Who needs four years at Harvard when you can get the commencement address for free? (Thank you, Youtube!) In the case of JK Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech, her advice on failure is apt for high school seniors denied the opportunity to sit in the seats she was addressing. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, had notoriously “failed” by society’s standards. Before introducing us to the boy wizard, she was a poor, divorced single mother with no job prospects but a very active imagination.
Rowling’s message is this: “…personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.” [Check out the speech at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkREt4ZB-ck]
Not all Harvard students got Rowling’s message. One student complained, “You know, we're Harvard. We're like the most prominent national institution. And I think we should be entitled to ... we should be able to get anyone. And in my opinion, we're settling here.”
Who knows what I would have thought if I had heard Rowling’s words on graduation day. I certainly had confused my CV with my life, and sought shelter from my insecurities in my academic achievements. After being rejected from Princeton (my dream school) the shelter was in ruins, as was my self esteem. I didn’t have the confidence to take risks in college or believe in my ability despite the rejection. I was bitter and jaded just when I should have been viewing the world with fresh eyes.
Rowling is grateful for her failures. As she said, “Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations.” That inner security is priceless. If college rejection is the cost for inner security, I’d say you got a bargain.
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