Right-- and I think that of the commencements I've attended (and I've been to
well over a dozen at the secondary/post-secondary level at this point)-- the ones that stick are the ones where the speaker (who needs to be charismatic and
powerfully engaging to begin with) also CHALLENGES people as individuals to respond internally and idiosyncratically.
Most are just insipid and frankly meaningless. But-- and I say this having just seen how such speakers are "selected" now-- that's all that those choosing such speakers WANT from them now.
They don't
want speakers who make the audience uncomfortable or surprised. But-- that is what makes for memorable speakers.
I, too, have been privileged to hear Maya Angelou speak-- and even though my DD has not, she readily identified (strongly) with her excerpt/essay "Graduation Day" upon hearing her own commencement speakers. They clearly weren't addressing
her at all, and it felt false and disgusting to her. It made her ANGRY at the wasted opportunity to say something both poignant and
meaningful to that group of young people.
I think that this is more a mark of my DD's intensity as a GT issue, though-- and it comes through loud and clear in Ms. Angelou's account of her own graduation as well.
My daughter wanted at least one speaker to rouse the crowd to-- well,
something. She wanted something that would inspire something besides boredom or polite golf-applause. No such luck.
And yes, Ms. Angelou is one of those people who really SHOULD get to live forever. SHE was never an insipid speaker. I recall her words very vividly, and I was sixteen years old when I heard her deliver them.
