So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up.\u00a0 Speed it along.\u00a0 Start right now.\u00a0 There\u2019s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really:selfishness<\/em>.\u00a0 But there\u2019s also a cure.\u00a0 So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf \u2013 seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.<\/p>\nDo all the other things, the ambitious things \u2013 travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) \u2013 but as you do, to the extent that you can,\u00a0err in the direction of kindness<\/em>.\u00a0 Do those things that incline you toward the big questions, and avoid the things that would reduce you and make you trivial.\u00a0 That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality \u2013 your soul, if you will \u2013 is as bright and shining as any that has ever been. \u00a0Bright as Shakespeare\u2019s, bright as Gandhi\u2019s, bright as Mother Theresa\u2019s.\u00a0 Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place.\u00a0 Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.<\/p>\nAnd someday, in 80 years, when you\u2019re 100, and I\u2019m 134, and we\u2019re both so kind and loving we\u2019re nearly unbearable, drop me a line, let me know how your life has been.\u00a0 I hope you will say: It has been\u00a0so<\/em>\u00a0wonderful.<\/p>\nCongratulations, Class of 2013.<\/p>\n
I wish you great happiness, all the luck in the world, and a beautiful summer.<\/p>\n
HT: DP<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your life is going to be a gradual process of becoming kinder and more loving: Hurry up.\u00a0 Speed it along.\u00a0 Start right now.\u00a0 There\u2019s a confusion in each of us, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"yoast_head":"\n
Erring on the Side of ... what?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Erring on the Side of ... what?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-05T15:21:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-08-03T16:22:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/\",\"name\":\"Erring on the Side of ... what?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-05T15:21:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-08-03T16:22:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Erring on the Side of … what?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Erring on the Side of ... what?","description":"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Erring on the Side of ... what?","og_description":"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/","og_site_name":"Jesus Creed","article_published_time":"2013-08-05T15:21:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-08-03T16:22:51+00:00","author":"Scot McKnight","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scot McKnight","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/","name":"Erring on the Side of ... what?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-05T15:21:37+00:00","dateModified":"2013-08-03T16:22:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252"},"description":"Yes, this is how George Saunders summed up his moral charge to the graduates of Syracuse: So, quick, end-of-speech advice: Since, according to me, your","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/08\/05\/erring-on-the-side-of-what\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Erring on the Side of … what?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/","name":"Jesus Creed","description":"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252","name":"Scot McKnight","description":"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/author\/scotmcknight\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}