From a commencement address
given on May 14, 2000
at Syracuse University
by broadcast journalist
Ted Koppel...
“If you have not
already discovered it,
you will find that
from here on in,
life is a precarious
balancing act
between
your conscience
and
your baser instincts.
Between, in other words,
what you ought to do
and
what you want to do.
To a certain extent,
you’ve known that
since puberty.
What may surprise you
is how little support
in the outside world
you’ll find for following
the dictates
of your conscience.
The world is
full of people
ready to help you
rationalize away
your more
troublesome principles.
It is compromise
that lubricates
the machinery
of our civilization,
and people
of genuine principles,
reluctant to compromise,
are frequently seen
as obstacles
rather than role models.”
