We do not need magic to change the world.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard’s Commencement

It’s Commencement Season, and, having just heard Melinda Gates speak at Duke’s Commencement, I was inspired to scour the web for other snippets of inspiration on what is one of the most important and memorable days for young graduates like myself. From the humorous Ellen Degeneres to the stately Barack Obama, it seems that just about everyone is finding a platform to amplify their voices and share nuggets of collective wisdom about their formative experiences, and how they to be who they are and reach their level of success.

Of all the commencement speeches I have heard, none resonates with me quite as loudly as that of J.K. Rowling—the acclaimed author of the Harry Potter series. Rowling makes two interesting points that she admits are a bit ironic for an otherwise celebratory occasion. First, she explores the notion that must fail in order to learn things about ourselves that we simply couldn’t have learned another way; that failure is a sign of optimizing measured risks. Second, she extolls upon us the value of imagination, but not in the way you might think; she claims that imagination is a more fundamental human tendency, the capacity to imagine reality not as it is, but for what it can be. In that sense, imagination becomes the root of all innovation and human progress.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.

Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid. What is more, those who choose not to empathise enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

Watch J.K. Rowling’s complete 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech here or read the transcript here.