Go Big Grad | Shane Farritor

UComm Author

12/18/2021 Added

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Shane Farritor, professor of mechanical and materials engineering, delivers the December 2021 commencement address.

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[00:00:04.530]I'm so sorry, I can't be with you in person today.
[00:00:07.550]Over the last year and a half,
[00:00:08.890]there were so many things that I didn't wanna do,
[00:00:11.700]it's too bad COVID had to mess this one up,
[00:00:14.200]'cause I do wanna be with you.
[00:00:16.610]Of course, this disease has been terrible for so many,
[00:00:18.590]and I'm just thankful, it's been mild for me.
[00:00:21.870]I grew up in central Nebraska, and I'm an alumnus of UNL,
[00:00:25.480]and I've been teaching here for 23 years.
[00:00:27.200]It's crazy to think that that's probably longer
[00:00:29.150]than most of you have been alive.
[00:00:31.440]This university has been a big part of my life,
[00:00:33.870]and now, it's going to be, mean a lot to each of you.
[00:00:37.420]Congratulations on your graduation
[00:00:39.390]from this wonderful university.
[00:00:41.460]Welcome to the family.
[00:00:44.050]As you know,
[00:00:44.883]I'm an engineer,
[00:00:45.716]and they usually don't let us talk to people,
[00:00:47.790]so it's nice to be here in front of you, at least virtually.
[00:00:52.220]We have business majors, art and architecture,
[00:00:54.650]history, math, and such a diversity of talent.
[00:00:58.160]Of course, we have some mechanical engineers out there,
[00:00:59.880]and I promised to give a shout out
[00:01:01.100]to my Advanced Kinematics class.
[00:01:03.530]Those guys are ready to go out in the world
[00:01:05.400]and generate some impressive mechanisms.
[00:01:07.750]Yes.
[00:01:09.620]I also checked the program,
[00:01:11.080]and I see that there's some civil engineers out there.
[00:01:14.210]That's good to see.
[00:01:15.640]I don't mean to disparage civil engineers,
[00:01:18.460]but I'm a mechanical engineer, and they're my favorite.
[00:01:21.870]Oh, and for you civil engineers,
[00:01:23.300]disparage means to put down or insult.
[00:01:25.661](drum rimshot)
[00:01:27.200]But I guess what I'm trying to say is,
[00:01:29.290]it's really good to be here with you.
[00:01:32.600]Before we get started,
[00:01:33.800]I wanna remind you to thank those of you
[00:01:36.310]who helped get you here today.
[00:01:39.070]For many of you, that's likely your parents.
[00:01:41.700]We have a lot to be thankful for, and as we celebrate today,
[00:01:45.780]be sure and celebrate your parents.
[00:01:48.070]Now, my main point is something,
[00:01:52.670]that is not specifically original to me,
[00:01:54.560]but it's something that I think about a lot.
[00:01:57.470]The takeaway line, that I want you to remember,
[00:02:00.060]is to know your center,
[00:02:02.510]know your center.
[00:02:05.150]I had to give a title for my talk awhile ago,
[00:02:07.530]and I don't really even remember
[00:02:08.920]what title's in your program,
[00:02:10.150]so cross it out and put in "know your center."
[00:02:15.720]In classical Greek mythology,
[00:02:17.780]there was a goddess named Tyche.
[00:02:19.780]She was said to be responsible
[00:02:21.070]for all kinds of random events, floods and fires,
[00:02:24.850]and maybe that wind we had last week
[00:02:26.560]can be attributed to Tyche.
[00:02:29.290]Legend tells us that she was the one
[00:02:31.340]who had the first pair of dice,
[00:02:33.180]and all things of chance were governed by Tyche.
[00:02:37.900]As near as I can tell, the Romans stole all the Greek gods,
[00:02:41.120]and they renamed Tyche into Fortuna.
[00:02:44.190]Of course, Fortuna is where we get our word "fortune,"
[00:02:47.560]meaning chance from luck or external force,
[00:02:50.680]just as the goddess Tyche would bring random events.
[00:02:54.930]In the Middle Ages,
[00:02:55.910]fortune was represented in the wheel of fortune.
[00:02:59.190]It's not the game show that you're thinking of now,
[00:03:01.100]where you spin the wheel and you say R-S-T-L-N-E,
[00:03:04.690]and you try to solve the puzzle.
[00:03:06.440]My mother-in-law would be so happy
[00:03:07.860]that I'm talking about her favorite show.
[00:03:11.060]The medieval wheel of fortune can still be seen
[00:03:14.020]in cathedrals in Europe.
[00:03:15.620]Sometimes, it's in a window.
[00:03:17.700]Sometimes, it's a painting.
[00:03:20.380]At the top of the wheel is a king,
[00:03:22.450]at the bottom of the wheel is a prince or a pauper,
[00:03:24.730]with no money and no power.
[00:03:26.710]On the right side of the wheel,
[00:03:28.680]the king is falling or being slain in some way.
[00:03:30.760]On the left side of the wheel, the pauper is rising,
[00:03:33.070]we have an up and comer.
[00:03:34.800]The wheel depicts how there are successes and failures
[00:03:38.810]and everywhere in between, such is life.
[00:03:41.930]The wheel spins around and around, and you rise and fall.
[00:03:45.030]Fortune spins the wheel, and you go up and down.
[00:03:49.120]I think this is a great image and important warning.
[00:03:53.490]Now, let me tie this wheel
[00:03:55.450]to one of my favorite modern philosophers, Dr. Tom Osborne.
[00:03:59.920]I remember Coach Osborne saying something such as,
[00:04:02.327]"Things probably are never as good as you think they are,
[00:04:05.017]"and they're probably never as bad as you think they are."
[00:04:08.500]He was suggesting that there's a better way
[00:04:11.170]than to ride the wheel of fortune up and down.
[00:04:15.210]And this brings me to my main point I wanna make,
[00:04:19.220]know your center.
[00:04:21.290]I think you need to work
[00:04:22.330]to find and live in the center of the wheel,
[00:04:24.910]away from the ups and downs of fortune.
[00:04:28.370]You need to have a center that grounds you.
[00:04:30.870]Of course, you're going to have ups and downs,
[00:04:33.610]that will make you feel good
[00:04:34.680]when you're on the top of the wheel.
[00:04:36.520]There's no way to avoid the ups and downs.
[00:04:39.670]However, if you have a center that grounds you,
[00:04:44.710]you will have some detachment from these things
[00:04:47.010]that go up and down on the rim of the wheel.
[00:04:49.960]Now, my Advanced Kinematics students out there
[00:04:54.490]will tell you that when you're at the center of the wheel,
[00:04:56.830]of a spinning wheel,
[00:04:57.830]there's no velocity at the center of the wheel.
[00:04:59.640]However, the further you get away from the center,
[00:05:02.410]the quicker you spin around and around,
[00:05:04.330]through the whims of fortune.
[00:05:06.570]It's only at the center of the wheel where things slow down,
[00:05:09.980]and there is peace.
[00:05:11.820]At the center of the wheel, everything is calm.
[00:05:15.330]There's a great Quaker hymn that says,
[00:05:17.657]"No storm can shake my inmost calm,
[00:05:21.117]"while to this rock I'm clinging."
[00:05:23.710]Notice how the song recognizes the storm.
[00:05:26.500]Of course, there are storms.
[00:05:28.710]It can be a difficult storm,
[00:05:29.870]such as the 80 mile per hour wind
[00:05:31.320]that hit my house last week.
[00:05:34.820]Some of you had it much worse,
[00:05:37.380]but knowing where your center is
[00:05:39.190]can detach you from the storm and hold you in place.
[00:05:43.320]You're not riding the rim of the wheel
[00:05:45.180]when you're at the center.
[00:05:47.570]This is an easy thing to talk about,
[00:05:49.340]but it's much more difficult to do.
[00:05:51.260]Life is hard.
[00:05:52.810]It's hard for everyone.
[00:05:54.610]It's harder for some than it is for others.
[00:05:56.710]These are facts.
[00:05:58.280]It's hard to avoid the bottom of the wheel,
[00:06:00.490]and it's easy to forget about the bottom of the wheel,
[00:06:02.330]when you're near the top.
[00:06:04.370]When things are going well,
[00:06:05.430]we don't worry about the bottom of the wheel.
[00:06:07.490]However, I think we need to be anchored in the center.
[00:06:12.160]I think the center of the wheel is the only place
[00:06:14.860]to find true joy and true peace.
[00:06:19.010]Now, the difficult thing is to know your center.
[00:06:22.100]For many of us, it's the divine.
[00:06:24.680]Our families and those we love
[00:06:26.700]are certainly near the center of our wheel.
[00:06:29.280]It can be other forms of responsibility that we take on,
[00:06:32.450]that give us meaning.
[00:06:34.070]It's not easy to find your center,
[00:06:35.860]but I think we need to try.
[00:06:38.190]Tragically, I think many of us live our life
[00:06:40.380]on the rim of the wheel, going up and down.
[00:06:43.420]Find your center.
[00:06:45.000]From the center,
[00:06:45.833]you can watch the wheel spin up and down
[00:06:47.790]and around and around,
[00:06:48.790]as something extrinsic to what holds meaning for you.
[00:06:52.780]You can have peace,
[00:06:53.810]even as the storm rages and spins around you.
[00:06:58.080]Andrew Carnegie said
[00:06:58.990]that you should spend the first 1/3 of your life,
[00:07:00.730]learning everything you can.
[00:07:02.300]That's about where each of you are right now.
[00:07:06.780]I want you to, of course, I want you to keep learning,
[00:07:11.260]but perhaps, starting today,
[00:07:13.560]you need to think about
[00:07:15.260]what belongs at the center of your wheel of fortune.
[00:07:18.440]The things at the center of the wheel
[00:07:20.500]are what brings you meaning.
[00:07:22.620]These things need to be personal,
[00:07:25.390]things that give you strength.
[00:07:27.750]I think they can't be abstract goals,
[00:07:29.630]like saving the whales,
[00:07:30.960]although I want the whales to do fine.
[00:07:33.410]I think your center has to be
[00:07:34.680]something that's meaningful to you,
[00:07:36.990]and something you have to live every day.
[00:07:39.400]So find your center.
[00:07:41.560]So today's one takeaway
[00:07:43.130]is to think about the wheel of fortune and know your center.
[00:07:47.000]Don't live life on the rim of the wheel.
[00:07:49.320]Find and become grounded to the center.
[00:07:51.950]I can't tell you what that center should be.
[00:07:53.860]It's something very personal that you will need to discover.
[00:07:56.830]Remember the wheel,
[00:07:58.070]and remember that things probably are not
[00:07:59.960]as good as you think they are,
[00:08:01.200]and they're probably not as bad as you think they are.
[00:08:06.720]So, find your center.
[00:08:09.180]Please celebrate your great accomplishment today.
[00:08:11.840]Celebrate and thank those who have supported you.
[00:08:15.980]But not long from now,
[00:08:17.160]find a quiet place and think about
[00:08:19.700]what belongs at the center of your wheel of fortune.
[00:08:22.470]What's important to you?
[00:08:23.810]What brings you meaning?
[00:08:26.040]Finally, always remember that we, as a university,
[00:08:28.690]are proud of you.
[00:08:30.630]Please keep the best Nebraska and UNL values
[00:08:33.580]close to your center.
[00:08:35.750]Be kind,
[00:08:37.800]do justice,
[00:08:39.900]walk humbly.
[00:08:41.890]Congratulations on your graduation and go Big Red.
[00:08:45.050]Beat Wisconsin.
[00:08:47.769](cheers of "Go Big Red")
[00:08:53.437](audience cheers)

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Go Big Grad | Shane Farritor

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