This was my commencement address! My best friend and I sat there pretty stunned at how good it was. I've shown this to a lot of friends and family and everyone considers it one of the better commencement addresses out there.
I know the bed-making recommendation may sound trite, banal and pointless, I've found in my own personal experience that the sense of pride and accomplishment and the momentum-building that it produces is absolutely non-negligible. Great speech, I oftentimes ponder whether mandatory 2-year military services after college should be enacted. I think it would definitely help improve our country and make us much more hesitant to use war as a tool aside from immediate defense.
>Sounds like the sugar cookie test is a way of filtering out people who won't blindly accept arbitrary rules from authority.
Quite a non sequitur there.
As mentioned during the speech, Adm. McRaven was describing his own SEAL training. Since SEALs are an elite branch of the US Navy, individuals have to explicitly volunteer to enter SEAL training, are screened to a very high standard, and are warned well in advance that the training is extremely taxing, both physically and mentally.
>of the US Navy, individuals have to explicitly volunteer to enter SEAL training, are screened to a very high standard, and are warned well in advance that the training is extremely taxing, both physically and mentally.
They are also conditioned not to question the training, or the missions, or anything much, for that matter.
To put it politely, that wasn't an opinion, that was a statement of fact valid for every military in the world. Solders are there to obey commands, not to question them. And I've been through service.
I think it's more than that. It's a way of filtering people who can't handle the frustration of repeated failure and failing in spite of doing everything right. For elite soldiers like the SEALs, I can see how this would be valuable. There is a high risk of failure on their missions, as well as a high risk of capture, since they often operate behind enemy lines. The ability to handle persistent hardship without giving up could mean the difference between life and death.
In fairness, given that he cites George Washington, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela as inspiring examples, I don't think that's the intended message here.
If you want to be a SEAL, blindly (trustingly) accept orders from authority figures who are doing things specifically designed to produce the best SEALs that they know how to produce. If you don't want to be a SEAL, don't.
I don't think everyone's opinion on whether it is inane or not makes their reasoning equally valid. "Use your head" only makes sense when the head in question is capable of independent critical thought, and the ability to distinguish fact from fantasy.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 50.1 ms ] threadQuite a non sequitur there.
As mentioned during the speech, Adm. McRaven was describing his own SEAL training. Since SEALs are an elite branch of the US Navy, individuals have to explicitly volunteer to enter SEAL training, are screened to a very high standard, and are warned well in advance that the training is extremely taxing, both physically and mentally.
They are also conditioned not to question the training, or the missions, or anything much, for that matter.