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It’s graduation season! Who was an inspiring commencement speaker?

Takeaway

“I’m far more interested in your dreaming than your happiness.”-Toni Morrison, 1988, Sarah Lawrence College

Passion in the Medical Profession | May 19, 2023 | <1 min read

Highlights

Dr. Frank Cacace

Toni Morrison’s 1988 address at Sarah Lawrence: “I’m far more interested in your dreaming than your happiness.”

Also, Morrison’s 2004 speech at Wellesley College: Your life is art, and the past is not finished, but continues.

 

 

Dr. Scott Wright, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Recently read Bono’s book “Surrender” – AMAZING! So I’ll go with Bono’s great speech – Penn ’04. Among other things, he said: “Remember, you don’t owe anybody any explanations . . . I used to think the future was fixed . . . something you inherited . . . But it’s not. The future is fluid.”

What do you think?

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Dr. Shannon Scott-Vernaglia, Mass General

The amazing @smrhata gave a residency graduation speech about resilience and flexibility that is a core memory for me. It is a little like the Maya Angelou quotation – I don’t remember the details of her words but I remember well how she made me feel!

Dr. Jeff Millstein, Penn Medicine

Inspiring talk by filmmaker Ken Burns at my son’s college graduation last year.

Gretchen Miller, CLOSLER editor

David Brooks at my brother’s Dartmouth graduation a few years ago.

Dr. Richard Schaefer, Johns Hopkins Medicine

The late Dr. Bobby Brown gave a memorable, inspiring address at my @TulaneMedicine graduation. Dr Brown played for the NY Yankees while in med school. He spoke of the human side of medicine and sprinkled in some fun stories about baseball and his Yankee teammate Yogi Berra.