I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the high school graduation speech people are calling, “You’re Not Special.” (Read about it here.)

It is amazing, and a true must read.

I’m not going to post the entire thing here, but I wanted to give you an excerpt which actually has nothing to do with the title (that part is great, too), but this… I just loved this.

This is what every young (and maybe not-so-young) person needs to hear and what almost none of them will understand until they’ve already committed a lot of these mistakes. And, that’s okay. That’s life. Life is the place where the young believe they know everything and the not-so-young realize they know nothing. As it should be.

As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison. Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.