Calling on Jacksonville University (JU) graduates to remain committed to public service despite failed leadership in Washington, D.C., former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., the Republican presidential nominee who lost to President Barack Obama in 2012, offered a commencement address to almost 900 graduates on Saturday.
With your 16 years of education, the world you know has been greatly expanded, Romney said in his speech. Today, you step with both feet into a seemingly boundless world. With such vastness and nearly infinite directions available to you, where do you go, what do you do with your life? I've been journeying and exploring in that world for quite some time now. Today, I thought I might share some of the guideposts that have helped me along the way.
Romney advised his listeners to keep expanding your world and continue their pursuits of knowledge.
Never stop engaging in your world, Romney insisted. For most of you, engaging in life will also mean getting married and having children. Quoting the Old Testament, Romney talked about his family life.
I'm not sure whether having five sons qualifies as a full quiver, but I can affirm that they brought immeasurable happiness, as promised by the Psalmist, Romney said. And to my point, they expanded and engaged Ann and me in ways we would not have expected.
Romney also offered career advice to the new graduates.
Work engages you in life, Romney said. You come to know more people, to understand their motivations and values, and to learn the intricacies of the enterprise that employs you. Don't waste time bemoaning your job. Don't skim by with the minimum of effort. Dive in. Get more from your job than the paycheck.
If you're like I was at my graduation, you think you have a pretty good idea what your career will look like. In fact, nothing about my career transpired as I had imagined it, Romney continued. The biggest departure from my predicted career path came with my decision to run for political office. When I stepped into the auditorium to debate Ted Kennedy, I turned to Ann and asked: In your wildest dreams, did you see me running for U.S. Senate? Mitt,'she replied, you weren't in my wildest dreams. Actually, she didn't say that. That was a joke I bought for my campaign.
Romney weighed in on his loss in 2012.
I have experienced successes and failures, Romney said. I am asked what it felt like to lose to President Obama. Well, not as good as winning. Failures aren't fun, but they are inevitable. More importantly, failures don't have to define who you are. Some people measure their life by their secular successes -- how high on the corporate ladder did they get? How much money did they make? Did they do better than their high school classmate? One business partner of mine went back to his high school reunion in Fort Scott, Kansas. As a wealthy financier, he expected to be voted by his 50 or so former classmates as the most successful graduate. To his dismay, a local doctor took that honor. So at the reunion five years later, this partner of mine chartered a jet to fly him to Fort Scott. It buzzed the town before landing at the tiny airport. Predictably, this time he won the vote.
If that's the kind of vote you're looking for, you're bound to be disappointed. Life has way too much chance and luck -- good and bad -- to be assured that kind of success. And if your life is lived for money and position, it will be a shallow and unfulfilling journey, Romney added. The real wealth in life is in your friendships, your marriage, your children, what you have learned in your work, what you have overcome, your relationship with God, and in what you have contributed to others.
This last dimension, contribution to others, is often overlooked, Romney said before turning his focus to the founder of another higher education institution in Florida: businessman Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria University. Tom Monaghan's father died when he was just 4 years old. His mother entrusted him to a Catholic orphanage. He graduated from high school and enrolled in the University of Michigan. The tuition proved to be beyond his reach, so to help meet costs, he and his brother bought and ran a pizza shop for $900. When he had expanded it to three shops, his brother sold his interest to Tom for a used Volkswagen.
He named his stores Dominos and Tom became wealthy. Romney continued. He bought a vintage Bugatti automobile for $8.4 million. He bought the Detroit Tigers and won the World Series the next year. He began construction of a massive modern home, one that would rival his majestic corporate office in Ann Arbor. When I met him in 1998, I was surprised to find him seated in a closet-sized ante-chamber to what had once been his spacious executive suite. He had sold the Tigers, the car, and had stopped construction of his mansion. Tom had signed what was called the Millionaire's Vow of Poverty. Accordingly, he would not drive a luxury car, fly in a private plane, or assume any of the trappings of wealth. That had included trading his impressive office for the small cubicle where I had found him.
Tom explained that reading the Bible and the essays of C.S. Lewis had reminded him of his upbringing in the Catholic orphanage. He wanted to change his life, and devote his remaining years to service, Romney said. On behalf of Bain Capital, I wrote Tom a check to buy Dominos for over $1 billion. Keeping all but a small living stipend, he then turned around and donated the rest to Catholic charities. He founded a college and named it, not after himself, but after Mary: Ave Maria University. I asked him a few weeks ago what the most rewarding part of his life was. Was it winning the World Series, building Dominos, or driving his Bugatti? You can guess his answer. It wasn't the toys -- I've had enough toys to know how unimportant they are. It was giving back, through the university.
Romney closed by urging his listeners to remain public servants even if they stay out of the political process.
Living life in fullness includes serving others, and doing so without pride or personal gain. It will fill your heart and expand your mind. I've seen that kind of service in large and small ways in my own family, Romney said before noting how members of his family served as volunteers and in the armed forces.
My father and I both ran for political office," Romney said. Wait a second: that last item, running for office, may not seem like real service to you. I know that for some, politics is an occupation, and a fine one at that. But for Dad and me, it came after our careers were over. I believed, and my father believed, that if we were elected, we could really help people.
Most of you probably won't run for office, but the country needs all of you to serve, Romney added. America faces daunting challenges: generational poverty, looming debt, a warming climate, and a world that is increasingly dangerous and tumultuous. Washington appears inept, powerless and without an effective strategy to overcome any of these. America needs your passion, your impatience, your participation in the political discourse. Engaging in your world includes engaging in citizenship -- staying informed, influencing others, campaigning for people you trust, and for the sake of preserving freedom, please vote.
The cozy little world of your childhood is long gone, Romney said in conclusion. You may be tempted to try to create for yourself that same kind of small and safe circle, concentrating on entertainments for yourself, doing the minimum at work, reading nothing because nothing has been assigned, avoiding meaningful commitments, complaining about the inevitable unfairnesses of life. Alternatively, you can expand your world and engage in your world, constantly learning, nourishing friendships, overcoming reversals, and serving others. That is the road less traveled, and it will make all the difference. God bless you in your life's journey.
Romney has been busy on the First Coast in recent days. On Tuesday, he endorsed former Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) Chairman Lenny Curry in the runoff next month against Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown. Curry led the RPOF in the 2012 elections when Romney was the Republican candidate against President Barack Obama. Romney attended a fundraiser for Curry on Friday night.
Over the years, JU has focused on bringing political leaders to the First Coast, including President Gerald Ford after his White House tenure, President Lyndon Johnson during his days as John F. Kennedys vice president, U.S. Secretaries of State Dean Rusk and Colin Powell and third-party presidential hopeful Ross Perot.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
