“My purpose here today is pretty straightforward. Like the guy singing the national anthem at an NFL football game, no one came to hear him sing, but the game won’t start until he’s done … so let me do my part, and then let the celebrating begin.”
Retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki began his keynote speech at the University of Hawaii at Manoa graduation on May 12 with that perfect description of a commencement speaker. It’s a tough gig.
On the same day at UH-Hilo, video game designer and entrepreneur Henk Rogers began his address to graduating students with a joke about their team name: “I didn’t know we were graduating Vulcans today. So I want to congratulate all the Vulcans and all the earthlings who made it through the four years.”
Shinseki played it straight, telling graduates to continue to learn, to treasure Hawaii, to vote and to be grateful to their families who helped them go to college. “You are the product of their dreams,” he said.
Rogers told students about his three missions in life: to end carbon-based fuel, to end war and to make a “backup of life as we know it by going to other planets.”
“To this end, I’m going to build a moon base. Yes, a moon base,” Rogers said. “This moon base is going to be called Mahina. Mahina is the word for ‘moon’ in Hawaiian, and on the moon, it will be called ‘Mahinalani’, which is ‘moon heaven.’”
When you watch the YouTube video, make sure to look at the expressions of the people listening to his speech.
At Hawaii Community College’s graduation, held May 11, former HCC student state Sen. Kaialii Kahele gave a speech that has a good chance of being remembered.
He started by saying he attended all three high schools in Hilo because he was “kolohe” and got kicked out.
“This does have its advantages, because every five years I get invited to every high school reunion in Hilo,” he said, and the crowd laughed. It’s a relief when the speaker is self-deprecating and funny.
Kahele told of trying to play volleyball for the first time during his senior year of high school and making the team only because he’s tall.
“I was so bad, the St. Joe coach told me I would never ever be a volleyball player and asked me on several occasions to quit the team because he truly believed I was a danger to the other players and to myself,” Kahele said. “He never cut me, but he never played me. Not once the entire season. We would be getting blown out in Kohala, everybody’s playing, the people taking stats are playing. But not me.”
His story goes as the best of these stories go: Someone comes along and believes in him, takes him under his wing, trains him for two years almost like Mr. Miyagi in “Karate Kid.” Because of former Olympian Pete Velasco’s training, Kahele eventually gets to UH-Manoa and tries for a walk-on spot on the men’s volleyball team.
On the first day of practice, he meets the head coach, Mike Wilton — the same coach who had refused to play him at St. Joe’s. The tryouts are grueling. It is survival of the fittest, bravest and the most willing.
Everyone knows what happened: Kahele played for UH from 1994-97. But even if you know how a story ends, the magic is in the telling.
Kahele’s speech included great details, but then, the clincher: Kahele called on the man who took him from kolohe scrub to scholar athlete, Air National Guard, Hawaiian Airlines pilot and, now, the state Legislature.
“I have never had an opportunity to publicly thank him for that, but he happens to be here tonight as my guest,” Kahele said, reaching his hand toward the audience as he introduced the 81-year-old Velasco. “I love you,” Kahele said.
Everyone in the Edith Kanaka‘ole Stadium stood for Velasco.
The way these speeches work, the speaker is supposed to leave a message for the new graduates, one they may or may not remember.
“If there’s one thing I hope you take from my story, it’s that anything is possible,” Kahele said.
But then, looking toward his coach, he came up with a better one: “The greatest joy you will ever feel is the joy in helping others succeed.”
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
