Life Lessons from Jerry Seinfeld

As an aging Baby Boomer, you might expect me to have been an avid viewer of Seinfeld, the trendsetting sitcom that dominated the Nielsen ratings throughout the 1990s. However, I must confess that I have only seen a half dozen or so of the 180 episodes.

That being said, I watched all 16 minutes and 51 seconds of Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement address at Duke University last week and found it to be both hilariously funny and extremely inspirational. Who would have thought that a stand-up comic would offer so many profound truths about life?

In case you missed Jerry’s speech, here are some of the highlights…

“Fascination is better than passion.”

“Don’t think about having; think about becoming. That’s where it’s at.”

“The only two things you need to pay attention to in life are work and love.”

“Learn to enjoy the expenditure of energy.”

“Do not lose your sense of humor. Humor is the most powerful, survival-essential quality you will ever have or need to navigate through the human experience.”

“Bust your butt. Pay attention. Fall in love.”

“The torture you’re comfortable with… this is the golden path to victory in life.”

“So just go for what you think is the coolest.”

“We’re embarrassed about things we should be proud of and proud of things we should be embarrassed about.”

“We’re smart enough to invent AI, dumb enough to need it, and still so stupid we can’t figure out if we did the right thing [by developing it].”

How’s that for a bunch of one-liners?

Although I might want to edit one or two of Jerry’s comments – adding faith and family to the list of things you need to pay attention to, and which will help you successfully navigate through life – there is still a lot of wisdom contained in his words. I especially liked his remarks about embarrassment and pride.

These days, people will publicly acknowledge (and even brag about) things that we used to be ashamed of such as marital affairs, multiple divorces, out-of-wedlock births, and abortions. To quote another great commencement speaker, Judge Robert Bork, it appears that our “slouching towards Gomorrah” is accelerating at breakneck speed.

As for keeping our individual and collective sense of humor, it is getting harder and harder to do in this age of universal victimhood where everyone’s skin is paper thin. Something that was considered funny back in Seinfeld’s prime is now considered offensive by the PC police.

Just wait until they watch a few All in the Family reruns.