Bush - Your own true colors: commencement address Wellesley College June 1, 1990

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Also by Barbara Bush

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MILLIES BOOK

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SCRIBNER

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Text copyright 1994 by Barbara Bush

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Interior illustrations by Taylor Noel

Interior design by Erich Hobbing

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ISBN 978-1-9821-0951-6

ISBN 978-1-9821-0953-0 (ebook)

More than ten years ago when I was first invited to speak at Wellesley, I was struck by both the natural beauty of your campus... and the spirit of this place.

Wellesley, you see, is not just a place... but an idea... an experiment in excellence in which diversity is not just tolerated, but is embraced.

The essence of this spirit was captured in a moving speech about tolerance given by the Student Body President of one of your sister colleges. She related the story by Robert Fulghum about a young pastor who, finding himself in charge of some very energetic children, hit upon a game called Giants, Wizards, and Dwarfs.

You have to decide now, the Pastor instructed the children, which you are... a giant, a wizard, or a dwarf?

At that, a small girl tugging on his pant leg asked, But where do the mermaids stand?

The Pastor told her there are no mermaids. Oh yes there are, she said. I am a mermaid.

This little girl knew what she was. She was not about to give up on either her identity or the game. She intended to take her place wherever mermaids fit into the scheme of things.

Where do mermaids stand... all those who are different, those who do not fit the boxes and the pigeonholes? Answer that question, wrote Fulghum, and you can build a school, a nation, or a whole world on it.

As that very wise young woman said, Diversity... like anything worth having... requires effort. Effort to learn about and respect difference, to be compassionate with one another, to cherish our own identity... and to accept unconditionally the same in all others. You should all be very proud that this is the Wellesley spirit.

Now I know your first choice for today was Alice Walker, known for The Color Purple. Instead you got meknown for... the color of my hair! Of course, Alice Walkers book has a special resonance here. At Wellesley, each class is known by a special color... and for four years the class of 90 has worn the color purple.

Today you meet on Severance Green to say good-bye to all that... to begin a new and very personal journey... a search for your own true colors.

In the world that awaits you beyond the shores of Lake Waban, no one can say what your true colors will be. But this I know: You have a first-class education from a first-class school. And so you need not, probably cannot, live a paint-by-numbers life.

Decisions are not irrevocable. Choices do come back. As you set off from Wellesley, I hope that many of you consider making three very special choices.

The first is to believe in something larger than yourself... to get involved in some of the big ideals of your time.

I chose literacy because I honestly believe that if more people could read, write, and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems plaguing our society.