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Commencement Address by Senator John McCain to the Univesity of Arizona Law School Class of 1999
May 15, 1999
Thank you for that generous introduction. Thank you, Dean Seligman, and thank you Brad, whom I see has come up in the world since he worked for me. Thank you, distinguished faculty, families and friends, and thank you, University of Arizona Law School Class of 1999. The invitation to give this commencement address is a great honor for someone who graduated fifth from the bottom in the United States Naval Academy Class of 1958. To stand here in full academic regalia, and address an audience of distinguished academics and their learned students has not only strengthened my selfesteem, but has reaffirmed my long-held, cherished belief that in America anything is possible.If my old company commander at the Academy, whose affection for midshipmen was sorely tested by my disregard for regulations, could witness this event I fear he would decline to hold the law school in the high esteem that I hold you in. I want to join in the chorus of congratulations to the Class of '99. This is a day to luxuriate in praise you have earned. You have succeeded in a demanding course of instruction from an excellent university. Today, life seems full of promise. Such is always the case when a passage of life is marked by laudable accomplishment. Today, it must surely seem as if the world attends you.
But spare a moment to consider those who have truly attended you so well and for so long, and whose pride in you is equal to, perhaps greater than, your pride in yourselves - your families. When the world was looking elsewhere, your families' attention was one of life's certainties. And if tomorrow the world seems less enthralled as it awaits new achievements from you, your families will still be your most unstinting source of encouragement and counsel, and often - as the world can be a little stingy at first - financial support.
So, as I commend the Class of '99, I offer equal praise to your parents for the sacrifices they made for you, and for their confidence in you and love, which more than any other influence in your lives, have made you the successes you are today, and may 'become tomorrow.
As I thought about what I would say today, I found it hard to avoid the usual cliches that speakers often use on these occasions. Given the many commencement addresses that are offered every year by men and women with greater insights and eloquence than I possess, originality proved to be an elusive quality.
I suspect one observation is ubiquitous this year, and that is your distinction as the last class of the 20' Century. And although you have that distinction, you will be remembered more for your accomplishments in the next millenium. You are 21st Century Americans. I envy you the many experiences of discovery you will enjoy in the new century. I hope to share a few with you, but, alas, it is unlikely that I will have as many as you will.
The kind of world in which you will have your opportunity to make history is only beginning to become visible now. I am not blessed with the gift of prophecy, but I can glimpse a little of the future. We all can . .. by means that have always been at our disposal - looking backward. History, though it is often disputed and misinterpreted, offers the assurance that very little occurs without precedent. Very little indeed.
The times we live in are alternately derided for their failings and romanticized for their emerging opportunities. It sometimes seems that we live amid more violence, more uncertainty; that the world suffers from more conflicts and tragedies; that race, ethnicity and nationalism divide us more intractably than ever before.
But that is not so. Of course, human beings are still capable of violence and cruelty. We all succumb to sin. But look back at the 19' Century or just a few decades, and you will see cruelty, violence and misery on a scale that is, with a few terrible exceptions, unknown today.
There was a time in this country when one man could lawfully own another. There were times when whole continents were submerged in bloody turmoil; when human beings were not expected to live forty years; when abject poverty and deadly disease were the lot of most people.
Mankind has advanced. Our progress is ceaseless. We can look at Kosovo or Bosnia or Rwanda and conclude that we are always, despite our advances, only one sin away from slipping into the abyss of terror and ignorance.
But that is not so. Generations upon generations have driven the human race farther and farther from darkness. Episodes of organized inhumanity are kept vivid in the memories of succeeding generations. "Never again," is the admonition passed from survivors of the Holocaust to their descendents and to us all. And although such an important reminder will not always prevent cruelty and violence even at levels approaching genocide, the civilized world is more inclined to organize opposition to evil if not as soon as we should, at least sooner than we once would have.
The dawning of the much heralded "information age," has obviously contributed to these advances. Where once people were persecuted, tortured and slaughtered in places hidden from public or, at least, world view, behind a veil of official lies, there now exists the ever intruding news media, and the ever, advancing technology available to the persecuted to tell the truth to the world. CNN took us to Bosnia before the first American soldier set foot there.
But just as we should not despair of the troubles that affect our times, neither should we allow conceit for our many advances to lull us into arrogant indifference or a new form of ignorance.
The wonders of the microchip are surely many. And they will continue to increase human potential. But will the discoveries they engender be any more astonishing or marvelous than when Columbus first glimpsed the coast of a New World? Will the science and technology that your contemporaries discover change life on earth more profoundly than when Einstein defined the theory of relativity?
There will be changes as significant to you and your children as were past discoveries to the Class of 1899. But I doubt they could appear any more profound or marvelous to the people who behold them than were the wonders of a late age to the people who beheld them.
History will show you not only how to overcome the adversities that afflict your time, but how to take the best advantage of your blessings. As I said, I envy you for the challenges and opportunities that await you. Nothing attracts the human spirit more than the appreciation that there remains knowledge and experiences to be acquired.
You have not yet passed the age at which you must determine the specific course of your life or even define your ambition. What your parents and professors hope to have done is help develop within each of you the wherewithal to make the race; to confront challenges intelligently and forthrightly; to make the right choices. All that those who care about you hope they have done is helped you build the one thing that you absolutely must possess now - strength of character.
When I was your age, few people would have detected in my behavior any indication that I would make more of my adult life than I had of my youth. I was, to put it charitably, a discipline problem. The problem was I didn't like discipline. I enjoyed my life too much. And even now, if I am not very careful in guarding against it, a little nostalgia for those misspent days intrudes on the dry and serious considerations that occupy my time these days.
But despite those bouts of sentimental reminiscences, I would not want to be again the boy I once was ... unless I could keep the knowledge I have acquired with experience while enjoying the strength and energy of youth.
Although I was often a disappointment to my parents, and to my teachers, I count myself fortunate to have been in their charge. They never abandoned hope that I might become something better than the lost cause I often appeared to be. My very determined parents sent me to excellent schools, Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and then, of course, to the United States Naval Academy. Both schools were stem, exacting institutions, and I chafed at the discipline they tried so hard to impose on my unruly behavior.
But those places, and the people who dedicated their lives to them, did something that was very important. They reinforced my parents' efforts to instill in me a sense of personal honor. And that has made all the difference in the world. They defined for me a code of living and made every effort to compel my allegiance to it. I did not cherish the experience at the time. In fact, I often resented it. But I would be nothing today had they not tried.
I have made many mistakes in my life. I will make others. But I have not been completely undone by my failures. That is because long ago and far away I was confronted with some hard choices. And I chose well. That I did so is a tribute to my family and the traditions they delivered me into, and a tribute to the men with whom I served far more than it is a testament to my virtue.
Their influence taught me to dread dishonor above all else. And later in life when I was in a tough spot, I realized that even if my sins were unknown to those I loved and admired, they would have glared at me. I would have been dishonored in my eyes. As I look at you, and envy you your youth and future experiences, I know that your character is still being formed. We are all incomplete. I think we all die with our character not exactly what it could have been. But perfection was never the province of human beings.
Like most people my age, I feel a longing for what is past and cannot be restored. But if the happy pursuits of youth prove ephemeral, something better can endure, and endure until our last moment on earth. And that is the honor we earn and the love we give when we sacrifice with others for a cause greater than self-interest.
We cannot choose the moments. They arrive unbidden by us. We can choose to let the moments pass, and avoid the difficulties they entail. But the loss we would incur by that choice is much dearer than the tribute we once paid to vanity and pleasure.
I am confident that you will find honor in your choices. . . when the hard choices arrive at your door. You need not go to war to find them. They will find you in whatever walk of life you take. You have chosen to learn the law. It is a noble calling. Distinguish yourself in it, but keep the law's cause -justice -- before yourself.
You parents loved you and helped provide you with a very fine education. You have had many examples of good character to inspire you. You are blessed. Make the most of it.
Thank you
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