Whenever I see something in the Washington Post that includes a quote “I’m a Democrat and I can’t stand the guys view, but I was in tears,” well I know it’s either a pretty damn funny joke or something that is really really good.  Follow that up with references to Dylan in a speech from Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts, Jr … well, then I know I have tripped upon something pretty classic.

The Chief Justice’s commence speech at his son’s school was indeed that.  It was funny, it was wise, and it has something that I need to hear more often.  Specifically, the things he wishes for the graduating class because these things can help keep things in perspective more often than not.  He shared there following:

From time to time, in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly so you will come to know the value of justice.

I hope you will suffer betrayal ’cause that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so you don’t take friends for granted.

I wish you bad luck, again from time to time, so that you will be conscience of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either.

And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then that your opponent will gloat over your failure as a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship.

I hope you will be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others.

And I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion.

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will spend on your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

He ends his speech with some lyrics from Bob Dylan, and I expect that some day in the near future, I’ll probably be sharing these lyrics with Alex and Cristiana and perhaps they will take them to heart way better than I have.