Summer 2012

 There is a great spirit here today, and I express my gratitude to each one of you and hope that the Spirit will continue to be with us and that He will be able to teach you the things that you need to know and that we will all feel the Spirit together and rejoice and be edified.

This is such a great time of life for you, and I am thrilled for you to be right where you are, right now. You have exciting and challenging times that you are going through now, and that are yet ahead, and you are making important decisions, decisions that will determine your future homes and your happiness. And you are going through things that will require that you exercise a great deal of patience, and that you be empowered by purity in your lives.

It’s always a delight to be able to start a speech by telling you that the greatest speech that you probably are going to hear today probably was just given by Brad [the student officer who gave the greeting]. I want you to know, if you really want to take some great notes about significance in life, just review what Brad just taught you, because there is probably nothing more important than what you will ever learn than what he just shared. A great job, Brad. (Remarks by Brad Squire are at end of this file.)

Life—what a joy. I want you to know that I have been blessed in my life with some key principles that we are going to talk about today that I hope when you are through today that you spend some time of the day thinking about just a few of the things that I might say to you. But most importantly is maybe how I say them.

It’s good to be here. I was very shocked when Craig Nelson called me about a month and a half ago and asked me to speak. I work up in the accounting office, and you just don’t get assignments like that very often when you work in accounting. But I’m grateful for the opportunity. I have worked a good amount on this presentation, on this address, and I’ve thought a lot about what would be applicable to students in your shoes and things that I think have been a great help in my life thus far. As the president said, you are amongst one of your own. I graduated from here; I still work here. I can’t quite get away from here yet. So I pray that this will truly have an effect on you, to benefit you in your life.

I also have to apologize for my little blemish here. I do a little cage fighting on the side as well.

How grateful we all should be to attend a school of higher education like this. Surely, this Institution delivers far more than a piece of paper with a person’s name on it upon graduating. As I look over this audience and reflect upon my academic experience, a statement in Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, seems to express my feelings:

“Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way to such teachers, you will always find your way back. Sometimes it is only in your head. Sometimes it is right alongside their beds” (Albom, M., Tuesdays with Morrie, p. 192).

As a student here some years ago, I never expected to walk into an accounting or management class and learn things far beyond the content of the course.

Since I am an attorney, I am going to start with a disclaimer. I have never loved speaking in public. I’ve never loved giving talks. I’ve always—as probably many of you—I always dread it a little bit, but I’ve realized over the years that the more I do it, and after I’m finished, that my testimony has grown and I have felt the Spirit so much stronger. And so I am grateful for this opportunity, even though I am dreading it just a little bit.

Last week, a few of the paralegal students and I had an opportunity to come here for a fireside and hear President Charles Dahlquist speak. And Charles Dahlquist is the former general Young Men president of the Church, and he was here doing a fireside for several BYU-Idaho students who had come down looking for internship possibilities. And he spoke of heroes and how we can seek worthy mentors to pattern our lives after.

Good morning, brothers and sisters. It’s an honor for me to be here with you today. I’m grateful to have my wonderful daughter here with me. I wish my sweetheart could be here with us; she’s not here because she has a court date. I should clarify that—she has been called to jury duty today. I told her I was going to say that, and she said, “You won’t say that, will you?” But I did. I miss having her by my side today, and want you to know I am so grateful for the support that I’ve had from her for a long, long time. 

I love being here on campus. I love looking into your eyes, and I feel a connection with you. I wonder where your path came from. Some of you have come from other countries. We had the good fortune last semester of having one of the students here at LDS Business College from Brazil live at our house, and she commuted, lived with us, and would come down to school each day.

I’ve actually written out my entire talk so that I can hopefully control my emotions somewhat better. You’re going to get the full load. President Richards and others on the stand, faculty and staff, and most importantly, you students who have chosen to be here of your own free will and choice—your numbers intimidate me, but I am honored by your support. I have prayed often—stop, Finlinson, don’t get started so early—I have prayed often, since being asked to speak today, and I plead for your silent prayers that I may somehow communicate the many thoughts and feelings I have received as I have prepared. Please forgive me for using the many personal instances that I will cite today. I think most of my experiences are similar to those you have had or may yet have in your lives.

Before I get started on my talk, I just want to tell you how much Heavenly Father loves each of you. As I have sought the will of heaven to know what I should share with you today, I had constant outpourings of how much Heavenly Father loves and appreciates each of you, and that makes this a weighty assignment, because I want to make sure that my words are a blessing to you. I know that Heavenly Father appreciates when you fight against the odds in your life, and when you make sacrifices and obey, and when you are humble enough to repent when it’s needed. He’s relying on you to carry forward this Church in the future, and He has complete confidence in you. I just wanted to start out by sharing that message.

I also want to mention that Elder Marvin J.