In June 2012, McCullough was supposed to stand in front of the kids at Wellesley High School and tell them exactly what every other commencement speaker at every other high school in the country was telling the graduating class: that they are unique, incredible, amazing individuals. Everyone else has already done that. The only choice McCullough had was to try something different. He explains that being "special" seems to apply to everyone in today's world. David McCullough Jr. thinks students need to stop trying to excel at everything. He argues that the pressure to excel prevents students from taking chances and learning from failure.
McCullough's book is not about bashing students, their parents, or society. Instead, he sees himself as a mentor who wants the best for his students amid worries about a generation defined by college admissions decisions. McCullough hopes teenagers will "think about why they do what they do, follow new interests, not worry so much about material reward, invest themselves at the moment, and trust that results will take care of themselves." He wants today's kids to worry less about impressing people. McCullough told students that they are not special because everyone is special, and if everyone is special, one individual cannot be special. The speaker did not tell students that things were going to be great, or that they should go wherever the money is. Instead, McCullough told students that they should be involved in something that they love and believe in. Another great piece of advice he gave is that one cannot wait for things to come them; they must go out and work for it.
McCullough's speech was realistic, but it was not the happiest of speeches -that is for sure. It may have put down some people in the beginning, but in the end, the graduating class probably understood everything that was said and why it was said. This speech was very relevant to life; sometimes people see and/or experience things and do not understand their meaning until later. The purpose in life is not to follow others or do what society thinks is right. An individual's purpose in life is to look inside and do what they love whilst doing it around people that they love and enjoy being around. "You are not special" is used to the extent that everyone has the same fate as one another. What people choose to do in life ultimately does not matter; individual happiness is the only thing that matters. Each individual is special in their own unique way, but as a whole, everyone is held to the s...
