Rashida Jones: Class Day Speech | Harvard Commencement 2016

ladies and gentlemen rashida Jones class of 1997 thank you hello and good afternoon before I start I'm being told that the billionaire who endowed a grey 2007 building at the corner of Kirkland and Quincy Street your building is in a loading zone so you're gonna need to move that building or it's gonna be toted thank you Harvard what's up graduates faculty class marshals president Foust Dean Purana honored guests parents confused tourists friends horrid siblings and other family members thank you so much for having me here today and congratulations to all of you particularly the class of 2016 and congratulations to the parents parents today is a big day for you two you've significantly lowered your chances if you're kids moving back home it could still happen though so don't get cocky okay don't turn that room into a home gym yet when I first got the call to be the class day speaker I was touched and thrilled and I swelled with pride of course that call came in 2011 and they only called me because they needed me to forward the request to Amy Poehler but this year when I got the call I had the same reaction I had when I was accepted to Harvard Wow a bunch of people said no and they had to go to the waiting list that's true I was on the waiting list nonetheless this is a dream come true so thank you for allowing me to be here today I graduated from thus esteemed establishment in 1997 19 years ago I was right where you are I was poised to receive the highest collegiate honor in the world so naturally I slept through my alarm and was woken up by my boyfriend's roommate panicked and hung over I checked my pay that was cutting-edge back then by the way and as I bolted to the yard I threw on my cap and gown like I was in a John Hughes movie and made it just in time for commencement I wish I could say a lot has changed since then unfortunately the exact same montage played out this morning - the cap and gown plus a newly chronic knee problem which slowed me down and obviously I have a much nicer pager now just standing here in Harvard Yard I can easily transport myself back in time I made so many wonderful memories here on this campus that will last a lifetime taking a quick power nap backstage Sanders before an opportunist am catching some yeah catching some truly impressive Z's in Lemont library falling asleep being anywhere near the Science Center and then some non sleep related memories like pre-gaming for a 90's dance at Elliott House which at the time we just called a dance hooking up with someone in Kirkland so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back to courier hooking up with someone and Dunster a entry so I wouldn't have to walk all the way back to Dunster see entry in short I really took advantage of the best Harvard had to offer by the way I love that you guys always applaud for your houses and I wanted to test that out and see if I could you know see say anything about any Harvard house and get applause so let's try it out Adams house what's up lo the fifth-best house is whip rub manor house you're an eyesore really that works Wow that's amazing yeah and students I know that you may be sad to be leaving college and you should be but if you're lucky lucky your memories will follow you forever even though they live all over the world many my closest friends are still the ones I made right here in the yard and I've been lucky enough to work with several of them for example Michael Schur class of 97 who was a writer on the office creator of Brooklyn nine-nine and most important to me creator of Parks and Recreation but before all that he was my first romantic co-star ever in the 1993 Leverett old library production of the not so classic play lugs love sex in the IRS the play opened every night with Mike and me making out on a couch and 20 years later Mike and I have birthed a rule-breaking chestnut hair cunning naive sophisticated newborn baby sunfish nurse named Ann Perkins so the moral of the story is if you make out with someone in leopard old library you're guaranteed at least a network sitcom if you make out in Quincy cube you're lucky if you have a web series in your future an extended suggestive hug in the courier dining hall means nothing you get nothing for that believe it or not though I didn't leave Harvard with ambitions to make it in Hollywood no I left Harvard to make history and I'm proud to say you're watching history being made right now yes ladies and gentlemen it's true I am the only second generation second generation class day speaker at Harvard in the history of mankind thank you thank you a huge accomplishment today and as they mentioned my father Quincy Jones was my class day speaker in 1997 so hopefully one of you graduates out there is my illegitimate child and you will be up here speaking in 20 years don't laugh it's possible I was pretty hungover right about the time all of you were conceived just kidding I don't have kids or do I I don't maybe I do no seriously I don't and they really don't appreciate you pressuring me about this as I look around though I'm reminded of not only how Harvard influenced me but also how I influenced Harvard I was always very outspoken politically for example there was an important some would say historic moment in 1995 my sophomore year a frozen yogurt machine was installed in courier house as to be expected lives were changed and I just reread the inspirational quote I gave the Harvard Crimson about that Froyo machine it provides automatic gratification says rashida Jones class of 97 all you have to do is pull down the lever and that my young friends is what I'm here to tell you today all you need to do in life whoa that's what I'm here to tell you today all you have to do in life is pull down the lever I'm just kidding could you imagine if I gave a whole speech about fro you guys would be so okay and my illegitimate child would never get a chance to speak here in 2038 or whatever so as you embark on your real-world journey and leave behind the ivy-covered cereal stock dorms of Harvard I do feel it's my responsibility to tell you something meaningful something that will not only inspire you but also arm you with a key to unlocking future opportunities after all as Harvard graduates this commencement is literally the only time anyone will be rooting for your success America loves an underdog and you are not underdogs you are now the opposite of underdogs it doesn't matter if your application was a sob story it doesn't matter what financial and personal obstacles you've overcome it doesn't matter if you're the first person in your face to graduate college and your grandma is crying right now tears of joy tears of the American promise the tears of generations who sacrificed and lived and worked and died so that you could stand here and accept a diploma and fulfill a century's worth of dreams no one cares because now your Harvard graduates yes you were over dogs get used to it anytime someone asks you where you went to school and you answer Harvard they're going to say Oh Harvard ok I get it you're smart stop bragging everyone's just going to assume that you went to college with Malia Obama even though you just missed her so by the way start practicing your lies right now about how you were her classmate Oh Malia yeah we were really close we took actin together which is a very intimate class and I remember saying to Malia I bet you learned a thing or two about economics at the White House we had a good laugh Malia and I she's great and yet as you head out into the world with this insane head start you're still gonna need advice because you're idiots I'm sorry it's true I didn't know it either at 21 but it's true if I if it weren't true why wouldn't you have chosen to go to Stanford where the weather is sick and it's right next door to Silicon Valley and you could have just used your student population as beta testers for some awesome new app and then sold it right there just a car right away not only did you not pick the right school you actually chose to graduate from it no one's successful graduates from Harvard as mentioned Matt Damon William Randolph Hearst Bonnie Raitt Bill Gates Mark Zuckerberg dropouts can you name any one cool who did graduate from Harvard no I looked it up and there's not a single example of a successful person that graduated from Harvard but Rashida you may ask what about you sure fine I'm doing all right but Zuckerberg is doing real arrey he's killing it just because you made this stupid mistake of graduating from Harvard doesn't mean you can't fix it you're young you have time you're thinking I'm only 21 let me enjoy my life a little sure enjoy your life but just remember that 17000 vape hits later 20 years will have passed and you will be asking yourself giant questions about work-life balance priorities and passion meaning and direction and you will be both empowered and constrained by the choices you make and the ones you don't make the minute you walk out of this yard so my self-imposed job today is to spare you from the midlife crisis that is silently and patiently waiting for you and your 40s this may not sound like a pressing issue today as you prepare to enter the land of adult responsibilities but every move you make from now on is creating the map the foundation on which you build upon for your whole life it's crucial that you start thinking about how you're going to avoid getting your first tattoo at 45 so before you glaze over I'd like to offer three simple pieces of advice one don't count on the system to protect your instinct to care and three choose loved one don't count on the system you're here you did it you're graduating from Harvard after four years of determination and studying your nuts off you finally crossed the finish line you got here because you're a rule follower and that's great you trusted in the system and the system rewarded you you did all the right things you were the star of your high school you got the grades you're in all the correct extracurricular activities you charm the teachers and you duped the Harvard admissions team by greatly exaggerating how much you learned on your three-day volunteer trip to Haiti I know this because I'm just like you I told my parents when I was four that I wanted to go to Harvard I recognized that on the path to getting there there were concrete linear steps to be executed and I loved the inherent structure in that I respected Authority I trusted in the system I really liked those walk and don't walk signs I believed that I would always find wise experienced people at the helm of well-run and fair enterprises and that these people would exercise power and distribute opportunity with thoughtfulness and nobility and that I couldn't possibly understand the complexities of their process there would always be a collective that would know more than I and even if I didn't have empirical proof that I should trust in them fully and wholly I just had to because that's just the way things worked after graduating I spent the next 10 years enjoying a decent amount of success as an actress I could support myself which in an overcrowded unmerited chaotic system like Hollywood is a big accomplishment fast-forward 20 to 2007 where I found myself in a bit of a rut I just come off a great year long stint guest starring on the office my biggest break to date but once again I was back to pounding the pavement auditioning for movies and TV and with the threat of an upcoming writers strike there wasn't a ton of production so there wasn't a ton of auditions and the stuff I was going in on for was the wife the sassy bestfriend the girlfriend you know your run-of-the-mill 2-dimensional Supporting female parts as the dry spell continued I found myself increasingly demoralized and frustrated I had always wanted to write but felt too daunted by the task and being surrounded by talented professional writer friends didn't really help it felt silly to start down a new path in my 30s but I channeled my frustrated unemployed energy and with my best friend wil McCormack we sat down every day for six months until we had completed a movie script it was called Celeste and Jesse forever and we sold it in a bidding war to Fox atomic which is a subsidiary of Fox they wanted to make the movie for 16 million dollars we did it it was the greatest accomplishment of my life I circumvented the system and then the system changed a month later Fox atomic folded and then began a two-year journey of watching my script go down with the whole business of major studios making smaller films the ones that are neither big-budget franchise nor tiny independence we sold our script again to another company and they folded six later we sold it to another company they folded then yet another film financing company who wanted to make it folded we were shutting down companies all over town finally we realized that with the old system crumbling we had to find another way we now had a very short window that was slowly closing I couldn't if I couldn't find financing and start filming in a month I would lose my actors my crew my director and probably my mind I had called in every favor from everyone I knew I had put everything on the line so we said screw it let's just make this movie however we can we got lucky and found an investor thank you forever Lea Nelson and made the movie for eight hundred and forty thousand dollars now that might sound like a lot of money I mean eight hundred forty thousand dollars is almost a year of Harvard tuition but in the film business it's peanuts we sold the film at Sundance had some pretty nice reviews and got an Independent Spirit Award nomination for writing launching my writing and producing career felt like a milestone but more importantly I overcame my own compulsion to work within the system even after 40 years I have a hard time accepting that the people in charge are not always the most competent now I'm a realist I work for myself if I hit a wall I look for ways outside the system to get things done the hard fact is this the real world doesn't reward rule-followers the way the educational world does and the real world is not always merit-based the institutions and organizations we yield to and trust in to support our success whether they be employers or government are flawed they have objectives that will most likely conflict with our own I'm not suggesting you should act on your own self-interest but be on guard be agnostic don't just follow the rules and assume everything works out because it's happened that way in the past just because they've been doing it a long time does not mean it's right in fact historic historical precedents and traditions are often brimming with injustice and racism and sexism yes Hasty Pudding theatricals i'm talking to you think it's time to break tradition and let girls in your show right time speaking of change at Harvard there's been a lot of wonderful advances even since the time I graduated back then Harvard had not even had a woman as president and a black Jewish female class day speakers with you today so that's a little more history I also understand that the final clubs are now facing pressure to admit women including the notorious for silent Club the rumor we always heard was that the Porcellian would give 1 million dollars to any alumnus who wasn't already a millionaire by age 40 that's awesome if it's true so if they start admitting women let's see what 79 percent of a million anybody no no ok but back to you in a - in addition to other benefits unlearning your rule following instincts will allow you to get to know yourself in a real way for the last 4 years your identity has been wrapped up in this institution and look how proud you made the people around you but what about you outside of what's expected from you what path do you really want to take in life what are you prepared to tolerate to realize that path or are you waiting for someone else to define that path for you as a fellow rule follower I can also tell you that it's very painful when the things you believe in start to show their cracks and their imperfections no job or employer or mentor will ever be the answer you want them to be I spent my younger years hoping and praying that someone would give me a break that someone more successful and knowledgeable than I would show me the way and save me from making mistakes but everyone is dealing with their own flaws and egos don't get me wrong I've been lucky enough to work with some tremendously talented humble and hardworking people but none of them has had the answer for me here's the simple truth you are the only one who could create the life you want and you may have to break some rules to do that now I'm not suggesting that you drop out of society liquidate your permits for money and take a kite surfing in Hawaii I mean do that if you want because it sounds kind of I'm only saying this you're the only one who can create a system that's going to work for you and that needs to start right now number two protect protect your instinct to care now I'm going to speak for 85 minutes about your instincts I'm just kidding this is going to be short I'm not going to tell you to be the best or dream big or get rich because a it's not the 80s and B I'm a little bit bored with the American dream of wanting to be rich or being rich and gloating about it publicly even on the campaign trail seriously what is going on it's officially embarrassing so I'm here to challenge you with a different kind of responsibility a couple of years ago in expressing concern about the worldwide policies towards the ongoing refugee crisis Pope Francis coined the phrase the globalization of indifference indifference is an insidious and toxic state of mind for your information there are 60 million displaced or internally displaced refugees worldwide that's 60 million people who can't return to their home we shouldn't be indifferent about that unfortunately the world you've inherited is beat down and polarized and fraught with conflict we as humans are not great at learning from our collective mistakes but it's nothing we can't recover from it will take a generation of compassion and empathy and action to make it happen and that's where you come in having compassion focus is becoming increasingly more difficult in the information age because there's a lot of information it's hard to care about something for very long because before you know it there's an even new or breaking news story or the DHing of an email or Facebook notification begging for you to care about it changing focus quickly is now a required survival skill the good thing about the internet is that everyone has a voice yay the bad thing about the Internet is that everybody has a voice boo their space carved out for the whole spectrum this disenfranchised marginal groups who finally have a platform to talk about the injustice they've endured but also the hateful the anonymous and the uninformed and unfortunately those voices are loud in the faced of all that noise it's harder to than ever to stay committed to do the things you really care about but don't be distracted do not be dissuaded do not be discouraged keep caring it's not enough to talk amongst your friends about the problems you see in the world now is the time to be vocal now it's the time to be loud louder than the loudest troll on the Internet and if that's not in your nature too bad get louder we need it right now as a college educated worldly young person you were obligated to be loud to rise above the fear-mongering and bigotry and misinformation to make yourself heard through all the noise and you can be heard it's possible the way to really be heard is to do even more than you say people tend to find it a little annoying for celebrities to be vocal about politics and I get it I know I'm an actress I'm not a world leader and the line of reasoning is these bright shiny objects get more airtime not because they're more informed or they're any smarter but just because they played some badass hero in a movie and they think they know everything I've often been told by trolls to stick to acting or to shut up because I'm a stupid celebrity but you know what I don't care I don't care there's too much to fight for the equality and respect that people before us have fought for and the laws put in place to protect these things are at risk of slipping away young unarmed black men are being killed in record numbers states are passing laws that are systematically stripping away women's reproductive rights a presidential candidate is encouraging his supporters to be violent and racist and wants to ensure that there are no gun-free zones in this country while we're distracted with pretty Instagram shots of coffee and celebrity breakups our freedoms are at risk of slipping away and to me this issue is more important than smiling pretty and talking about how much fun I had on a movie set I'm aware this could make me unlikable I'm aware that being political could open me up to criticism and look everyone of us wants to be light it sucks to have we'll say awful things about you I mean no human is immune to that except maybe Donald Trump I'm not sure he's human so we'll see all this to say care about what matters to you and don't let complacency or feeling overwhelmed or the haters distract you from this it's too important as my dear friend who I've never met before DJ Khaled's says they don't want you to win so you have to win by caring that's what he means when he says when he wants you to care I want you to care whatever you know what I mean protect your instinct to care choose love my dad has given me some a remarkable advice over the years actually just a couple hours ago he said something profound he said honey in your speech today make sure you mention my remarkable advice he has told me you can't get an A if you're afraid of getting an F he has told me to approach work with humility and grace because I'm really just a conduit for a higher power he has told me to live every day like it's your last and one day you'll be right a piece of advice that becomes scarily more meaningful to me as the older I get but maybe the best advice he's ever given me is to live in love and not fear it sounded like a parental platitude when I first heard it but then I started to apply that paradigm to every decision I made all of a sudden I was asking myself where my decision-making was coming from was I scared to disappoint people was I scared to fail was I scared I wasn't up to the task or was I excited and nervous about the unknown did I picture myself possibly pushing past what I thought my limitations were we have to consciously choose love because it's scary choosing love is not always the easiest answer and it doesn't always put you on the clearest path choosing love is inexorably tied to taking risk and what this actually means to you I can't ever know because it's different for everyone what you love is so personal what inspires you what makes you tick so I can only say when big decisions pop up get quiet real quiet and listen turn off your phone turn off your computer and listen to your true heart here the thing that makes you feel sick with excitement and scares you because you know you'll learn and do that thing so just to review because I think maybe some of you were hungover or maybe I've been asleep for a little bit here's what's going to stave off your midlife crisis one don't count on the system count on yourself to protect your instincts and do it loudly 3 choose love even if it's scary sometime there's still plenty of reason to be optimistic about your future the world you're inheriting has less violence longer life expectancy more available education more ways to stay in touch with the people you love more good television shows and more flavors of gum than ever before in the history of the world but there's still so much work to be done by you and it's totally possible but it's not enough to talk about it question everything yes absolutely but then figure out how to change it you must act stay curious stay empathetic stay fearless become a loud and fervent participant in your world to the members of the graduating class of 2016 and the dropouts who are too successful to be here with us today I guess what I'm really getting at goes back to this pull down that lever get your Froyo graduates thank you very much you

Channel: Harvard University

Views: 187,762

Rating: 4.8057141 out of 5

Keywords: harvard, harvard commencement, harvard graduation, graduation, graduation speech, commencement speech, rashida jones, parks and rec, the office, actress

Id: L3gEd2JQtRo

Length: 27min 13sec (1633 seconds)

Published: Wed May 25 2016