On May 16 of this year, Jon Stewart, Class of 1984, of The Daily Show fame, delivered his stellar commencement address at the college of William & Mary. If he’d been the speaker at my college graduation, I might have actually gone. Some choice excerpts, though the entire address is worth reading:

When I left William and Mary, I was shell-shocked. Because when you’re in college, it’s very clear what you have to do to succeed. You knew what you had to do to get to this college and to graduate from it. But the unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective. The paths are infinite and the results uncertain. And it can be maddening to those that go here, because your strength has always been achievement. So if there’s any real advice I can give you, it’s this.

College is something you complete. Life is something you experience. So don’t worry about your grade or the results or success. Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine, after going through the program here, is quite strong.

Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may.

I graduated. Isn’t that nice? So roll up your sleeves, and let the work begin.