Observation Story

J.K. Rowling's 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech

Rowling arrives at the podium with grace. The audience welcomes her with lively applause and cheering, like ecstatic fans at a football game. Rowling humbly smiles at the crowd, as she takes in the immensity of the moment. Effortlessly lightening the mood by introducing comedy to describe her fear of speaking at such a prestigious school, Rowling sarcastically revealed that she was so nervous about speaking today that she lost weight. Everyone looks at her with pride and respect, especially the people sharing the space with her on the podium. She splits the sea of intrigued and invested individuals as she stands right in the middle, delivering every line with an equal balance of grace and conviction. Rowling emphasizes the importance of imagination, something that is not normally used as advice for recent college graduates. It is quickly revealed that this appreciation for imagination would quickly become her guiding light to the road to international success. Despite this, she was determined to follow her passions that involved bold and colorful writing with the help of her imagination. This is because she did not fear poverty, but instead feared failure. She invited us into her life and struggles. “I was the biggest failure I knew", Rowling said. At one point she was homeless with a child. However, she always possessed an optimistic mindset, “failure makes a stripping away of the quintessential” she said. Her speech continued by offering the Harvard graduates an insightful and profound piece of advice: "Your qualifications are not your life”. “How much are you, likely to touch other people's lives”, asked Rowling to the Harvard students, forcing them to look inwardly and self-reflect. This rhetorical question leads to a larger idea. Money, success, and fame only provide temporary happiness, but imagination, love, and dedication allow us to fight the monsters of life and experience genuine joy.