Subject: Biden at Yale: New Beginnings
From: "Eric Schwerin" <[email-masked]>
To: "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Alexander S. Mackler" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 23 May 2015 08:37:12 -0400

Biden at Yale: New Beginnings
Just seeing this.   Nice read to start the weekend.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7318436

Biden at Yale: New Beginnings

Spring is, of course, the season of optimism, not only from nature's annual
re-beginnings but from the emotions at the thousands of graduation
ceremonies around the country.

Commencements are occasions for wisdom and inspiration, but few of this
season's events will match the remarks Vice President Joe Biden gave at
Yale's recent Class Day event.

I like Biden. I share his political philosophy, appreciate his commitment
and approach to public service and admire him as one of the most
consequential vice presidents in our history. Others do not. But whether
you're a Biden admirer or critic it's well worth spending a few minutes to
read and consider his Yale Class Day remarks
<https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/17/remarks-vice-president-yale-university-class-day>.
They're better read than summarized (which won't deter me from what
follows). My guess is that when Biden began his remarks, Yale's Class of
2015 and their loved ones in attendance included those in both groups yet
I'll bet that when he finished most present recognized that they had heard
something special.

After his introductory comments, Biden offered some general lessons about
life. The students who had invited him had praised his "compassion" but
Biden said it was not "difficult, folks, to be compassionate when you've
been the beneficiary of compassion in your lowest moments not only from
your family, but from your friends and total strangers. Because when you
know how much it meant to you, you know how much it mattered. It's not hard
to be compassionate."

The students should each try to find their "sweet spot" which, borrowing
from his father, Biden defined as "that thing that allows you to get up in
the morning, put both feet on the floor, go out and pursue what you love,
and think it still matters." Biden had been lucky; inspired by JFK, the
civil rights, environmental and anti-Vietnam War movements, he "learned
early on" that engagement in public affairs was "what fulfilled me the
most, what made me happy." The students should each make a personal choice,
whether it was Teach for America or Wall Street, music, medicine,
government or something else. The happiest and most successful people had
found that "sweet spot between success and happiness," between "life and
career."

Although there was no formula to find that balance, Biden suggested some
approaches built on character to help in the quest. First, most happy and
successful people recognized that "a good life at its core is about being
personal" about being there for people at times of joy and loss. Biden
urged his listeners to question others' judgment, not motives, a lesson he
learned after criticizing the motives of Senator Jesse Helms in opposing
programs to help the disabled only to learn that Helms and his wife had
adopted a disabled teenage stranger who felt rejected by the world. We
generally can't judge another's motives, Biden suggested. Moreover, it
becomes difficult for people to work together when motives, rather than
judgment, become the basis of their critical assessments. Students should
look beyond the caricature and try to build real relationships, even with
those with whom they disagree.

Second, Biden encouraged his audience to treat all with dignity and
respect. Academic credentials were fine, Biden suggested to his audience at
one of America's most elite institutions, but no diploma could confer "the
heart to know what's meaningful and what's ephemeral; and the head to know
the difference between knowledge and judgment."

Third, Biden cautioned that "[r]eality has a way of intruding" as it did in
Biden's case when shortly after he achieved his ambition of being elected
to the United States Senate his wife and daughter were killed in an
accident. Biden found redemption in focusing on his sons, in commuting
hours each day to be with them. Ambition is important, said Biden, but
"ambition without perspective can be a killer." Biden urged his listeners
not to fall victim to the human tendency to rationalize choices which
pursue ambition at the expense of the needs of their loved ones or which
pursue socially-mandated preferences over their own North Stars.

Finally, Biden advised that even the most successful cannot escape from a
social responsibility to engage the world's problems. "You can't breathe
fresh air or protect your children from a changing climate no matter what
you make. If your sister is the victim of domestic violence, you are
violated. If your brother can't marry the man he loves, you are lessened.
And if your best friend has to worry about being racially profiled, you
live in a circumstance not worthy of us."

Biden did not simply encourage his listeners to give their opponents the
benefit of the doubt; he modeled that behavior in going out of his way to
praise Jesse Helms and President George W. Bush. Biden's Yale Class Day
remarks are profound in their insights but they are especially compelling
because they reflect the public life he has lived. They offer important
lessons for all of us optimistic enough to see spring 2015 as a time for
new beginnings, personal, political and societal.

Eric D. Schwerin
[email-masked]

Sent from my iPhon