It’s graduation and convocation season! The June feature book is inspired by this joyous time of celebrating hard work and accomplishments. “Very Good Lives” by J.K. Rowling is a documentation of her commencement address delivered to graduating students at Harvard University.
Rowling uses her wit, humour, and warmth to share with the graduating class what she wished she knew at 21 years old. The speech focuses on two important components: the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination.
She talks about balancing what she wanted for herself at graduation and what others expected of her: she always wanted to write novels but was told by her parents that dream wouldn’t allow her to pay a mortgage or have a pension. She mentioned the irony of this now.
Growing up, there was nothing she feared more than failure and seven years after graduation she says she was the biggest failure she knew: a failed marriage, unemployed, a single parent, and very poor. But it was at this moment where she realized that her biggest fear had been realized and she was still alive. She hit rock bottom with no where to go but onwards and upwards. She was ready to pursue her dream with an old typewriter and a great idea.
Rowling talks about how failure taught her more than she ever learned in school. She learned what she could handle, about her will and discipline, and about the true value of having wonderful friends.
“You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.” – J. K. Rowling, Very Good Lives, p.37
If Rowling could go back in time, she would let herself know that happiness is not having the right qualifications, a strong CV, and a record of achievement but notes that many people will confuse the two.
Moving on to the importance of imagination, she believes this is a transformative thing because it allows people to empathize with characters and humans whose experiences we have not experienced firsthand. Humans can use this to sympathize with others – others choose to have no imagination at all and can refuse to learn and know about how other people feel. They can live in narrow spaces and close their hearts to other people’s pain. About this, Rowling says:
“I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.” – J. K. Rowling, Very Good Lives, p. 60-61
Rowling uses this stage to encourage the Harvard graduates to use their influence to stand up for those who have no voice, to identify with the marginalized and powerless, and to imagine themselves into other people’s places.
“We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” – J.K. Rowling, Very Good Lives, p. 67
Rowling concludes her speech with a sincere wish for everyone to have very good lives – not long lives or accomplished lives, but very good lives.
If you’re looking for a book to share with a recent graduate, or just need some wisdom and inspiration to enter your life right now, I recommend you read this commencement address. It is a moving and impactful speech with powerful stories.
Happy reading! Sabrina
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