I did not expect that a speech at a graduation ceremony would make me shiver all over, for a long time, as this did. But if there's one thing I recommend you read today, this is it.
It was by J. K. Rowling at the Harvard graduation ceremony of June 2008. I wonder if they expected her to talk about success and scholarship, maybe fame? Here is what she did talk about.
For those of you wondering, I love the Harry Potter books. (No, not the films. I've only seen the first, and a snatch of the second whilst walking past the TVs on display in Woolworth's many years ago, and I don't plan to see more.) One of the best quotes from them is from Sirius, who, sadly, failed to quite apply it himself - "If you want to get the measure of a man, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." But that's not what J. K. Rowling talked about that day. I'll say no more - just hand you over to her. If you wonder after a few paragraphs what on earth chilled me to the bone . . . read on. As she says, we can think ourselves into other people's lives . . . and we really, really should.
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To the person who posted a comment on a post I've just deleted: sorry - I did *not* tell Formspring to turn this into a blog post, that was an accident. Do tweet or e-mail me your answer again if you'd like to!
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