Go Big Grad | Ted Carter

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08/17/2021 Added

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Ted Carter, president of the University of Nebraska System, speaks to graduates at the August 14, 2021 University of Nebraska-Lincoln commencement ceremonies.

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[00:00:00.830]I'm really excited to be here.
[00:00:02.110]What an honor to be able to give you a commencement address.
[00:00:06.370]I'm really proud of the Class of 2020,
[00:00:09.710]we got to come back and have an in-person graduation.
[00:00:13.380]The class of 2021 graduating for this summer program,
[00:00:17.140]and all the family and friends,
[00:00:19.940]as well as our faculty and staff here,
[00:00:21.960]this is a celebration for all of you.
[00:00:25.300]You know, you've heard the word grit a lot today.
[00:00:28.460]And when I came here two years ago,
[00:00:30.060]you were just finishing up the 150 year anniversary
[00:00:33.710]of the founding of University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:36.880]And part of that celebration was the phrase,
[00:00:40.290]in our grit our glory,
[00:00:42.580]who would have ever thought at that time
[00:00:45.110]when we had not any idea of something like COVID-19,
[00:00:49.690]that the word grit would be such an integral part
[00:00:52.720]of who you are.
[00:00:55.130]And now here you are, you have truly shown your grit.
[00:00:59.300]You have shown that you can do it,
[00:01:00.640]and today is a celebration for each and every one of you.
[00:01:05.360]You've done something that very few can do.
[00:01:09.350]And I'm gonna spend just a couple of minutes
[00:01:11.030]reflecting on this time,
[00:01:13.530]because this is a time like no other in our US history,
[00:01:17.660]a global pandemic, an economic crisis, racial inequities,
[00:01:23.540]all coming to us at the same time,
[00:01:25.330]we really haven't seen anything like this,
[00:01:27.900]going back to the global pandemic of 1918,
[00:01:32.280]the Great Depression World War II,
[00:01:35.510]we are truly at a unique moment in history.
[00:01:39.640]And when I reflect on that
[00:01:41.890]and who might actually provide some words
[00:01:43.930]that might inspire us,
[00:01:45.400]of all the people that I've had the chance
[00:01:47.020]to meet in my life,
[00:01:48.990]I think back to one of the greatest American heroes
[00:01:52.100]I've ever had a chance or pleasure to meet,
[00:01:54.960]Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale.
[00:01:58.770]Now, for a lot of you,
[00:01:59.603]you may remember James Bond Stockdale.
[00:02:01.870]He was a vice presidential running mate with Ross Perot,
[00:02:05.470]but that's not why he was an American hero.
[00:02:08.530]He was a naval aviator, Naval Academy graduate.
[00:02:11.650]He was shot down and taken prisoner during the Vietnam war.
[00:02:15.640]He was one of the first prisoners taken.
[00:02:18.370]He was a senior man in the Hanoi Hilton.
[00:02:22.290]He was a prisoner there for seven and a half years.
[00:02:25.640]Four of those years in solitary confinement,
[00:02:29.200]two of those years in leg irons.
[00:02:33.090]And somehow he came out of there.
[00:02:36.250]In some part,
[00:02:37.110]and thanks to his wife Sybil, who fought our own Navy,
[00:02:40.120]our own military, our own government,
[00:02:42.120]to tell the truth about torture.
[00:02:45.730]And he suffered indescribable torture.
[00:02:50.300]But when he finally got out of solitary confinement,
[00:02:52.510]he started a way to communicate
[00:02:54.000]with his fellow prisoners of war
[00:02:56.170]to lift their spirits,
[00:02:58.360]because James Bond Stockdale
[00:02:59.720]was much more than a fighter pilot.
[00:03:04.170]He was a thinker, he was a philosopher.
[00:03:08.680]And through a tap code through the walls of those prisons,
[00:03:12.850]he said this to his fellow prisoners.
[00:03:16.707]"Have faith that you will persevere,
[00:03:21.557]"but have the discipline to face your reality."
[00:03:27.610]I can't think of a time in our nation's history
[00:03:30.150]with that thing, that phrase,
[00:03:31.970]now today known as the Stockdale Paradox is more true.
[00:03:35.090]Faith and hope versus reality.
[00:03:39.420]And the reality is,
[00:03:40.990]we're not done with COVID-19,
[00:03:43.100]we probably won't be for long time,
[00:03:45.180]but we're living with it,
[00:03:46.100]we're managing it, and we're here.
[00:03:49.220]There are gonna be other grand challenges
[00:03:51.140]that are gonna be in front of you.
[00:03:52.530]As amazing as this dais is up here
[00:03:55.970]with the talent, the brainpower,
[00:03:59.030]it will be difficult for this cadre, the people,
[00:04:02.020]the friends, the family that are in the stands here,
[00:04:04.620]as accomplished as everybody is
[00:04:06.220]in this beautiful arena today,
[00:04:09.170]these problems will not be solved.
[00:04:11.320]Food and water security,
[00:04:13.050]a population today of 7.8 billion people.
[00:04:17.860]One of the largest producers of agriculture food
[00:04:20.940]for not just Nebraska state in the world,
[00:04:26.600]we have to be able to feed.
[00:04:28.740]And by the year 2050, our population will be 9.7 billion,
[00:04:32.640]and we won't have any more water,
[00:04:34.380]we're gonna have to be smarter with how we feed the world.
[00:04:39.038]Technology is moving so fast,
[00:04:40.550]everybody in this arena today has a cell phone.
[00:04:44.730]The cell phones we carry today
[00:04:46.100]have much more computing power and technology
[00:04:48.480]than the most advanced fighter jet I ever flew.
[00:04:51.960]But more importantly is how vulnerable we are.
[00:04:56.600]There's no more off-ramp to paper and pencil,
[00:04:59.910]we've seen it recently, airlines shutting down,
[00:05:03.120]networks stopped for food, energy.
[00:05:08.080]We are vulnerable, who is going to secure our networks,
[00:05:11.610]cyber attacks happening at an alarming rate.
[00:05:15.660]And then the weather.
[00:05:18.430]We can argue whether it's climate change, global warming,
[00:05:21.360]it don't doesn't matter what you call it,
[00:05:23.300]it is changing.
[00:05:24.360]100 year weather events are happening now annually.
[00:05:27.930]Omaha just a week ago, got six and a half inches of rain
[00:05:31.300]in less than two hours.
[00:05:34.440]And we've seen it here in Nebraska, drought, floods.
[00:05:39.070]And you might think all these problems are somewhere else.
[00:05:42.460]Yes, they're world problems,
[00:05:44.950]but they're not necessarily ours,
[00:05:47.160]but you don't have to have a reminder
[00:05:48.830]how much it comes right to us
[00:05:51.440]than just going outside a couple of weeks ago.
[00:05:56.250]You see the smoke in the air,
[00:05:58.630]and you realize it's not so many burning a field somewhere,
[00:06:02.590]it's wildfires from Oregon and California,
[00:06:04.940]and now, Montana,
[00:06:06.640]that have moved half a country away.
[00:06:09.090]And it keeps moving,
[00:06:10.010]it goes to New York City and Washington DC.
[00:06:13.450]The point is, today, a crisis for anyone
[00:06:19.460]is a crisis for everyone.
[00:06:24.850]And who's going to solve these problems?
[00:06:27.100]Who's going to fix them?
[00:06:30.330]Well, as my wife, Linda told me before I came up here,
[00:06:32.670]you know, don't be a doom and gloomer.
[00:06:35.273](congregation laughing)
[00:06:37.130]And I'm here to tell you
[00:06:38.770]the future is sitting right in front of me.
[00:06:42.050]You know, when I think about
[00:06:43.110]where do we find the inspiration
[00:06:44.940]besides the Stockdale Paradox?
[00:06:48.590]How will we get over these?
[00:06:51.710]And I will tell you, I will think back.
[00:06:53.690]You know, I played hockey when I was at the Naval Academy,
[00:06:55.890]I'm more of a hockey fan than hockey player these days.
[00:06:59.690]But when I was at the Naval Academy
[00:07:01.250]and people of a certain age may remember
[00:07:03.950]one of the greatest sports achievements that ever occurred
[00:07:07.730]was the 1980 Winter Olympics.
[00:07:10.280]Team USA, a bunch of college hockey players
[00:07:14.260]that would go on to take on the greatest Olympic Team
[00:07:16.900]that was ever formed,
[00:07:18.000]professional group of hockey players, the Soviet Red Army.
[00:07:22.210]But we could talk about the game,
[00:07:23.641]we can talk about the players,
[00:07:25.040]but it was their coach, Herb Brooks.
[00:07:28.550]Herb Brooks, would go on to coach at the NHL.
[00:07:31.230]He coached at Minnesota Golden Gophers,
[00:07:33.060]he won three NCAA tournaments,
[00:07:35.340]that was how he formed that team,
[00:07:38.660]the team of young, inexperienced,
[00:07:40.500]they were the youngest team in the Olympics,
[00:07:43.220]got them to the gold medal round.
[00:07:44.660]And on February 22nd, 1980,
[00:07:48.990]he stood in the locker room
[00:07:51.230]where a week prior at Madison Square Garden,
[00:07:55.240]that Soviet Olympic hockey team walloped,
[00:07:58.510]that USA hockey team in front of a huge TV audience,
[00:08:02.500]10 to three,
[00:08:03.460]there was no chance that they could beat the Soviets
[00:08:06.890]in this medal game.
[00:08:08.620]But he stood there and he looked each
[00:08:11.070]and every one of his players in the eye,
[00:08:14.460]and he said, "It's your time, their time is over.
[00:08:22.827]"Go out there and take it."
[00:08:26.350]And they did.
[00:08:27.810]Mike Eruzione who scored with five minutes left in the game,
[00:08:31.240]four to three,
[00:08:32.073]the Americans held on and Al Michaels made that famous,
[00:08:35.437]"Do you believe in miracles?"
[00:08:38.470]It may be the greatest David-Goliath storybook ending
[00:08:42.730]that's ever been told.
[00:08:46.300]But as I think about the future and these grand challenges,
[00:08:51.260]I see you the graduates of 2020 and 2021
[00:08:55.000]from this institution,
[00:08:56.180]the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[00:08:59.500]you are the ones that are going to have your time.
[00:09:03.370]It is your time.
[00:09:05.860]It is your time, because you are the generation
[00:09:12.940]that knows it's not about me, it's about we.
[00:09:17.550]You're the generation that understands
[00:09:19.220]that there's something out there
[00:09:20.190]that's bigger than yourselves,
[00:09:23.510]and it is that point that I asked you to think
[00:09:26.300]and commit today as you celebrate this day
[00:09:30.380]to commit to being your best self.
[00:09:33.490]And when I say your best self,
[00:09:35.840]it's to get us past this next problem,
[00:09:38.030]that's occurring more and more.
[00:09:40.470]We've lost trust in most of the leaders
[00:09:43.080]of our largest institutions here in the United States.
[00:09:46.460]Leaders that used to be able to get up at a podium
[00:09:48.910]and say something,
[00:09:49.743]and everybody would just say,
[00:09:50.827]"Yup, that's how it is."
[00:09:52.710]Elected officials, people that are sworn to protect us,
[00:09:56.930]medical officials, even our military sworn to support
[00:10:00.740]and defend our constitution and our nation.
[00:10:03.860]We're questioning whether or not
[00:10:05.130]they're really doing their jobs very well.
[00:10:08.710]And the only way we get back that trust
[00:10:11.860]even the trust that we have in each other, our peers.
[00:10:15.800]This is sometimes not realized
[00:10:17.280]that we'll find the answer by going to our phone
[00:10:19.300]and looking at Facebook or Twitter,
[00:10:21.280]or Instagram or TikTok,
[00:10:24.340]maybe we need to talk more to each other,
[00:10:26.150]have civil discourse,
[00:10:29.220]find that way of healing
[00:10:31.090]so that we can all serve a common good,
[00:10:34.110]a common purpose, so that we can bring back trust.
[00:10:40.070]It's your time,
[00:10:42.510]because you have had the values instilled in you
[00:10:45.640]from one of the greatest universities,
[00:10:47.270]not here in the United States, but in the world.
[00:10:50.870]You will leave here with this idea of perseverance,
[00:10:55.070]this idea of empathy,
[00:10:57.820]a sense of character and honor for yourself, your families,
[00:11:02.780]and wisdom.
[00:11:05.970]It's your time because you understand service.
[00:11:10.370]You don't have to have a patch on your arm to have honor.
[00:11:13.500]You don't have to be an elected official.
[00:11:15.760]You don't have to serve in the military.
[00:11:18.130]Go be your best self, follow your passion, we need you.
[00:11:26.680]Class of 2020 and class of 2021, congratulations.
[00:11:31.410]You are about to become alumni,
[00:11:33.660]Huskers forever, Go big Red Forever.
[00:11:38.760]It's your time.
[00:11:41.210]Go out there and take it.
[00:11:43.771]Thank you.
[00:11:44.604](congregation applauding)

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Go Big Grad | Ted Carter

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