"Eminence is the one universal precondition to being a commencement speaker, and an implied (often explicit) theme of the speeches is, 'Here lieth the path to success and happiness.' There are two problems with this formula. The first is that any narrative of success is bound to be at least a little bit dull. The second is that successful people are almost never able to pinpoint what it was that made them so."
Wrong Commencement Speakers!
by Timothy Noah
http://www.slate.com/id/2218597/
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My objection to Noah’s list is that they are all “authors” (and many of them write for the publications in New York!). Even though they have experienced failures, they all became somewhat successful by writing about their hardships. It is another success story. If my objection to the list of commencement speakers for this year was “too successful,” I would pick people in a deep struggle for my list. Finding a person currently undergoing strife who is also capable of speaking in public might be a challenge, but I suppose that his or her words would be more inspiring than eloquently delivered speeches by successful figures.
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