Kickoff To Wisdom: Analyzing Harrison Butker's Commencement Address Playbook

Oh well , this time it's to keep his dog while he's out of town . But yeah , I'll be there for another five days , so hopefully a little sunnier this time .

You've been through a lot , and so it's so wonderful to hear that you're feeling better and you're doing better , and , and if that's what it took , then amen .

And you know , graduation is this time of year and it's everywhere Preschool , grade school , middle school , high school and even colleges are graduating their students right now , and it seems as though , no matter where someone is in their academic career , there's a commencement speech being delivered to recognize and honor their achievements .

Specifically , we're going to talk about one that you probably heard about unless , of course , you have been on a deserted island or your internet's been out for 10 days or two weeks but we're going to talk about Harrison Butker's speech that he delivered at the Benedictine College in Atchison , kansas , on May 11th .

And if you aren't a diehard Kansas City Chiefs fan , well you should be , but that's okay , we are , and so you might be wondering who is Harrison Butker and what does being a place kicker on an NFL football team have to do with graduating from college and giving a commencement speech ? And if you're thinking that , wondering that , we're glad you asked Exactly .

You know , we've watched some YouTube videos this past week in preparation for this episode , and you know you see Tom Hanks talking to groups or Kylie Kelsey giving a commencement speech , and so some were funny and some were poignant , and even the one I was most interested in was a man who is a billionaire who gifted the graduates of UMass , dartmouth , $1,000 each

, with instructions that they could keep 500 of it for themselves , and then they needed to give 500 to someone in need . And I thought now there's a commencement speech that graduates will always remember .

It's like why in the world would this woman be speaking to us ? So it can happen .

And I think , before we talk any further , it's really important for people to know that you and I have viewed the talk , the commencement speech , several times .

We've printed it out , we've assessed it , we've analyzed it , we've talked about it in great detail , and so I just think that that's really important , because I hope that everybody has had the time or would take the time to really dig in and know what was said and what wasn't said and in what context was everything said , because I do think that's important .

But anyway , in deciding to have this conversation which makes Denise very uncomfortable because she doesn't she was raised that you don't talk about politics or religion and we're going to maybe touch on both of those today Not really . Not really Because we don't really think that we want to get caught up in the . He said this and we don't like that .

We will touch a little bit about what was said , but really for us in this topic , we decided that it might be more meaningful to focus on what should a commitment speech include ? What is a good commencement speech ? And did he achieve that ? A good commencement speech ? And did he achieve that .

And I think that you and I decided that we can probably do this because both of you you and I have been college professors at one point in our lives . I actually taught speech , public speaking , so I really enjoyed the assignment that you gave me , the challenge that you gave me , that like , hey , let's take this framework .

So our framework is 10 suggestions for a successful commencement address , and this article really just helped us provide an interesting sort of guide and framework . Like , let's dig into what a good address should have . Let's see if his address met that .

Yeah , yeah .

And also , before we move any further , I would just encourage people to give us grace , because we may say something that you don't agree with , but really the whole idea behind this is to kind of break it down and think about is there something that we can think about or learn as we bump up against this really difficult thing in our culture where it's so

divisive ?

And I say you should do because I have to tell you , a couple of years ago I did give a commencement address , yikes , and it was also to a Christian organization , and so that experience kind of informed some of what I'm going to say today , because they were different but similar . It was high school graduation , but Okay .

So the first thing , know your audience . Very , very important Always know your audience . So who was the audience ? As we've already said , benedictine College is a Catholic institution and he is a devout Catholic with extremely strong convictions about his faith .

Now , when you look at Benedictine College , 85% of the students do identify as Catholic , and I thought that was important to note because there's a lot of Christian schools where you don't ever know what percentage of them are there to play baseball or they're there because they want to attend an institution of their faith .

So , given his audience of graduates and the faculty and family and friends , social media and society's aversion to almost any topic , it's easy to understand why the content of his speech has been so controversial , controversial , yes , but do I think he knew his audience ?

I would say yes , he knew his audience well and I think it's important to note that he starts off the speech and not a lot of people if you haven't listened to it , you wouldn't know this .

He starts off and his most critical content is really about the Catholic Church , which media doesn't seem to care about that as much as they do some of the other things . Nonetheless , with all that I would give him , I would give him I'm going to say a , b on anointing his audience .

I know this isn't the type of fluff that you're used to hearing in a commencement speech , hearing in a commencement speech , but I felt like this was the place all the things you just said that warranted him being able to say those things .

And he went off on a kind of a tangent about why a Latin mass was so important , and he even said it doesn't matter what the . He didn't say it didn't matter . I don't want to misrepresent .

What he said was that more things than just the cost of living should be taken into consideration when deciding where to live , and so to me that felt like he was just out of touch with like the struggles right now that graduates are facing , with interest rates being so high and the housing market being off the charts , and so to me that felt a little like

your chief's player makes a lot of money and maybe just a little disconnected from some of his Catholic audience . So that's why that's why I gave him a .

The message is intended to be uplifting and the primary focuses on the accomplishments of the graduates and the support they receive from their faculty , family and friends . So I doubt that he's listening , but just in case sorry Harrison , I'm going to have to give you an F in that category .

And it took him a little bit longer than I would have liked , but eventually he basically talks . He says that it's going to . This is going to be about how to overcome the pervasiveness of disorder in our culture . So that's what the whole talk was about , although he went a little bit farther in .

So you kind of had to listen a second or a third or fourth time to find that . And then he goes and he talks about how we're going to help the chaos , we're going to improve the disorder by doing these things .

As Catholics I mean , this was only a talk given to Catholics , right Almost to the point where I was like hello , christians are Catholics too , and Catholics are Christians , and that's the thing too I think that people should recognize . This was a talk given to Catholics who have a foundation of like this is what we believe , and then built upon that .

So the whole talk was supposed to be about helping get over chaos , and he talks about how he thinks we can do that . That's where the part of the controversial part came in , and then it's just at the end .

I thought that was actually one of the best parts of his talk , where he says and you mentioned it I know that my message today had a little less fluff than is expected for those speeches , but I believe that this audience again , and this venue is the best place to speak openly and honestly about who we are and where we all want to go , which is heaven .

So I did think he did a good job of coming back to that . No-transcript Okay .

He chose to actually hit on every single one of those touchy topics yeah , plus a few more , plus a few more , right . And some of the other ones were the ones that , like , really hurt my soul a little bit , but it's not about my opinions , but anyway . So he did speak boldly about all these topics .

When I was pondering this question , I just thought , you know , he spoke really boldly about pretty much all these things , and he did so in a way that it was really like these are universal truths , and what left me was that , you know , really , I would have loved it if he would have just talked about what really , I think , I think are the , the two

universal truths which are that college graduates , we are to love God and we are to love each other . So I would have loved it a lot more if the talk , the speech , would have had more of that talk in it . So he gets a big fat F , do you disagree ?

You know that that's the only way they could have children . And I have friends , dear dear friends , that I love , that are part of the LGBTQ community , and so it just it really didn't feel good that he really targeted different groups , so I would give him an F as well .

And I think , harrison's criticism of everything you know politics , catholic clergy you said TLM , I said LBGTQ , the goals of womanhood I think all of those comments really exceeded a bit of history and really , unless you are really deep into the Catholic faith , I mean he went back to and you know I was raised Catholic , grew up Catholic he went back to like

before Vatican II . I mean you really have to know what those changes were in the church that he was talking about . And so my question is is there such a thing as an F minus ? Because I just felt like there was no little bit of history included . It was a lot of history .

. What you said about the Catholic Church , I'll take your word for it , because I don't know , and I appreciate your adding that to the conversation but he did start off his talk , you know , basically saying to the graduates oh , you know , congratulations , you made it .

You know you didn't get to have a high school graduation because of COVID and I thought , oh , this is going to be really meaningful because it's true , like those , that that cohort missed out on some really important things , and so I expected him to go into that and how that must have experienced , must have felt , and how great it must feel to be on it .

But no , it went into , like the political aspect of COVID , and and then , you know , went to the president and so on .

So , however , I did want to say this about the very controversial part about womanhood , and I just I've talked to a lot of women about that part and I like having the quote like the real quote , like what was actually said , and so I would like to read it , if that's okay , sure , because I think it's worth , like what was really said .

He says , he says this , he said for the ladies present today congratulations on an amazing accomplishment . You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives . I want to speak directly to you briefly , because I think it is you , the women , who have had the most diabolical lies told to you , which you know .

He doesn't go on to say what those lies are , but I think to me it's the lie that you can have . It all is what I would say . I think to me it's the lie that you can have . It all is what I would say .

How many of you are sitting here now about to cross the stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you're going to get in your career ? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world , but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world .

That's what he said . And then later he talked about his wife and how important she was to him . He cried and he said that you know she did give up her career to be a homemaker and to that without , without her , he would not be successful . Their family would not be successful , because she's the one that makes it a home .

So with all of that , I've just been asking women that question Do you think the majority of women that that is their heart's desire to become a wife and a mother ? And I think for a lot of women I would say the majority of women that is still a life goal .

So I don't think it's diabolically opposed one to the other . I think it's just , you know , a progression . Usually , you know , we graduate , we have a career , we marry , we have children , sometimes we go back to work and sometimes we stay home , and those are both really valid , valued careers .

You know , like my mom , I think , would have loved to be a homemaker , but she was a single mom . Yeah , does that resonate , denise ? Yes , it does .

I downloaded it and printed form so that I can read it and spend some time . Have you done well ? No , you know so .

This is me never attack the graduates for the past or present sins of their profession . So the article states that a commencement ceremony is a golden opportunity to assure the audience that the education was worth the time , effort and expenditure required to obtain it and that there is genuine hope for the future .

And that there is genuine hope for the future , I think that he ends with the hope is in heaven . The hope is that this is what we're striving for is to get to heaven . I love that he ended it with saying that Christ is king . I love that that was kind of a mic drop movement . Christ is King . I love that . That was kind of a mic drop movement .

I think that , personally , like that could have been more uplifting for the graduates again , for the graduates , for them to know that their hard work will pay off . And this is how you know you've learned to study , you learn to be disciplined , you know all this is going to lead to better things down the road .

And it was really more of a talk about how to be a better Catholic , like do better , be better , so that we can have less chaos . So I didn't necessarily I didn't necessarily find that uplifting . So for me personally , I would give that a D .

Many of the speeches and this is very true that we watched on YouTube , you know , included humorous stories and anecdotes and even stories of failure and regret , resilience , self-deprecation , people .

You know we watched one that was Tom Hanks and it was like so you're probably wondering why I'm up here , you know and yeah , that's a fair thought you know , not many of them in that graduating class were probably gonna become actors , successful multimillionaire dollar actors , but nonetheless , in those that we watched , the audience was inspired and entertained and

again , even the guy that gave everybody a thousand bucks you know , it's like I want to know more about that , because he told in his speech that overnight a few years ago he lost a billion dollars . And I'm like , how did that happen ?

You know , that's kind of what I've always thought was , you know , kind of the goal of a commencement speech , and so I would have to say I would like Harrison Buckner to come to the office because we need to talk .

Yes , in the same talk there were for people that are counting there were three laughs One laugh , two chuckles , I would say Okay , one teary moment from Harrison Butker when he talked about his wife , and three ovations from the crowd . So I would I'll give him an incomplete How's that .

I need to know more about his failures , because it always just seems that he's been incredibly successful and I'm sure that's not the case . I'm sure he's had struggle .

he georgia tech yeah , georgia tech , and he holds the still to this day the school record for scoring . He was the captain his senior year , um , so I think he's been successful , for you know and and that's good to know that I don't know some people were like what , what in the world , you know ? And it's like no , this is a successful person too .

It's just in a different area than maybe you're used to hearing from .

Okay , many , many prayers have been prayed for him just to do his best and for him to honor God in this moment and not get hurt because that's such a vulnerable position .

So I actually thought that he did a good job with varied proof sources . He had two quotes , one from a bishop , one from a saint . He paraphrased the Bible several times . He did give good examples and I thought he told some compelling narratives . So I would say that I'd give him an A minus to a B plus on having good proof sources .

I think he knew what he was going to say and he knew his audience and he was firm in his conviction . What I don't think he knew was then that you know , half of the 80 billion people on the universe were going to start commenting about it .

We must always speak and act in charity , but never mistake charity for cowardice . There you go ?

I know at the end he's talking about the future being heaven , but again , that isn't what he said in the beginning , you know , and he was just so negative towards everything . The president , covid , you know all the different . You know , covid , you know all the different .

You know LGBTQ and womanhood and all of those things , and I just felt like it was just really difficult for people to hear . I know that they said that there were three standing ovations . I did read that , but I also read that there were some people that didn't stand , you know , because it was difficult for them to hear and so .

But again , I don't think , you know , I don't think he cared if people found it difficult to hear , because he is a man of great conviction .

avoid . Miracle cure antidotes . Suggestion would imply he did avoid miracle cure , antidotes , whatever those are .

Benedictine College is a private liberal arts college and they list theology and theological studies first in their description of academic degrees , because I looked that up , you know , and then you know his comments are in keeping with what , the Benedictine College being a private and a Catholic and a theology based college .

And so I'm like you , I or you took incomplete a couple of questions ago , and I think I would have to say incomplete on this one too , because I just I don't know , I don't have a good feel one way or the other .

So , um , when I , when I looked up the article about again what's a successful speech , they recommend that the speech be five to ten minutes long and use under 2,500 words , and so , because you can look up everything , he spoke for 20 plus minutes and he used 3,679 words and I found that levity was undetectable .

So I will say , harrison , you should have read the syllabus . I think maybe there was some more direction there that could have been helpful .

But I would just like to end with a few thoughts about this speech and what it's kind of made me ponder internally and think about and make me consider . So , first of all is what is my theology ? And I asked that question because he basically theology is a fancy word for know what do you think is true about god ?

And so , listening to his speech , he is so again , absolute about what he thinks about god and what god calls him and everybody else to do . That it made me think what is my theology and why so ? What do I believe about god and why do I believe that ?

Like you know , I don't have any passion about , uh , tlm , the traditional latin mass yes but he does , and he explained why , right .

So I think that for me it's like just I need to be ready to articulate why I believe what I believe about God , my theology , and so I guess I would just ask listeners to ask themselves the same what is your theology , what do you believe to be true about God , and why ?

Because that's what's important is that you know , you're at peace with that , and I think Harrison Bunker whether we agree with him or not on all of the ins and outs he's very much at peace about his faith , about the Catholic faith , about what God's called him to do , about how God's purposed him .

Now , with this platform , that he feels like this is what he's supposed to say and do . So , secondly , I would say , am I willing to be as passionate with a very unpopular opinion about my faith as he is Harrison Buckner ? Is he's willing to defend the faith without the fear of being canceled ?

And that's a hard thing to do , I think , especially I don't know , it's hard for me to fathom that . So we can say whatever , we can give him whatever grade , but I do applaud him for being firm in his conviction and passionate about that .

So and I have also thought about this , like the whole cancel culture , and I've asked you this question why is it only very conservative , even let's just call it far right ? We're going to just say far right and far left why is it the far right that's only in fear of being canceled ? It's something that I wondered . Yeah , all right .

Two more thoughts about this . He is definitely being persecuted for what he said . Now there's a lot of people that have come to his defense . Some of them have really surprised me , like I love Whoopi Goldberg's comments about how you know it's free speech . That's right . She disagrees with like 99% of the things that he said .

I don't know I'm putting that word in my mouth . She did not say that , but just like she supported Colin Kaepernick , who took a knee and that was his way of using his freedom of speech that she would support Harrison Butker . So I really appreciated that , but it did remind me of that .

The Bible is clear that we will be persecuted and Harrison Butker basically says this you will be persecuted because this is counterculture , cultural , and the Bible's always been countercultural and following Jesus and sacrificing and let the last be first and the first be last , and that God will use the weak . You know , all of it is countercultural .

So I was just reminded that the Bible does say , well , we will be persecuted for our faith . And so to that degree it hurts my heart for him . Even though his theology looks different than mine , it does remind me that we will be called to suffer . And am I ready ? Am I prepared to do that ?

And why the nerve of this person to say that ?

And you know there are a lot of people that and I'll be honest , you know there are politicians , there are people in different walks of life that I don't agree with them strongly enough that if they come on the television I mute it because I don't want to hear what they have to say , but that's my choice and that's my right , and their right is to say

whatever they think , and I may agree or disagree , but just I feel I'm so sorry that our society has just gotten so bitter and ugly about just about everything . It isn't even just about highly controversial commencement speeches . It can be anything .

Like we said , people are offended by everything , and so the fact that this man has that kind of conviction which I don't , you know , you know how I have worried about this episode and what I was going to say or not say , or how do you say it .

And he spoke from his heart and he spoke with what he believes to be true , and so , okay , okay , that's okay . And so , okay , okay , that's okay . I may or may not agree with you , but he's not saying , well , if you don't agree with me , then you're a piece of crap .

No , no , so that part has really that has really bothered me , that we're just so negative towards people and that we can't give people grace .

But you said it best earlier today you were talking about you're just so disappointed that we can't have polite society , and I said I think that's an oxymoron these days and so yeah , so I think that that's the big takeaway for you and I is that , whether we disagree or not , like we are at the heart .

We are all created in God's image , we are all God's people , we are brothers and sisters , and to treat people as if they don't matter and that like we just are always looking to pick a fight , that's what this feels like . We're just looking to pick a fight .

If you'd like more information about what we're reading this month and how to join us for the virtual discussion , please email us at theproblemwithperfect at gmailcom . Or if you have a topic you'd like us to discuss on the podcast , use that same email , theproblemwithperfect at gmailcom , to send us your ideas or feedback .

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There's always enough grace for you today , so be sure to give it to yourself .