[Applause]
Thank you very much, President Hinckley, university trustees, President Samuleson, Congress Cannon,BYU faculty and staff, distinguished quests, families and friends, members of the class of 2007.
[Applause]
Thank for the warm welcome here to Provo Utah, home to one of the finest universities in the United States of America.
[Applause]
I've enjoyed my time here today. I was pleased to meet with the First Presidency. I've been told it's an honor to be in the company of this university's chairman, a distinguished American, a recipient of the Presidential Metal of Freedom, Gordon Hinckley.
[Applause]
I count it a privilege to be a part of this ceremony. I'm grateful for the honors I've just received and humbled as well. My wife, Lynne, reminded me that I'm not the first in the family to have ties to Brigham Young University or to the state. Lynne's father grew up right here in Provo and two of her great grandparents graduated from Brigham Young Academy. [unintelligible]
[Applause]
Further back, only a year after Brigham Young arrived in this valley, Lynne's great, great grandmother was baptized into the Mormon faith. She arrived here in a train of fifty wagons from Welch immigrants and set to work and crossed the Mormon trail to make the desert bloom. My wife has done a lot research and she's very proud of her Utah Heritage, and as of today she has a higher opinion of me, too, now that I have an honorary degree.
[laughter]
But this day belongs to the fine young men and women who actually earned their degrees.
[laugher]
I am delighted to share the occasion with you and I bring the congratulations and good wished from the president of the United States, George W. Bush.
[Applause]
I've had the experience of seeing my own children collect college and graduate diplomas and begin a new journey. It's an experience like no other and so as a tribute I think we should have a round of applause for all the moms and dads here today.
[Applause]
Graduation always produces mixed emotions. There is a sense of pride of having set a high goal and reaching it. There's also a little little bit of sadness of leaving a place you love and [unintelligible] a very special time of life. But there is also a great spirit at BYU and this University will always be part of you. We had a glimpse of the character of BYU again last Friday when this campus held a candlelight vidil to remember the victims of the tragedy of Virginia Tech. More than a place of learning, BYU is a community of faith and kindness and compassion. As you leave your alma mater, you'll carry many fond memories of your years on this campus. You'll recall the long hours of hard work in the library and the lab. The sound of the national anthem in the morning and evening. The teachers and the friends who enriched your life. You'll remember those places you called the HFAC,
[laughter]
SWKT, the WILK and the MARB
[laughter]
I'm told you probably won't miss your visits to the testing center, or your dealings with your traffic office.
[laughter]
You'll still remember that every year that you've been at BYU the school has been ranked number one in the category of stone cold sober.
[wild applause]
And you'll remember, of course, the Cougar's basketball team defeated Utah your senior year. And the day at the football stadium when you saw Johnny Armen answer his prayer.
[laughter and applause]
Above all, you'll carry the distinction of earning a degree from BYU. A place with impressive alumni throughout this nation and far beyond. The values of this school have been a guide to generations. BYU alumni are men and women at home in the world working and achieving, reflecting great credit on this University and on the LDS church.
I also want to note that BYU has a lengthy tradition of military honor and service and this week members of the ROTC in the class of 2007 received their military commissions. I want to thank all of them on behalf of all of us for the commitment they have made.
[applause]
They join the ranks of a great force for justice, freedom and security and we're proud of their brave service in United States of America.
[applause]
In addition to those of you receiving your bachelors degrees this afternoon, I'm told we have many men and women who have earned graduate degrees, including a number of you who have earned PhDs. My presence here reminds me that I was once in a PhD program myself and met all the requirements except for the dissertation. I'll get started on it as soon as I come up with a topic. After putting in these years of hard effort as students of BYU, something tells me you're probably not up for another lecture before you leave, so I'm going to keep this short.
[yell, then laughter]
I know that it is custom for graduation speakers to draw from their experiences and share some of the lessons they've learned along the way, so as you begin this new chapter in life, let me offer some thoughts of my own. They is one very practical lesson that comes immediately to mind. It goes back to the year 2000, when then governor Bush called tp asked if I would help him to find a running-mate, vice-president. The lesson I want to share with you is this: if you ever get asked to head up a search committee, say "yes." That decision seven years ago set me on a path I was not expected to take. I believe that my time in public office has passed. And my career in politics itself was an unplanned enterprise. On the day of my own graduation from the University of Wyoming, I had no ambitions to hold higher office. If you had asked me at the time what I planned on doing, I could have described in some detail the next ten years of my life. First would be graduate school, then wrapping up that PhD and then down the road, with luck, a faculty position at a university.
It all worked out very differently. Within a few years, Lynne and I were living in Washington D.C. and beginning a journey in government and public life that neither of us could have ever imagined. Many of you will leave BYU today with definite plans of your own and setting a plan for your life is a good thing. It keeps you focused on the future and gives you a standard for measuring your progress. Yet I would guess ten years from now many of you will find yourselves following a very different course all because of an opportunity that came out of the blue. Be on watch for certain moments and certain people that come along and point you in a new direction I think for example when I met my friend Don Rumsfeld. it was back in the 1960s when he was a congressman and I was interviewing for a fellowship on Capital Hill. Congressman Rumsfeld agreed to talk to me but things didn't go that smoothly. In fact, he pretty much threw me out of his office.
... executive branch and later on when Gerald Ford became president and made Rumsfield his chief of staff it was once again Don who gave me a position of great responsibility in the Whitehouse. Standing here today I can promise there will be people like this in your own life who keep an eye on you and reward your efforts and bring out your strengths. Sometimes others know better than we do just what our talents are and how we can make good use of them. Of all the plans we make in life, sometimes life has other plans for us. Those of us who have been around a while can also recall a few times when life took an unexpected turn and not always in a positive direction. As I mentioned a moment ago, I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Wyoming. My college experience though began at a place called Yale. But I didn't finish there. Instead I dropped out after a few semesters. Well, actually "dropped out" isn't quite accurate. I was asked to leave.
[laughter]
twice
[laughter]
The second time they said "don't come back." You too may face some disappointing turns of your own. Times when you fall short, knowing you could have done better. And when that happens don't give up, or let your doubts get the best of you. I've met some very successful people in my day. Men and women of talent and character who have risen to the very top and it's the rare one who hasn't had a taste of failure or a false start along the way. Set backs in life can stop you dead in your tracks or they can inspire you forward. Either way you'll look back on them as major turning points. They are crucial dates in your life when you see [unintelligible] and know it belongs to you alone. One of the things I love most about ... When we've gone on to accomplish something we can be that much more grateful. Gratitude in general is a good attitude to get into. It is usually a correct appraisal of our situation. Most of us are able to succeed and to rise in the world because someone helped out along the way. Whether it was a memorable teacher or a boss who handed us a great opportunity or the person who took a chance and gave us the first big break of our career. A grateful heart is an honest understanding of all that we have been given. And life has a way of working out better when we don't take things for granted. When we have a long memory of what others have given us, when we look for the blessings great and small, it's better every day we're alive on this earth. For all of you this day in the Marriott Center will forever stand out as a marker of gifts well used and hard work rewarded. It's been my privilege to share it with you and your families. I congratulate you. I hope your future is filled with the kind of happiness you feel today. And again I'm grateful to this university for an honorary degree and I leave here as a proud member of the Brigham Young class of 2007
[applause]
My cellphone videos of the speech:
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