"Question everything you're told"

It's graduation time on many campuses. In fact, we missed many folks at SHEA's spring meeting last weekend because they were attending a family member's or student's graduation.

Twenty-five years ago, when I graduated from the University of Michigan, I was lucky enough to have a good seat for Lawrence Kasdan's (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, The Big Chill, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) speech, which I've posted above. Many things he said on that day, I still carry with me. For example, I suspect that folks that "question everything they're told" are more likely to choose a career in infectious diseases.

A few highlights (full text here):

"Here’s what I can tell you: the hardest thing in the world is to let yourself know what you know. Why? Because life is noisy. Everything we’re told, everything about the way we’re raised and educated and bombarded by our culture makes noise. And that noise makes it very hard to hear the ticking of our own hearts"

"Did you know that eating a double sausage pizza at midnight, on the night before a final, may not be the smartest thing to do....nutrition wise?"