The Pulse: Five words for the grads

I'm feeling left out. It's graduation season and no one has asked me to speak. The closest I came was when my friend Tom Kline asked me to preview the commencement address he planned to deliver at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law. Tom has an advantage - with his name appearing on all the diplomas, his speech will surely not be forgotten.

Others struggle to be indelible. At George Washington University last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about the idealism of Steve Jobs and his drive to change the world.

"Graduates, your values matter," Cook said. "They are your North Star. And work takes on new meaning when you feel you are pointed in the right direction. Otherwise, it's just a job, and life is too short for that."

Former President George W. Bush offered some words of encouragement at Southern Methodist University while poking some fun at himself: "To those of you who are graduating this afternoon with high honors, awards, and distinctions, I say, 'Well done.' And as I like to tell the C students: 'You, too, can be president.' "

Bill Nye the Science Guy surprised some in the audience when he talked politics at Rutgers University, encouraging action against global warming while decrying racial conflict. "We all came from Africa," he said. "We are all of the same stardust. We are all going to live and die on the same planet, a pale blue dot in the vastness of space. We have to work together."

At Tuskegee University, first lady Michelle Obama warned the graduates that the world will make "assumptions about who they think you are based on their limited notion of the world," but she told them not to lose hope. "And if you rise above the noise and the pressures that surround you, if you stay true to who you are and where you come from, if you have faith in God's plan for you, then you will keep fulfilling your duty to people all across this country," she said.

Stephen Colbert, who will soon take over the Late Show on CBS for David Letterman, told the graduates of Wake Forest University to "find the courage to decide for yourself what is right and what is wrong, and then, please, expect as much of the world around you. Try to make the world good according to your standards."

Not to be outdone, actor Matthew McConaughey, after being paid $135,000 and afforded the use of a private jet, told graduates at the University of Houston: "Never apologize for playing the bongos naked. Walk about in Peru, and use the truth as a pillow."

If I were speaking, I'd emulate Chris Matthews' 2011 address to graduates at Temple University. To ensure that his five suggestions for getting a job and succeeding in life were not forgotten, Matthews distributed his advice on cards: Show up! Ask! Take on investors. Don't do it yourself. Upbeat beats downbeat.

My list would be different. In an effort to enlist young Americans in a war against political incivility and polarization, I'd enumerate: Register. Change. Sign. Mix. Run. And here's what I'd say:

Register. According to the United States Election Project, the turnout among eligible voters in the last national election (2014) was a dismal 36.3 percent, the lowest in 72 years. Maine led the country with 58 percent turnout - Texas had just 28 percent. Worse, many Americans think elections are held every four years when we elect presidents. Actually, every year is election year. Please register. And vote every year. And if you're not pleased with your major-party choices, consider joining the 43 percent who told Gallup this past January that they are independents, not Republicans or Democrats.

Change. The only television choice your parents had was between VHF and UHV (don't ask). Today you have 500 channels, not to mention the Internet, satellite radio, Twitter, Facebook, and more. You are in total control of where you get your news and entertainment. Please, exercise some choice. Too many rely exclusively on outlets defined by their ideology. That's not healthy and it stifles legitimate debate. Sample alternative points of view. Change the channel.

Sign. Anonymity breeds contempt. People say things to, and about, others via blog postings that they'd never say if their identity were known. Random newspaper stories concerning subjects far removed from the public discourse nevertheless devolve into left vs. right shout-fests among shut-ins with keyboards. My advice is that you become knowledgeable and active in the affairs of your community, state, and nation. There is no substitute for reading the news. Then, having become informed, go ahead and express yourself. Be passionate. But sign your name. Unless you are a whistle-blower whose career would be threatened by reporting on misconduct, be prepared to affix your identity to your viewpoints.

Mix. Bill Bishop is credited with coining the phenomena known as the Big Sort, a pattern of disengagement that began in the 1960s. We stopped joining the Elks and bowling leagues and supporting our local newspapers. And when we reengaged in the computer era, it was among more narrowly drawn associations where our access to people of differing backgrounds and viewpoints was greatly diminished. Income inequality and class segregation of the type described by Charles Murray in Coming Apart and Robert Putnam in Our Kids has only made things worse. That's no way to live a full life. Go out of your way to seek experiences with individuals who don't look like you and don't see the world the way you do. Good things will result for you and for society.

Run. Never once have I regretted running unsuccessfully for the state legislature when I was just 24 years old. There is no such thing as losing if you seek elective office when you are young. No matter what you do in life, you won't succeed alone, and there is no better way to gain an appreciation of differences among people than by knocking on a few thousand doors and having to introduce yourself. If running isn't your thing, find a different way to serve. But if you're willing to enter the arena, you just might win. And we'd all benefit from new blood in the system.

Good luck.