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[Applause]

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President F,

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members of the Harvard Corporation and

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the board of overseers,

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members of the faculty, proud parents,

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and above all graduates.

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The first thing I would like to say is

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thank you. Not only has Harvard given me

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an extraordinary honor, but the weeks of

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fear and nausea I have endured

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at the thought of giving this

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commencement address have made me lose

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weight.

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A win-win situation.

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Now all I have to do is take deep

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breaths, squint at the red banners,

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and convince myself that that I am at

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the world's largest Gryffindor reunion.

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Delivering a commencement address is a

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great responsibility.

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Or so I thought until I cast my mind

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back to my own graduation.

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The commencement speaker that day was

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the distinguished British philosopher

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Baroness Mary Warick.

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Reflecting on her speech has helped me

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enormously in writing this one because

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it turns out that I can't remember a

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single word she said.

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This liberating discovery enables me to

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proceed

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without any fear that I might

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inadvertently influence you

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to abandon promising careers in

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business, the law, or politics for the

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giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.

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You see, if all you remember in years to

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come is the gay wizard joke, I've come

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out ahead of Baroness Mary Warner.

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Achievable goals, the first step to

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self-improvement.

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Actually, I have wrapped my mind and

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heart for what I ought to say to you

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today. I have asked myself what I wish I

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had known at my own graduation

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and what important lessons I have

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learned in the 21 years that have

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expired between that day and this.

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I have come up with two answers.

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On this wonderful day when we are

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gathered together to celebrate your

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academic success, I have decided to talk

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to you about the benefits of failure.

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And as you stand on the threshold of

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what is sometimes called real life, I

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want to extol the crucial importance of

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imagination.

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These may seem quickotic or paradoxical

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choices, but bear with me.

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Looking back at the 21-year-old that I

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was at graduation is a slightly

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uncomfortable experience for the

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42year-old that she has become.

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Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an

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uneasy balance between the ambition I

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had for myself and what those closest of

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to me expected of me.

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I was convinced that the only thing I

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wanted to do ever was write novels.

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However, my parents, both of whom came

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from impoverished backgrounds and

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neither of whom had been to college,

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took the view that my overactive

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imagination was an amusing personal

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quirk that would never pay a mortgage or

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secure a pension.

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I know the irony strikes with the force

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of a cartoon anvil now, but

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so they hoped that I would take a

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vocational degree. I wanted to study

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English literature. A compromise was

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reached that in retrospect satisfied

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nobody and I went up to study modern

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languages.

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Hardly had my parents' car round of the

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corner at the end of the road. Then I

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ditched German and scuttled off down the

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classics corridor.

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I cannot remember telling my parents

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that I was studying classics. They might

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well have found out for the first time

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on graduation day.

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Of all the subjects on this planet, I

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think they would have been hardput to

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name one less useful than Greek

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mythology when it came to securing the

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keys to an executive bathroom.

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Now, I would like to make it clear in

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parenthesis that I do not blame my

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parents for their point of view. There

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is an expiry date on blaming your

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parents for steering you in the wrong

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direction.

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The moment you are old enough to take

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the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

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What is more, I cannot criticize my

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parents for hoping that I would never

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experience poverty. They had been poor

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themselves and I have since been poor.

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And I quite agree with them that it is

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not an enabling experience.

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Poverty entails fear and stress and

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sometimes depression. It means a

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thousand petty humiliations and

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hardships.

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Climbing out of poverty by your own

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efforts, that is something on which to

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pride yourself. But poverty itself is

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romanticized only by fools.

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What I feared most for myself at your

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age was not poverty, but failure.

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At your age, in spite of a distinct lack

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of motivation at university, where I had

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spent far too long in the coffee bar

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writing stories and far too little time

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at lectures, I had a knack for passing

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examinations.

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And that for years had been the measure

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of success in my life and that of my

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peers.

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Now I am not dull enough to suppose that

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because you are young, gifted and well

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educated, you have never known

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heartbreak,

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hardship or heartache, talent and

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intelligence never yet inoculated anyone

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against the caprice of the fates and I

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do not for a moment suppose that

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everyone here has enjoyed an existence

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of unruffled privilege and contentment.

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However, the fact that you are

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graduating from Harvard suggests that

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you are not very well acquainted with

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failure.

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You might be driven by a fear of failure

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quite as much as a desire for success.

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Indeed, your conception of failure might

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not be too far removed from the average

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person's idea of success. So, high have

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you already flown.

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Ultimately, we all have to decide for

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ourselves what constitutes failure. But

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the world is quite eager to give you a

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set of criteria if you let it. So I

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think it fair to say that by any

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conventional measure, a mere seven years

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after my graduation day, I had failed on

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an epic scale.

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An exceptionally short-lived marriage

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had imploded and I was jobless, a lone

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parent and as poor as it is possible to

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be in modern Britain without being

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homeless.

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The fears that my parents had had for me

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and that I had had for myself had both

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come to pass. And by every usual

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standard, I was the biggest failure I

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knew.

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Now, I'm not going to stand here and

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tell you that failure is fun.

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That period of my life was a dark one

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and I had no idea that there was going

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to be what the press has si since

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represented as a kind of fairy tale

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resolution.

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I had no idea then how far the tunnel

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extended. And for a long time any light

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at the end of it was a hope rather than

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a reality.

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So why do I talk about the benefits of

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failure?

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simply because failure meant a stripping

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away of the inessential.

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I stopped pretending to myself that I

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was anything other than what I was and

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began to direct all my energy into

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finishing the only work that mattered to

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me. Had I really succeeded at anything

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else, I might never have found the

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determination to succeed in the one

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arena where I believed I truly belonged.

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I was set free because my greatest fear

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had been realized and I was still alive

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and I still had a daughter whom I adored

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and I had an old typewriter and a big

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idea and so rock botton became the solid

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foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

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You might never fail on the scale I did

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but some failure in life is inevitable.

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It is impossible to live without failing

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at something unless you live so

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cautiously that you might as well not

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have lived at all in which case you fail

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by default.

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Failure gave me an inner security that I

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had never attained by passing

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examinations.

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Failure taught me things about myself

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that I could have learned no other way.

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I discovered that I had a strong will

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and more discipline than I had

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suspected. I also found out that I had

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friends whose value was truly above the

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price of rubies.

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The knowledge that you have emerged

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wiser and stronger from setbacks means

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that you are ever after secure in your

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ability to survive.

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You will never truly know yourself or

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the strength of your relationships until

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both have been tested by adversity.

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Such knowledge is a true gift for all

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that it is painfully won and it has been

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worth more than any qualification I ever

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earned.

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So given a time turner, I would tell my

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21-year-old self that personal happiness

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lies in knowing that life is not a

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checklist of acquisition or achievement.

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Your qualifications, your CV, are not

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your life. Though you will meet many

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people of my age and older who confuse

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the two. Life is difficult and

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complicated and beyond anyone's total

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control. And the humility to know that

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will enable you to survive its

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vicissitudes.

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Now you might think that I chose my

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second theme, the importance of

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imagination because of the part it

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played in rebuilding my life, but that

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is not wholly so. Though I personally

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will defend the value of bedtime stories

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to my last gasp, I have leared to value

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imagination in a much broader sense.

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Imagination is not only the uniquely

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human capacity to envision that which is

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not and therefore the f of all invention

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and innovation.

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In its arguably most transformative and

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revelatory capacity, it is the power

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that enables us to empathize with humans

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whose experiences we have never shared.

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One of the greatest formative

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experiences of my life preceded Harry

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Potter, though it informed much of what

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I subsequently wrote in those books.

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This revelation came in the form of one

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of my earliest day jobs. Though I was

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sloping off to write stories during my

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lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early

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20ies by working at the African research

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department of Amnesty International's

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headquarters in London.

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There in my little office, I read

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hastily scribbled letters smuggled out

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of totalitarian regimes by men and women

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who were risking imprisonment to inform

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the outside world of what was happening

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to them. I saw photographs of those who

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had disappeared without trace, sent to

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amnesty by their desperate families and

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friends. I read the testimony of torture

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victims and saw pictures of their

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injuries. I opened handwritten

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eyewitness accounts of summary trials

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and executions of kidnappings and rapes.

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Many of my co-workers were ex-political

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prisoners, people who had been displaced

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from their homes or fled into exile

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because they had the tmerity to speak

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against their governments.

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Visitors to our offices included those

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who have who had come to give

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information or to try and find out what

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00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,120
had happened to those who they had left

287
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behind.

288
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I shall never forget the African torture

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victim, a young man no older than I was

290
00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:31,519
at the time, who had become mentally ill

291
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after all he had endured in his

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homeland.

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He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke

294
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into a video camera about the brutality

295
00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:44,720
inflicted upon him. He was a foot taller

296
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than I was and seemed as fragile as a

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child.

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I was given the job of escorting him

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back to the underground station

300
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:55,519
afterwards. And this man, whose life had

301
00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:58,319
been shattered by cruelty, took my hand

302
00:13:55,519 --> 00:14:01,039
with exquisite courtesy and wished me

303
00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:03,600
future happiness.

304
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And as long as I live, I shall remember

305
00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:08,240
walking along an empty corridor and

306
00:14:05,839 --> 00:14:11,519
suddenly hearing from behind a closed

307
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:14,240
door a scream of pain and horror such as

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00:14:11,519 --> 00:14:17,198
I have never heard since. The door

309
00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:19,839
opened and the researcher poked out her

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00:14:17,198 --> 00:14:22,000
out her head and told me to run and make

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00:14:19,839 --> 00:14:24,079
a hot drink for the young man sitting

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00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:26,720
with her.

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She had just had to give him the news

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that in retaliation for his

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00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:34,320
outspokenenness against his country's

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00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:37,320
regime, his mother had been seized and

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executed.

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00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:43,040
Every day of my working week in my early

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00:14:40,078 --> 00:14:45,359
20s, I was reminded how incredibly

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00:14:43,039 --> 00:14:46,958
fortunate I was to live in a country

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00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,360
with a democratically elected

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government, where legal representation

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00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:53,680
and a public trial were the rights of

324
00:14:51,839 --> 00:14:56,800
everyone.

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00:14:53,679 --> 00:14:59,359
Every day I saw more evidence about the

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00:14:56,799 --> 00:15:03,838
evils humankind would inflict on their

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fellow humans to gain or maintain power.

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00:15:03,839 --> 00:15:08,639
I began to have nightmares, literal

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00:15:06,078 --> 00:15:12,958
nightmares about some of the things I

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saw, heard, and read.

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And yet, I also learned more about human

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00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:22,480
goodness at Amnesty International than I

333
00:15:19,759 --> 00:15:24,799
had ever known before.

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Amnesty mobilizes thousands of people

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00:15:24,799 --> 00:15:28,958
who have never been tortured or

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00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:32,240
imprisoned for their beliefs to act on

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00:15:28,958 --> 00:15:34,638
behalf of those who have. The power of

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00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:39,039
human empathy leading to collective

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00:15:34,639 --> 00:15:41,360
action saves lives and frees prisoners.

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Ordinary people whose personal

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00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:47,120
well-being and security are assured join

342
00:15:44,399 --> 00:15:50,399
together in huge numbers to save people

343
00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:53,198
they do not know and will never meet. My

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00:15:50,399 --> 00:15:55,278
small participation in that process was

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00:15:53,198 --> 00:15:59,039
one of the most humbling and inspiring

346
00:15:55,278 --> 00:16:00,799
experiences of my life.

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Unlike any other creature on this

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00:16:00,799 --> 00:16:06,799
planet, human beings can learn and

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00:16:03,679 --> 00:16:08,958
understand without having experienced.

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00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:11,679
They can think themselves into other

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00:16:08,958 --> 00:16:13,758
people's places.

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00:16:11,679 --> 00:16:15,838
Of course, this is a power like my brand

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00:16:13,759 --> 00:16:18,560
of fictional magic that is morally

354
00:16:15,839 --> 00:16:22,240
neutral. One might use such an ability

355
00:16:18,559 --> 00:16:25,758
to manipulate or control just as much as

356
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:27,919
to understand or sympathize.

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And many prefer not to exercise their

358
00:16:27,919 --> 00:16:32,639
imaginations at all. They choose to

359
00:16:30,879 --> 00:16:34,958
remain comfortably within the bounds of

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00:16:32,639 --> 00:16:36,560
their own experience, never troubling to

361
00:16:34,958 --> 00:16:39,359
wonder how it would feel to have been

362
00:16:36,559 --> 00:16:41,679
born other than they are. They can

363
00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:44,879
refuse to hear screams or peer inside

364
00:16:41,679 --> 00:16:46,559
cages. They can close their minds and

365
00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:49,439
hearts to any suffering that does not

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00:16:46,559 --> 00:16:52,239
touch them personally. They can refuse

367
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:54,320
to know.

368
00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:56,799
I might be tempted to envy people who

369
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:58,399
can live that way, except that I do not

370
00:16:56,799 --> 00:17:01,599
think they have any fewer nightmares

371
00:16:58,399 --> 00:17:03,839
than I do. Choosing to live in narrow

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00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:06,480
spaces leads to a form of mental

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00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:08,078
agrophobia, and that brings its own

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00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:10,959
terrors.

375
00:17:08,078 --> 00:17:13,438
I think the willfully unimaginative see

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00:17:10,959 --> 00:17:15,759
more monsters. They are often more

377
00:17:13,439 --> 00:17:18,558
afraid.

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00:17:15,759 --> 00:17:21,599
What is more, those who choose not to

379
00:17:18,558 --> 00:17:23,119
empathize enable real monsters. For

380
00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:25,678
without ever committing an act of

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00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:29,678
outright evil ourselves, we collude with

382
00:17:25,679 --> 00:17:31,440
it through our own apathy.

383
00:17:29,679 --> 00:17:33,360
One of the many things I learned at the

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00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,919
end of that classics corridor down which

385
00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:38,079
I ventured at the age of 18 in search of

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00:17:35,919 --> 00:17:39,919
something I could not then define was

387
00:17:38,079 --> 00:17:41,759
this written by the Greek author

388
00:17:39,919 --> 00:17:44,720
Plutarch.

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00:17:41,759 --> 00:17:47,279
what we achieve inwardly will change

390
00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,440
outer reality.

391
00:17:47,279 --> 00:17:51,759
That is an astonishing statement and yet

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00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:54,720
proven a thousand times every day of our

393
00:17:51,759 --> 00:17:56,879
lives. It expresses in part our

394
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,960
inescapable connection with the outside

395
00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:02,480
world. The fact that we touch other

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00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:05,038
people's lives simply by existing.

397
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:08,720
But how much more are you, Harvard

398
00:18:05,038 --> 00:18:10,720
graduates of 2008, likely to touch other

399
00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,279
people's lives?

400
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,839
Your intelligence, your capacity for

401
00:18:13,279 --> 00:18:19,038
hard work, the education you have earned

402
00:18:15,839 --> 00:18:22,639
and received give you unique unique

403
00:18:19,038 --> 00:18:26,000
status and unique responsibilities.

404
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:28,320
Even your nationality sets you apart.

405
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:31,200
The great majority of you belong to the

406
00:18:28,319 --> 00:18:34,079
world's only remaining superpower.

407
00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:36,480
The way you vote, the way you live, the

408
00:18:34,079 --> 00:18:38,960
way you protest, the pressure you bring

409
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:41,679
to bear on your government has an impact

410
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:45,120
way beyond your borders. That is your

411
00:18:41,679 --> 00:18:47,360
privilege and your burden.

412
00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:49,199
If you choose to use your status and

413
00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:51,519
influence to raise your voice on behalf

414
00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:54,080
of those who have no voice. If you

415
00:18:51,519 --> 00:18:56,879
choose to identify not only with the

416
00:18:54,079 --> 00:18:59,119
powerful but with the powerless. If you

417
00:18:56,880 --> 00:19:00,960
retain the ability to imagine yourself

418
00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:03,439
into the lives of those who do not have

419
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:05,440
your advantages, then it will not only

420
00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:08,000
be your proud families who celebrate

421
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:10,480
your existence, but thousands and

422
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:13,919
millions of people whose reality you

423
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:16,640
have helped change. We do not need magic

424
00:19:13,919 --> 00:19:19,280
to transform our world. We carry all the

425
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:23,440
power we need inside ourselves already.

426
00:19:19,279 --> 00:19:26,319
We have the power to imagine better.

427
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:28,640
I am nearly finished. I have one last

428
00:19:26,319 --> 00:19:31,200
hope for you, which is something that I

429
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:32,880
already had at 21.

430
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,960
The friends with whom I sat on

431
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:38,160
graduation day have been my friends for

432
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:39,759
life. They are my children's godparents.

433
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:42,640
The people to whom I've been able to

434
00:19:39,759 --> 00:19:44,558
turn in times of real trouble. People

435
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,000
who have been kind enough not to sue me

436
00:19:44,558 --> 00:19:49,000
when I took their names for Death

437
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:49,000
Eaters.

438
00:19:55,759 --> 00:20:00,798
At our graduation, we were bound by

439
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,400
enormous affection, by our shared

440
00:20:00,798 --> 00:20:05,279
experience of a time that could never

441
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,960
come again. And of course, by the

442
00:20:05,279 --> 00:20:09,119
knowledge that we held certain

443
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,600
photographic evidence that would be

444
00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:15,359
exceptionally valuable

445
00:20:11,599 --> 00:20:16,879
if any of us ran for prime minister.

446
00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:20,399
[Applause]

447
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:22,400
So today, I wish you nothing better than

448
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:25,679
similar friendships.

449
00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:28,240
And tomorrow I hope that even if you

450
00:20:25,679 --> 00:20:30,720
remember not a single word of mine, you

451
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:33,519
remember those of Senica, another of

452
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:36,319
those old Romans I met when I fled down

453
00:20:33,519 --> 00:20:39,200
the classics corridor in retreat from

454
00:20:36,319 --> 00:20:40,879
from career ladders in search of ancient

455
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:45,038
wisdom.

456
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:48,080
As is a tale, so is life. Not how long

457
00:20:45,038 --> 00:20:51,839
it is, but how good it is is what

458
00:20:48,079 --> 00:20:55,480
matters. I wish you all very good lives.

459
00:20:51,839 --> 00:20:55,480
Thank you very much.