WEBVTT

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Thank you very much. Thank

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you. Well, thank you, President

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Powers, Provost Fenves, deans, members

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of the faculty, family, and friends, and

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most importantly, the class of 2014. It

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is it is indeed an honor for me to be

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here tonight. It's been almost 37 years

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to the day that I graduated from UT. I

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remember a lot of things about that day.

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I remember I had a throbbing
headache from a party the night

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before. I remember I had
a serious girlfriend who I later

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married. That's important to remember,
by the way. And I remember I was getting

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commissioned in the Navy that day.
But of all the things I remember, I don't

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have a clue who the commencement speaker
was. and I certainly don't remember

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anything they said. So, acknowledging
that fact, if I can't make this

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commencement speech memorable, I will at

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least try to make it short.
So, the university slogan is what

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starts here changes the world. Well,
I've got to admit, I kind of like it.

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What starts here changes the world.

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Tonight, there are almost 8,000
students or there are more than

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8,000 students graduated from UT. So

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that great paragon of analytical rigor,

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ask.com says that the average American

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will meet 10,000 people in their

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lifetime. 10,000 people. That's a lot of

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folks. But if every one of you changed

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the lives of just 10 people and each one

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of those people changed the lives of

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another 10 people and another 10,
then in five generations, 125 years, the

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class of

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2014 will have changed the lives of

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800 million people. 800 million

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people. Think about it. Over twice the

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population of the United States. Go one
more generation and you can change the

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entire population of the world.
8 billion people. If you think it's hard

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to change the lives of 10 people, change

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their lives forever, you're wrong. I saw

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it happen every day in Iraq and
Afghanistan. A young army officer makes

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a decision to go left instead
of right down a road in

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Baghdad, and the 10 soldiers with him

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are saved from a close-in ambush.
In Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, a

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non-commission officer from the female
engagement team senses that something

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isn't right and directs the infantry

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platoon away from a 500 lb IED, saving

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the lives of a dozen soldiers.
But if you think about it, not

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only were those soldiers saved
by the decisions of one person, but their

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children were saved and their children's

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children. Generations were saved by one

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decision, one person.
But changing the world can happen

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anywhere and anyone can do it. So what
starts here can indeed change the world.

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But the question is what
will the world look like after

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you change it? Well, I'm confident that it
will look much, much better. But if

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you'll humor this old sailor for just
a moment, I have a few suggestions that

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might help you on your way to a better
world. And while these lessons were

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learned during my time in the military,
I can assure you that it matters not

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whether you ever served a day in uniform.
It matters not your gender,

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your ethnic or religious background,
your orientation, or your social status.

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Our struggles in this world are similar,
and the lessons to overcome those

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struggles and to move forward changing

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ourselves and changing the world around

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us will apply equally to all.

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I've been a Navy Seal for 36 years, but

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it all began when I left UT for basic

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SEAL training in Coronado, California.

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Basic SEAL training is six months of

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long torturous runs in the soft sand,
midnight swims in the cold water off San

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Diego, obstacle courses, unending
calisthenics, days without sleep, and

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always being cold, wet, and miserable.

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It is six months of being constantly

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harassed by professionally trained

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warriors who seek to find the weak of

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mind and body and and eliminate them

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from ever becoming a Navy Seal. But the

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training also seeks to find those

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students who can lead in an environment

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of constant stress, chaos, failure, and

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hardships. To me, basic SEAL training

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was a lifetime of challenges crammed
into six months. So, here are the 10

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lessons I learned from basic SEAL
training that hopefully will be of value

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to you as you move forward in

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life. Every morning in SEAL training, my

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instructors, who at the time were all
Vietnam veterans, would show up in my

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barracks room, and the first thing
they'd do was inspect my bed. If you did

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it right, the corners would be square,
the covers would be pulled tight, the

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pillow centered just under the headboard,
and the extra blanket folded

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neatly at the foot of the rack. It was a

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simple task, mundane at best. But every

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morning we were required to make
our bed to perfection. It seemed a little

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ridiculous at the time, particularly
in light of the fact that we were aspiring

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to be real warriors, tough, battleh

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hardened seals. But the wisdom of this
simple act has been proven to me many

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times over. If you make your bed every

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morning, you will have accomplished the

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first task of the day. It will give you

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a small sense of pride and it will

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encourage you to do another task and

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another and another and by the end of

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the day that one task completed will
have turned into many tasks completed.

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Making your bed will also reinforce
the fact that the little things in life

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matter. If you can't do the little
things right, you'll never be able to do

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the big things right. And if by chance

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you have a miserable day,
you will come home to a bed that is

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made that you made.
And a made bed gives you

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encouragement that tomorrow will be

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better. So if you want to change the

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world, start off by making your

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bed. During SEAL training,
the students during training, the students

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are all broken down into boat crews.

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Each crew is seven students, three on

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each side of a small rubber boat and one
coxin to help guide the dinghy. Every

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day, your boat crew forms up on the
beach and is instructed to get through

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the surf zone and paddle several miles
down the coast. In the winter, the surf

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off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 ft

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high. And it is exceedingly difficult to

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paddle through the plunging surf unless

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everyone digs in. Every paddle must be

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synchronized to the stroke count of the
coxin. Everyone must exert equal effort

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or the boat will turn against the wave
and be unceremoniously dumped back on

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the beach. For the boat to make it to its

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destination, everyone must

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paddle. You can't change the world alone.
You will need some help. And to

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truly get from your starting point
to your destination takes friends,

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colleagues, the goodwill of strangers,

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and a strong coxin to guide you. If you
want to change the world, find someone

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to help you paddle.

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Over a few weeks of difficult training,

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my SEAL class, which started with 150

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men, was down to just 42. There were now

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six boat crews of seven men each. I was

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in the boat with the tall guys, but the

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best boat crew we had was made up of the

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little guys, the Munchkin crew, we

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called them. No one was over 5'5.

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The Munchkin boat crew had one American
Indian, one African-American, one Polish

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American, one Greek American,
one Italian American, and two tough kids

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from the Midwest. They out paddled,

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outran, and out swam all the other boat

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crews. The big men and the other boat

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crews would always make goodnatured fun

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of the tiny little flippers the Munchins

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put on their tiny little
feet prior to every swim.

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But somehow these little guys from every
corner of the nation and the world

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always had the last laugh, swinging
faster than everyone and reaching the

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shore long before the rest of us. Seal

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training was a great equalizer. Nothing
mattered but your will to succeed. Not

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your color, not your ethnic background,
not your education, not your social

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status. If you want to change the world,
measure a person by the size of their

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heart, not by the size of their

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flippers.

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Several times a week, the instructors
would line up the class and do a uniform

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inspection. It was exceptionally thorough.
Your hat had to be perfectly

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starched, your uniform immaculately
pressed, your belt buckle shiny and void

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of any smudges.
But it seemed that no matter

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how much effort you put into starching
your hat or pressing your uniform or

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polishing your belt buckle, it just

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wasn't good enough. The instructors

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would find something wrong. For failing

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uniform inspection, the student had to

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run fully clothed into the surf zone,

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then wet from head to toe, roll around
on the beach until every part of your

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body was covered with sand. The effect

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was known as sugar

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cookie. You stayed in the uniform the

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rest of the day, cold, wet, and sandy.

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There were many a student who just
couldn't accept the fact that all their

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efforts were in vain. That no matter
how hard they tried to get the uniform

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right, it went unappreciated.
Those students didn't

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make it through training. Those students
didn't understand the purpose of the

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drill. You were never going to succeed.

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You were never going to have a perfect
uniform. The instructors weren't going

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to allow it. Sometimes, no matter how

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well you prepare or how well you

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perform, you still end up as a sugar

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cookie. It's just the way life is

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sometimes. If you want to change the
world, get over being a sugar cookie and

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keep moving forward.
Every day during training, you

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were challenged with multiple physical
events, long runs, long swims, obstacle

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courses, hours of calisthenics,
something designed to test your metal.

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Every event had standards, times you
had to meet. If you failed to meet those

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times, those standards, your name was

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posted on a list. And at the end of the

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day, those on the list were invited to a

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circus. A circus was two hours of
additional calisthenics designed to wear

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you down, to break your spirit, to force

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you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A

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circus meant that for that day,
you didn't measure up. A circus meant more

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fatigue, and more fatigue meant that the
following day would be more difficult,

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and more circuses were likely. But at

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some time during SEAL training,

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everyone everyone made the circus

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list. But an interesting an interesting

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thing happened to those who were

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constantly on the list. Over time, those

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students who did two hours of

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extracalisthenics got stronger and

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stronger. The pain of the circuses built

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inner strength and physical

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resiliency. Life is filled with

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circuses. You will fail. You will likely

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fail often. It will be painful. It will

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be discouraging. At times, it will test

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you to your very core. But if you don't
if you want to change the world, don't

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be afraid of the circuses.
At least twice a week, the

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trainees were required to run the obstacle

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course. The obstacle course contained 25

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obstacles, including a 10-ft wall,
a 30-foot cargo net, a barbwire crawl, to

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name a few. But the most challenging

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obstacle was the slide for life. It had

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a three-level 30-foot tower at one end

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and a onele tower at the other. In

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between was a 200t long rope. You had to

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climb the three tiered tower and once at

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the top you grabbed the rope, swung

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underneath the rope and pulled yourself
hand overhand until you got to the other

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end. The record for the obstacle course

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had stood for years when my class began

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in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable

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until one day a student decided to go

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down the slide for life headirst.
Instead of swinging his body

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underneath the rope and inching his way
down, he bravely mounted the top of the

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rope and thrust himself forward. It was

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a dangerous move, seemingly foolish
and fraught with risk. Failure could mean

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injury and being dropped from the course.
Without hesitation, the student

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slid down the rope perilously fast.

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Instead of several minutes, it only took

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him half that time. And by the end of

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the course, he had broken the

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record. If you want to change the world,
sometimes you have to slide down the

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obstacles head first.
During the land warfare phase of

00:12:53.560 --> 00:12:57.037
training, the students are flown out
to Sanini Island, which lies off the coast

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of San Diego. The waters off San Clemeni
are a breeding ground for the great

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white sharks. To pass SEAL training,
there are a series of long swims that

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must be completed. One is the night

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swim. Before the swim, the instructors

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joyfully brief the students on all the

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species of sharks that inhabit the

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waters off San Clemeni. They assure you,

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however, that no student has ever been

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eaten by a shark,
at least not that they can

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remember. But you are also taught that

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if a shark begins to circle your

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position, stand your ground. Do not swim

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away. Do not act

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afraid. And if the shark hungry for a

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midnight snack darts towards you, then

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summons up all your strength and punch
him in the snout and he will turn and

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swim away. There are
a lot of sharks in the

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world. If you hope to complete the swim,

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you will have to deal with them. So if

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you want to change the

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world, don't back down from the sharks.

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As Navy Seals, one of our jobs is to
conduct underwater attacks against enemy

00:14:06.280 --> 00:14:11.357
shipping. We practice this technique
extensively during training. The ship

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attack mission is where a pair of SEAL
divers is dropped off outside an enemy

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harbor and then swims well over two

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miles underwater using nothing but a

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depth gauge and a compass to get to the

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target. During the entire swim, even

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well below the surface, there is some

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light that comes through. It
is comforting to know that there is open

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water above you.
But as you approach the ship, which

00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:42.317
is tied to appear, the light begins
to fade. The steel structure of the ship

00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:44.477
blocks the moonlight. It blocks the

00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:48.077
surrounding street lamps. It blocks all

00:14:48.160 --> 00:14:52.557
ambient light. To be successful in your
mission, you have to swim under the ship

00:14:52.640 --> 00:14:56.557
and find the keel, the center line,
and the deepest part of the ship. This is

00:14:56.640 --> 00:15:01.197
your objective. But the keel is also
the darkest part of the ship, where you

00:15:01.280 --> 00:15:04.717
cannot see your hand in front of your
face, where the noise from the ship's

00:15:04.800 --> 00:15:07.037
machinery is deafening, and where it

00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:10.157
gets to be easily disoriented and you

00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:13.517
can fail. Every SEAL knows that under

00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.997
the keel at that darkest moment of the

00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.557
mission is a time when you need to be

00:15:19.640 --> 00:15:22.317
calm. When you must be calm, when you

00:15:22.400 --> 00:15:25.117
must be composed. When all your tactical

00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.277
skills, your physical power, and your

00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:31.037
inner strength must be brought to bear.

00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:33.677
If you want to change the world, you

00:15:33.760 --> 00:15:38.077
must be your very best
in the darkest moments.

00:15:38.160 --> 00:15:42.637
The ninth week of training is referred
to as hell week. It is six days of no

00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.757
sleep, constant physical and mental

00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.237
harassment, and one special day at the

00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:52.237
mud flats. The mud flats are an area
between San Diego and Tijana where the

00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.397
run water runs off and creates the

00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:57.437
Tijana slooh, a swampy patch of terrain

00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:02.237
where the mud will engulf you. It is on
Wednesday of hell week that you paddle

00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:06.077
down in the mud flats and spend the next
15 hours trying to survive this freezing

00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:08.717
cold, the howling wind, and the

00:16:08.800 --> 00:16:13.277
incessant pressure to quit from the
instructors. As the sun began to set

00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:15.597
that Wednesday evening, my training

00:16:15.680 --> 00:16:17.997
class, having committed some egregious

00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.557
infraction of the rules, was ordered

00:16:20.640 --> 00:16:23.677
into the mud. The mud consumed each man

00:16:23.760 --> 00:16:25.917
till there was nothing visible but our

00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.357
heads. The instructors told us we could

00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.397
leave the mud if only five men would quit.
Only five men. Just five men and

00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:38.477
we could get out of the oppressive cold.
Looking around the mud flat, it

00:16:38.560 --> 00:16:40.597
was apparent that some
students were about to give

00:16:40.680 --> 00:16:43.117
up. It was still over eight hours till

00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:46.557
the sun came up. Eight more hours of

00:16:46.640 --> 00:16:50.477
bone chilling cold. The chattering teeth
and the shivering moans of the trainees

00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:52.957
were so loud it was hard to hear

00:16:53.040 --> 00:16:56.637
anything. And then one voice began to

00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.037
echo through the

00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:00.997
night. One voice raised in

00:17:01.080 --> 00:17:04.877
song. The song was terribly out of tune,

00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:09.517
but sung with great enthusiasm.
One voice became two, and

00:17:09.600 --> 00:17:13.437
two became three, and before long,
everyone in the class was singing. The

00:17:13.520 --> 00:17:16.797
instructors threatened us with more time
in the mud if we kept up the singing,

00:17:16.880 --> 00:17:19.517
but the singing persisted. And somehow

00:17:19.600 --> 00:17:22.477
the mud seemed a little warmer and the

00:17:22.560 --> 00:17:25.117
wind a little tamer and the dawn not so

00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:28.717
far away. If I have learned anything in

00:17:28.800 --> 00:17:31.357
my time traveling the world, it is the

00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.557
power of hope. The power of one person,

00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:37.597
a Washington, a Lincoln, King, Mandela,

00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:39.437
and even a young girl from Pakistan,

00:17:39.520 --> 00:17:42.957
Malala. One person can change the world

00:17:43.040 --> 00:17:45.437
by giving people hope. So if you want to

00:17:45.520 --> 00:17:50.037
change the world, start singing
when you're up to your neck and

00:17:50.120 --> 00:17:53.397
mud. Finally, in SEAL training, there's a

00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:57.597
bell, a brass bell that hangs
in the center of the compound for all the

00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:00.157
students to see. All you have to do to

00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:02.877
quit, all you have to do to quit is ring

00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.077
the bell. Ring the bell and you no

00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:07.917
longer have to wake up at 5:00. Ring the

00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.557
bell and you no longer have to be in the

00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:13.677
freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and

00:18:13.760 --> 00:18:15.357
you no longer have to do the runs, the

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:17.837
obstacle course, the PT, and you no

00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:21.317
longer have to endure the hardships of

00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:24.917
training. All you have
to do is ring the bell to get

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.077
out. If you want to change the world,

00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.877
don't ever, ever ring the bell.

00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:37.517
To the class of 2014, you are moments
away from graduating, moments away from

00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:41.837
beginning your journey through life,
moments away from starting to change the

00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:44.277
world for the better. It will not be

00:18:44.360 --> 00:18:49.117
easy, but you are the class of 2014,
the class that can affect the lives of 800

00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:51.197
million people in the next century.

00:18:51.280 --> 00:18:53.757
Start each day with a task completed.

00:18:53.840 --> 00:18:55.597
Find someone to help you through life.

00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:58.397
Respect everyone. Know that life is not

00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:03.117
fair and that you will fail often. But if
you take some risks, step up when the

00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.957
times are the toughest, face down
the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and

00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:09.437
never ever give up. If you do these

00:19:09.520 --> 00:19:14.477
things, the next generation and the
generations that follow will live in a

00:19:14.560 --> 00:19:16.157
world far better than the one we have

00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.677
today. And what started here will indeed

00:19:19.760 --> 00:19:22.957
have changed the world for the better.

00:19:23.040 --> 00:19:27.440
Thank you very much, Hookham Horns.