Thomas, Clarence

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North Dakota Law Review Volume 74 Number 3 Article 1 1998 1998 Commencement Speech - University of North Dakota School of Law Clarence Thomas Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr  Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Thomas, Clarence (1998) "1998 Commencement Speech - University of North Dakota School of Law," North Dakota Law Review: Vol. 74 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://commons.und.edu/ndlr/vol74/iss3/1 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Dakota Law Review by an authorized editor of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact und.commons@library.und.edu. 1998 COMMENCEMENT SPEECHUNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF LAWTHE HONORABLE CLARENCE THOMAS, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, UNITED STATES SUPREME COURTJUSTICE THOMAS: Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all.Thank you. Thank you. Well, I think I should leave while I'm ahead.You know, it's a real pleasure being here, and I would like to thankPresident Baker for his kind hospitality and Dean Davis for a most enjoy-able few days here. I've had an opportunity to visit with many of thestudents and it has been fascinating.I do have one question before I do get started with my brief re-marks, and that is, why is this screwdriver up here? Duties as otherwiseassigned.President Baker, Dean Davis, colleagues of the Bench and Bar, mem-bers of faculty, family and friends, the class of 1997, and most impor-tantly, today's graduates. This is your day. This is your day to begin anew life and it is with great delight that I join with you, and I'm greatlyhumbled by the invitation last year and by the invitation again this year.I was deeply saddened and dismayed by the events beyond thiscity's and this state's control that occurred here, but I was heartened bythe response of the other citizens of this country and of the citizens ofthis wonderful city and state to events that were beyond their control inits occurrence, but not beyond their control in their response. My heartgoes out to you. I am inspired and awed by what you have done and bywhat you have undergone in the past year. So it is with delight I'm heretoday, for more than one reason. I always enjoy commencements. Ilook at commencements as a beginning. It celebrates the end of the stu-dent's preparation here and it celebrates the beginning of a life beyondthe walls of this university. Twenty-four years ago-two dozen years, Isat where you all sit. I can't remember, for the life of me, who the com-mencement speaker was. So I add, I have no illusions. I have noillusions that what I say will achieve the permanence of the GettysburgAddress. I will only attempt to emulate and replicate its brevity.At my graduation, outwardly I thought I knew so much, I had allthe answers. I was so certain and so smug. But inwardly, I think I wasjust relieved to have completed twenty years of formal education, com-pleted it without faltering or perhaps, more accurately, without quitting,because in retrospect, I often faltered, as we all do-I often stumbled.But as I sat there, I must say that, to my core, there was a swirlingcombination of frustration, of some disappointments, of some anxietyNORTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEWabout the future, and some anxiety about how I would repay my studentloans, how I would feed a young child, where I would live. But there wasalso a glimmer of hope. I had watched my dreams of returning to Savan-nah, Georgia, evaporate before my eyes. I watched my heroes diminishand disappear. I had seen my many desperate attempts to get a job in amajor law firm, or anywhere for that matter, end in frustration and yielda bitter and fruitless harvest. Indeed, I had only the barren husk ofrejection letter after rejection letter. It didn't seem to matter that I hadworked as hard as I could, that I had given it my all, door after doorseemed to close. But there was a small consolation, that one ray of hope,a young attorney general from Missouri who greeted me with the obser-vation: Clarence, there is plenty of room at the top. Well spoken by arich person, so I thought. I responded under my breath, much as one ofmy nephews responds: Yeah, right.So on my commencement two dozen years ago, on a beautiful Mayday in New Haven, I sat where you sit with only one job offer in the faroff tiny city of Jefferson City, Missouri. Some of my classmates smirkedand warned that I had wasted all that money and all that time at Yale LawSchool to go to Jefferson City, Missouri. Some seemed to look at mewith pity, as you would look on someone who is terminally ill. But uponreflection, I got to sit where you sit today, at my commencement, andone small door had partially opened and there was hope. And I had thecomfort of knowing that those who smirked could not predict the future,as none of us could and as no one can for you.I recently told a friend that no biographer could ever peer into oursouls or into our hearts, they really didn't know the inner parts of ourlives or know how we were like. Yes, they can string together the super-ficial, conveniently omitting and adding or altering things to suit theirpurposes, but they can never really know us. They never know thosemost difficult moments or the most precious moments. They neverknow how we felt at two o'clock in the morning preparing for an exam,or how we really felt when that rejection letter showed up in our mailbox,or when we finally got a job offer. No. Only we know that.The biographer can create perceptions of us as saints or sinners, asvillains or heroes, but they could never know what it's really like to beus. In large measure I am here with you all today only because I satwhere you sit twenty-four years ago, confused, frustrated, but with thatsliver of hope as you all have. As I look out on each of you, I wish, as Iso often wish with my son, that I could guarantee each of you success,but I can't. I wish I could help find that perfect job and that perfectcareer, but I can't. I wish I could assure you all happiness. I wish Icould assure you productive lives, but I can't. But I do know that you436 [VOL. 74:4351998] COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BY JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMASall are here today beginning afresh with that sliver of hope and with that,each of you has a chance, that chance that I had with that sliver of hope.Today you are at one of your forks in the road and it always re-minds me of the words of Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in thewoods and I, I took the one less traveled by and that has made allthe difference." You're taking one of those roads today and it willmake all the difference. But as you travel, I ask you to try to alwaysremember those who helped you this far and remember those who willhelp you along the way. Those who helped you when you couldn't helpyourselves or when you were most in need.Think about your parents who are always there for you, or arelative. Think of your friends who knew you when things were difficultor who were there to share that rejection or share that acceptance. Thinkof your teachers, think of your ministers. There is somebody. Thankthem, appreciate them, and I urge you, from the bottom of my heart, thatyou hold onto them. Remember that you didn't get this far on yourown and none of us has gotten this far or has gotten as far as we havewithout the help of someone else and without our faith. Be a hero, not avictim.Today our wonderful country is awash and suffocating in a culturalatmosphere of victimization. While a victim wallows in self-pitying de-featism, a hero takes on all challenges and challengers. From time totime I am asked who my heroes are, and quite frankly, the longer I live,the more I respect and admire those who lived their lives diligently dis-charging their daily responsibilities. As a result, I find myself admiringmore and more people who lived around me during my childhood, andprincipal among them were my grandparents. But twenty-four yearsago, when I sat where you all are sitting, I looked beyond them, becausethey were not smart enough or sophisticated enough, they were notlettered.But those two unlettered people embodied all that is good about thisgreat country. They were honest, hard working, frugal, law-abiding, anddeeply religious. They knew what their responsibilities and obligationswere and they discharged them without complaint. Thus, in my view,they were heroes. They relished doing what needed to be done and whatwas required of them. There always seemed to be something for whichto be grateful in their household. The roof over our heads, the food onour plates, the clothes on our back. Never was there a gripe that the foodwas not fine enough, the clothes were not expensive enough, the housewas not big enough. They accepted life on its own terms, with all itsattendant difficulties and challenges. They refused to complain, andbeing a victim of circumstance was not among their options. Somehow,437NORTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEWthis seemed to me to be what heroes did. But today, as the fabric of oursociety is saturated with complaint, each of us, each of you, has thisgrand opportunity to be a hero. But know in advance that it is hard, it isvery hard, and you can't be a hero and a victim at the same time. Dowhat you know must be done, do those things'before you now, and dothem well.Some time ago, I visited with a group of young students. I believethey were nine to eleven years of age. One of the students looked at meand looked me in the eyes and asked me: Have you ever felt like givingup? And I need not ask that question in this city. I can still hear heryouthful, innocent voice: Have you ever felt like giving up?I must say, I was stunned. In all the years I had been in Washington,I could not remember having been asked that simple question, but here itwas from the mouth of a child: Have you ever felt like giving up? Haveyou all ever felt like giving up? Well, my answer to her was: Yes, I havefelt like giving up hundreds, perhaps thousands of times. Perhaps everyday. And so will each of you. There will be those days when you willnot want to face the day. There will be those days when you believe youcan't take it anymore. There will be those days when it will all seem sohopeless and so pointless. Yes, there will be those days, but that's all justa part of life.You can either quit or you can continue on as best you can. And inour hearts, we know that quitting is no real option, it is just quitting. Iurge you, never quit, ever. No matter how bad things get, no matter howmany rejection letters you get, never even think about it. Always get upat least one more time than you're knocked down. Each of you is aboutto enter the legal profession and by now I am sure you know the criticalrole of law in our society and the rule of law as it protects us againstreturning to a state of nature. As lawyers, you must not only begin yourcareers, you must also assume the responsibility of making this systemwork. It will be yours in a few short years. I was told, as a student in lawschool, that you all are the future leaders, and of course, I pooh-poohedthat as kind of a self-serving statement by the law school.So here we are. My classmates or schoolmates are the occupants ofthe White House, they have been head of the Federal CommunicationsCommission, the Labor Department, and on and on and on. You'll getyour turn. You are the future. But before you can do any of this, youmust first just try to be heroes to your families, to your friends, and toyour neighbors, and even to yourselves. Be true to your faith and toyour beliefs, hold onto your hope. Don't let others take your joy. Treatothers as you would like to be treated. Help others along the way.438 [VOL. 74:4351998] COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BY JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS 439Twenty-four years ago I sat where you sit asking the same ques-tions. Twenty-four years from just this day, you should be able to sayhonestly, I did my best to do my best. I assure you that somewhere youwill be a hero to someone if you can say that. And those of us who areinexorably slipping into the twilight of our mortality are counting onyou all to assume the leadership role, because we need heroes too.God bless each of you and God speed.

1998 Commencement Speech - University of North Dakota School of Law

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1998 Commencement Speech - University of North Dakota School of Law

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