The Opposite Of Love Is Fear- John Legend.

I was very inspired by John Legend's speech at the 2014 Commencement ceremony of his Alma Mater, University of Pennsylvania. People like John Legend and Lupita Nyong'o remind me time and time again, that education makes a difference. Sometimes, I find it hard to explain that statement but education does make a difference. Go figure. :-)

He spoke about love, passion and commitment to your dreams. He gave a brief history of his childhood, from the good times to the sour times. He linked love to every aspect of life including our very existence. It was such a unique speech, in that many commencement/convocation speakers tend to talk about motivation, hard-work, success and things like that. He talked about those things too, only he explained how to achieve them with the power of Love. He spoke about justice, about compassion and about charity. He also talked about the Nigerian girls that were kidnapped and charged everyone to realize that they were not alone in the world. "American lives are not more important that Iraqi lives." He said, when talking about the need for world peace and love. It was subtle, yet it was motivating.

I particularly liked when he talked about his humble beginnings. The days when he was desperately looking for a record deal and found none until Kanye West helped him. "Now, Kanye and I have very different personalities...as you might have guessed but what unites us is our true love for music and arts..."
Honestly, the speech could have passed for a message in the church because isn't love also God's greatest commandment? His speech was centered around Love. Brilliant! Oh, and he was honored with a doctorate degree in music.

How is it that I don't remember what was said and in fact who said what at my graduation? It had  to have been the least inspiring talk ever for me to not remember anything. Perhaps, I should ask my friends and former classmates if they remember anything from three years ago. THREE years, wow, how has it been so long?