Dillard University 2015 Commencement Address Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington, a renowned actor and philanthropist, delivered a powerful commencement speech at Dillard University. He emphasized the importance of faith, gratitude, and helping others. Washington shared personal anecdotes, encouraging graduates to put God first, embrace failure, set goals, work hard, and prioritize helping others. He stressed the value of humility, discipline, consistency, and the joy that comes from assisting others. His message resonated with the audience as he inspired them to make a positive impact and express gratitude for life's blessings. Good morning classmates, faculty, and staff, family, friends, loved ones. My name is Joy Simeon and it has been an honor to serve as the Vice President of the Senior Class of 2015. I am here today to introduce a very important person, our 2015 Commencement speaker. It would be an understatement to say that many of us are enthralled and yes, even enamored with our speaker today. A native of Mount Vernon, New York, Denzel Washington is one of the most versatile actors in the industry. The eldest of three children born to a Pentecostal minister and beauty shop owner. Washington had his career sights set on medicine when he attended Fordham University. After appearing in a theater production in a summer camp, he became hooked on acting. Upon graduation from Fordham, Washington was accepted into San Francisco's prestigious American Conservatory Theater. He began his professional theater career in New York and was discovered by Hollywood in 1979. Our speaker today has appeared in more than 42 movies and theatrical productions and has been nominated for 91 awards. He has won 39, including two Academy Awards. He won Academy Awards for Glory for Best Supporting Actor in 1989 and Best Actor in 2001 for Training Day. Mr. Washington has also won two Golden Globe Awards, five Black Reel Awards, 13 NAACP Image Awards, 12 Tony Awards, and 11 Film Critic Awards, among many others. In addition to his accomplishments on screen, Mr. Washington produced the HBO documentary Half Past Autumn, The Life and Works of Gordon Parks. which was subsequently nominated for two Emmy Awards. He also served as executive producer on Hank Aaron's Chasing the Dream, a biographical documentary for TBS, which was nominated for an Emmy Award. Although we insist on pouring on the accolades for all of his achievements, Mr. Washington is actually a modest, faith-filled, family-oriented, and generous man. His response to all his awards has been something he was taught by his mother, and I quote, Man gives the award and God gives the reward, end quote. Another attribute of today's speaker that some of you may not know is that he relies on his faith to deal with circumstances in his life. We at Dillard know a lot about faith. In the nearly ten years since Hurricane Katrina devastated our campus, we relied heavily on our faith. And we have come a long way since then. Look around you and see how beautiful we are. We have also relied on the generosity of others, including that of our speaker today. Mr. Washington has not only made a difference in the world of film, but he has made a difference right here on our campus. And Elijah Dillard students by providing many scholarships to nearly a dozen students studying the humanities. Will the Denzel Washington Scholars present today please stand? You may be seated. Please join me and the class of 2015 in welcoming our commencement speaker for today. Actor, producer, and philanthropist, Dr. Mr. Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. And thank you to the choir for their beautiful collection. Thank you, Bishop, for your prayer. Mr. Jones, thank you. And thank you for inviting me, Mr. President, hip-hop president. Can you fit? Can you fit? A little bit? A little bit, a little nod, a little jigging? Oh, no, we're in Louisiana. That's right. What is it, Cash Money All-Star? Louisiana. Not lollipop, though. Not lollipop. But thank you for having me. Let me take this moment to, first of all, wholeheartedly. I guess I can do this without my glasses. I can see. Maybe. Let me take this moment to wholeheartedly congratulate each and every one of you. Today, you graduated. You did it. You made it. Congratulations to you. And you did it all by yourselves. Nobody helped you. That's what I thought when I was young, starting to really make it as an actor. I came in. I talked to my mother. I said, Ma, did you think that this was going to happen? I'd be so big, and I'd be able to take care of everybody, and I can do this, and I can do that. And she said, Boy, stop it right there. Stop it right there. Stop it right there. She said, If you only knew how many people that have been praying for you, how many prayer groups she put together, how many prayer cloths she gave me, how many times she splashed me with holy water to save my sorry behind. She said, Oh, you did it by yourself? I'll tell you what you can do by yourself. You can go outside and get a mop and a bucket and wash them windows. You can do that by yourself, superstar. So I'm saying that to say I want to congratulate all the parents and friends and family and aunties and uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers and teachers and friends and enemies, all the people that helped you to get where you are today. Congratulations to you all. I'm going to tell about two, three stories. I'm going to keep it real short. I remember my graduation speaker got up there, went on forever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm going to keep it short. Number one, put God first. Put God first in everything you do. Everything that you think you see in me, everything that I've accomplished, everything that you think I have, and I have a few things, everything that I have is by the grace of God. Understand that. It's a gift. Forty years ago, March 27th, 1975, it was 40 years ago, just this past March, I was flunking out of college at a 1.7 grade point average. I hope none of you can relate. At a 1.7 grade point average, I was sitting in my mother's beauty shop. They still call it a beauty shop now? Yeah, I was sitting in the beauty parlor. I was sitting in my mother's beauty parlor, and I'm looking in the mirror, and I see behind me this woman under the dryer, and every time she looked up, every time I looked up, she was looking at me, just looking me in the eye. I didn't know who she was, and I said, you know, she said, somebody give me a pen, give me a pencil. I have a prophecy. March 27th, 1975, she said, boy, you are going to travel the world and speak to millions of people. Now, mind you, I was flunked out of college. I'm thinking about joining the Army. I didn't know what I was going to do, and she's telling me I'm going to travel the world and speak to millions of people. Well, I have traveled the world, and I have spoke to millions of people. But that's not the most important thing, the success that I had. The most important thing is that what she taught me and what she told me that day has stayed with me since. I've been protected. I've been directed. I've been corrected. I've kept God in my life, and it's kept me humble. I didn't always stick with him, but he always stuck with me. So stick with him in everything you do. If you think you want to do what you think I've done, then do what I've done and stick with God. Number two, fail big. That's right. Fail big. Today is the beginning of the rest of your life, and it can be very frightening. It's a new world out there. It's a mean world out there, and you only live once. So do what you feel passionate about. Take chances professionally. Don't be afraid to fail. There's an old IQ test. It was nine dots, and you had to draw five lines with a pencil within these nine dots without lifting the pencil. The only way to do it was to go outside the box. So don't be afraid to go outside the box. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. Don't be afraid to fail big, to dream big. But remember, dreams without goals are just dreams, and they ultimately fuel disappointment. So have dreams, but have goals, life goals, yearly goals, monthly goals, daily goals. I try to give myself a goal every day. Sometimes it's just to not curse somebody out. Simple goals, but have goals. And understand that to achieve these goals, you must apply discipline and consistency. In order to achieve your goals, you must apply discipline, which you have already done, and consistency every day. Not just on Tuesday and just a few days. You have to work at it every day. You have to plan every day. You've heard the saying, we don't plan to fail, we fail to plan. Hard work works. Working really hard is what successful people do. And in this text, tweet, twerk world that you've grown up in, remember, just because you're doing a lot more, doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done. Remember that. Just because you're doing a lot more, doesn't mean you're getting a lot more done. Don't confuse movement with progress. My mother told me, she said, yeah, because you can run in place all the time and never get anywhere. So continue to strive. Continue to have goals. Continue to progress. Number three, you'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. I'll say it again. You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse. I don't care how much money you make, you can't take it with you. The Egyptians tried it. They got robbed. That's all they got. You can't take it with you, and it's not how much you have. It's what you do with what you have. We all have different talents. Some of you will be doctors. Some lawyers. Some scientists. Some educators. Some nurses. Some teachers. Yeah, okay. Some preachers. The most selfish thing you can do in this world is help someone else. Why is it selfish? Because the gratification, the goodness that comes to you, the good feeling. The good feeling that I get from helping others. Nothing's better than that. Well, one of two things, but nothing's better than that. Not jewelry, not the big house I have, not the cars, but it's the joy. That's where the joy is in helping others. That's where the success is in helping others. Finally, I pray that you put your slippers way under the bed tonight so that when you wake up in the morning, you have to get on your knees to reach them. And while you're down there, say thank you for grace. Thank you for mercy. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for wisdom. Thank you for parents. Thank you for love. Thank you for kindness. Thank you for humility. Thank you for peace. Thank you for prosperity. Say thank you in advance for what's already yours. That's how I live my life. That's why I am, one of the reasons why I am today. Say thank you in advance for what is already yours. True desire in the heart for anything good is God's proof to you sent beforehand to indicate that it's yours already. I'll say it again. True desire in the heart, that itch that you have, whatever it is you want to do, that thing that you want to do to help others and to grow and to make money, that desire, that itch, that's God's proof to you sent beforehand already to indicate that it's yours. And anything you want good, you can have. So claim it. Work hard to get it. When you get it, reach back. Pull someone else up. Each one, teach one. Don't just aspire to make a living. Aspire to make a difference. Thank you.