Conan Rouses Dartmouth

This was Conan O'Brien's congratulatory speech to Dartmouth College's Graduating Class of 2011. Like Mr. O'Brien, I am fond of quoting Nietzsche philosophy. I like how "Nietzsche" rolls in the tongue; it rhymes with peachy and tamagochi.

You will never know what your future job will be, Conan says. He may be right. Three years ago I wrote in my old blog a career crisis of sorts; I was asking myself whether medical school, graduate school or employment was the right thing to do. I never would have imagined working as a stocks trader, a home-based writer, or an office researcher after graduating with a degree in a specialist science.

Conan advises us to work hard, and when our efforts fail, we should be happy with it anyway. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it is solid advice. The future is not etched in stone. I never regretted my career decisions, and I am pretty happy with how I turned out.

Nietzsche (1888) was right: What does not kill you only makes you stronger.
Kelly Clarkson concurs, 123 years later.