Commencements: Address of Mark Warner, 2003

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Commencement Address by Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, 2003

Thank you. President Trachtenberg, Senator Carnahan, Chairman Manatt, Board of Trustees, faculty, parents and guests, and, most importantly, Class of 2003, congratulations.

(Applause)

You know, it’s a real honor for me to not only receive this honorary degree, but to join you this morning on this very special day. Since, as President Trachtenberg indicated, since I graduated from George Washington 26 years ago, I get the opportunity now as Governor to make a number of commencement addresses, I wanted to make this one really special. So I started to do a great deal of research. I ordered my staff in the Governor's office to look back on great commencement speeches. I ordered them to look back on my graduation in 1977 from GW: “Tell me what was said.”

They came forward and they said: “Governor, you were the student speaker in 1977.” I realized I couldn’t remember what I said. Rachel, I know the words you said this morning will be much more . . . which were much more memorable.

I tell you this much, though. What I do remember about my years at GW, I remember getting up early a lot of mornings, getting on my bike and riding up to Capitol Hill, where I interned with a number of members of Congress and got my first taste of what real politics was all about. I remember living in Thurston Hall . . .

(Cheers)

. . . and partying a little bit. I remember one night liberating some ice cream from the cafeteria way after midnight.

I remember getting together with a bunch of guys and playing basketball at the Tin Tabernacle. Some of you don’t remember. That was the smallest gym ever. As a matter of fact, the ball would go out of bounds and you would run into the wall.

I remember thinking that the George Washington men’s basketball team was only one year away from success. I guess some things haven’t changed.

(Laughter)

You know, I came to GW because GW was in the middle of everything. And, oh, back when I was here, in a lot of ways GW was a little bit different, though. GW was viewed more as a commuter school or a place for folks who were working in government to come back and get a graduate degree. Today it is a leading research institution and the top choice for thousands of undergraduates.

But as GW has grown, I believe it has maintained its commitment to its original message of bringing together individuals “from all parts of the country to acquire the habits of good citizenship, to throw off local prejudices, and gain at first-hand a knowledge of the practice as well as the theory of government.” Today GW is a stronger institution because it has held on to President Washington's original vision for this institution, and I believe that’s a lesson that we could all be reminded of now and then.

Which takes me back to this speech. Let me share with you...briefly, I promise . . . a few simple beliefs or admonitions that I wish somebody would have given me when I graduated 26 years ago. The first is quite simply this: Don’t be afraid to fail. We truly do learn from our failures. Believe me, I know.

President Trachtenberg in that long litany talked about my business success. Let me tell you how I got started. A few years after law school, I decided to take my life savings, $5,000, invest it in this little entrepreneurial startup company, went to work for that company, and in six weeks I helped that company go totally broke.

Then I started my second business. That one took six months to fail. Then I started a third, based on a little known technology about putting telephones in cars. I see a few of you using those cellular telephone devices today. I remember back in 1982 everybody thought I was crazy. Who would want car telephones or portable telephones? I remember a lot of my law school classmates particularly saying: "Warner, you’re crazy." They’re still practicing law.

(Laughter)

But I persevered and, at the age of 28, I was on the ground floor of the wireless industry. Now, my success was due to a lot of good luck, some hard work and support from a lot of friends and mentors. But most importantly, it depended on me keeping trying after I failed. I know it's an old cliché, but it really is true: You can do whatever you put your mind to.

My second belief is simply this: It matters how you treat other people. You know, things move so fast today that we often ignore how we treat other people. We curse at someone when we’re stuck in traffic. We don’t look each other in the eye when we talk to each other. Or we simply communicate virtually instead of face to face. Or we automatically click over to that next call when we hear call waiting on our phone. Or as we see too often in the political agenda, we dismiss the opinions of those with whom we disagree.

Now, let me tell you, I’ve made a pretty good living off of cellular telephones, but there comes a time when it’s time to hang up the phone and get back to talking to people face to face and eye to eye. In today’s fast-paced world it’s more important than ever, I believe, to do something as simple as remember the good manners that we were taught in the past, simple things like not calling people older than you by their first name unless you’re asked, or writing a thank-you note to someone when they've done something nice for you, and maybe even using a pen and paper.

Taking the time to extend these small personal gestures is a high form of respect. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in a world where they disappear.

Now, my third admonition and the most important is simply this: Call your mother. Call your mother, call your father, call your grandparents, call your children, call your spouse. Let me assure you, this speech and this ceremony will soon be over. When it is, every person here that is graduating should find your parents and say, "Thank you, and I love you." It’ll make them feel good and it'll make you feel good as well, because, let's face it, in this world billions of people will never even be able to dream of going to college or graduate school, and you didn’t make it here on your own. Your family helped you get here, and they won’t be around forever. So go ahead and say it. It will make you feel better.

So that’s it. Perhaps you’ll remember this speech 20 years from now, or 20 minutes from now. Perhaps not. Perhaps I’ll even remember it 20 years from now, or perhaps not. What I hope you will remember, though, is the foundation that this university has built for you. Each of you has learned critical skills here.

No matter what profession you pursue, each of you will succeed because of the technical proficiency you’ve acquired here to succeed in the information age. But, candidly, in the more complex world that you live in you’ll also need wisdom to find your way; and this University has equipped you to develop that wisdom by giving you that solid foundation in the liberal arts and by assembling one of the most diverse campuses in America and taking place all of this right here in Washington, D.C.

So when uncertain times tempt you toward intolerance, I hope you’ll look back at your time here and reject that false choice. When you have the chance to get ahead at the expense of another, I hope you’ll respect the community. When you have the choice between surrendering to a sound bite and wrestling with the nuances of a complex issue, I hope you’ll choose reflection. It won’t be easy, but the country needs these values now more than ever. And as individuals, you deserve nothing else. Congratulations, Class of 2003. Go out and get it. God bless you.

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Author or Source: Source: Commencement Programs/RG0043
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: January 22, 2007
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist

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