speech, it was very easy to follow. The way he wrote it made it very clear to understand. In the speech there was detailed and solid context. Because of this, I feel like his speech could apply and help a more vast audience. When reading George Saunders speech, I wondered what made him credible and why he had the
George Saunders convocation speech, “Congratulations, by the way” was delivered at Syracuse University for the class of 2013. In this speech, George aims to convince his audience that we are going to have a lot of regrets in our lives but the one we will regret most is the failures of unkindness. In order to live a full happy life we need to become kinder. Saunders says, “All we want in our hearts is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving.” Ethos, pathos, logos, kairos and style are all appeal techniques George Saunders skillfully uses to create a strong, convincing speech. At the end of May, George Saunders gives some insightful words of advice to graduates. He asks them what they would regret when they got older looking back on time. He tells them a story about a girl named Ellen that was made fun of when she was younger and then out of nowhere she moved away. Saunders tells us what he regrets. His biggest regret was failures of unkindness. He says we can do worse in life than try to be kinder. He says the million dollar question is why aren’t we kinder? He says the second million dollar question is how do we become kinder? He says kindness is hard and it comes naturally when you become older because you have fewer reasons to be selfish, but why do you want to wait until you’re old? Start now! You will diminish and you will grow in love. If you have kids you want them to benefit. He tells us we have to take ourselves seriously and since our lives will be a gradual process of being kinder then hurry it up. Right from the get go, reading Saunders speech, it was very easy to follow. The way he wrote it made it very clear to understand. In the speech there was detailed and solid context. Because of this, I feel like his speech could apply and help a more vast audience. When reading George Saunders speech, I wondered what made him credible and why he had the
Cited: Lovell, Joel. "George Saunders 's Advice to Graduates ." The 6th Floor. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.