Naval Adm. William H. McRaven, ninth commander of U.S.

Special
Operations Command, delivered a memorable speech at the University-wide
Commencement on May 17.

President Powers, Provost Fenves, Deans, members of the faculty, family and friends
and most importantly, the class of 2014. Congratulations on your achievement.

It’s been almost 37 years to the day that I graduated from UT. I remember a lot of
things about that day. I remember I had throbbing headache from a party the night
before. I remember I had a serious girlfriend, whom I later married — that’s important
to remember by the way — and I remember that I was getting commissioned in the
Navy that day.
• throbbing = a strong, regular beat
• to commission = to formally choose someone to do a special piece of work,
or to formally ask for a special piece of work from
someone
But of all the things I remember, I don’t have a clue who the commencement speaker
was that evening, and I certainly don’t remember anything they said. So,
acknowledging that fact, if I can’t make this commencement speech memorable, I
will at least try to make it short.
• to acknowledge = to accept, admit, or recognize something, or the truth or
existence of something
• commencement speech = a speech given to graduating students, generally
at a university
The University’s slogan is, “What starts here changes the world.” I have to admit —
I kinda like it. “What starts here changes the world.”

Tonight there are almost 8,000 students graduating from UT. That great paragon of
analytical rigor, Ask.Com, says that the average American will meet 10,000 people
in their lifetime. That’s a lot of folks. But, if every one of you changed the lives of
just 10 people — and each one of those folks changed the lives of another 10 people
— just 10 — then in five generations — 125 years — the class of 2014 will have
changed the lives of 800 million people.
• paragon = a person or thing that is perfect or has an extremely large
amount of a particular good characteristic (RO: model)
800 million people — think of it — over twice the population of the United States.
Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world —
eight billion people.

If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people — change their lives forever —
you’re wrong. I saw it happen every day in Iraq and Afghanistan: A young Army
officer makes a decision to go left instead of right down a road in Baghdad and the
10 soldiers in his squad are saved from close-in ambush. In Kandahar province,
Afghanistan, a non-commissioned officer from the Female Engagement Team
senses something isn’t right and directs the infantry platoon away from a 500-pound
IED, saving the lives of a dozen soldiers.
• non-commissioned officer = a military officer who has not pursued a
commission.
• infantry = the part of an army that fights on foot
• platoon /pləˈtuːn/ = a platoon is a military unit typically composed of two
or more squads, sections, or patrols. (RO: pluton)
• a dozen = a group or set of twelve
But, if you think about it, not only were these soldiers saved by the decisions of one
person, but their children yet unborn were also saved. And their children’s children
were saved. Generations were saved by one decision, by one person.

But changing the world can happen anywhere and anyone can do it. So, what starts
here can indeed change the world, but the question is — what will the world look like
after you change it?

Well, I am confident that it will look much, much better. But if you will humor this
old sailor for just a moment, I have a few suggestions that may help you on your way
to a better a world. And while these lessons were learned during my time in the
military, I can assure you that it matters not whether you ever served a day in uniform.
It matters not your gender, your ethnic or religious background, your orientation or
your social status.
• to humour = to do what someone wants so that they do not become
annoyed or upset (RO: a face pe plac)
Our struggles in this world are similar, and the lessons to overcome those struggles
and to move forward — changing ourselves and the world around us — will apply
equally to all.
• to overcome = to defeat or succeed in controlling or dealing with
something
I have been a Navy SEAL for 36 years. But it all began when I left UT for Basic
SEAL training in Coronado, California. Basic SEAL training is six months of long
torturous runs in the soft sand, midnight swims in the cold water off San Diego,
obstacles courses, unending calisthenics, days without sleep and always being cold,
wet and miserable. It is six months of being constantly harrassed by professionally
trained warriors who seek to find the weak of mind and body and eliminate them from
ever becoming a Navy SEAL.
• torturous /ˈtɔː.tʃər.əs/ = involving a lot of suffering or difficulty
• unending = continual or endless
• calisthenics = simple physical exercises that are done to make the body
firm, able to stretch easily, and more attractive
• to harass /ˈhær.əs/ = to continue to annoy or upset someone over a period
of time
But, the training also seeks to find those students who can lead in an environment of
constant stress, chaos, failure and hardships. To me basic SEAL training was a
lifetime of challenges crammed into six months.
• crammed= very full of things
So, here are the 10 lessons I learned from basic SEAL training that hopefully will be
of value to you as you move forward in life.

Every morning in basic SEAL training, my instructors, who at the time were all
Vietnam veterans, would show up in my barracks room and the first thing they would
inspect was your bed. If you did it right, the corners would be square, the covers
pulled tight, the pillow centered just under the headboard and the extra blanket
folded neatly at the foot of the rack — that’s Navy talk for bed.
• barracks = a building or group of buildings where soldiers live
• cover = something that is put on or over something else, usually to protect
it, to keep something in, etc. (RO: pătură)
• headboard = a vertical board at the end of a bed behind where your head
rests
• neatly = in a tidy way
• rack = a frame or shelf, often formed of bars, that is used to hold things
(RO: cuier)
It was a simple task — mundane at best. But every morning we were required to
make our bed to perfection. It seemed a little ridiculous at the time, particularly in
light of the fact that were aspiring to be real warriors, tough battle-hardened SEALs,
but the wisdom of this simple act has been proven to me many times over.
• mundane = very ordinary and therefore not interesting (RO: lumesc)
• battle-hardened = having experience of war and therefore effective at
fighting battles
• in the light of = because or as a result of
If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the
day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another
task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have
turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that
little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the
big things right.
• to reinforce = if something reinforces an idea or opinion, it provides more
proof or support for it and makes it seem true
And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is
made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow
will be better.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.
• to start off = begin to do something
During SEAL training the students are broken down into boat crews. Each crew is
seven students — three on each side of a small rubber boat and one coxswain to help
guide the dingy. Every day your boat crew forms up on the beach and is instructed to
get through the surfzone and paddle several miles down the coast. In the winter, the
surf off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 feet high and it is exceedingly difficult to
paddle through the plunging surf unless everyone digs in. Every paddle must be
synchronized to the stroke count of the coxswain. Everyone must exert equal effort
or the boat will turn against the wave and be unceremoniously tossed back on the
beach.
• to break down = to separate, or to separate something, into smaller parts
• coxswain = the person who sits in the back of a rowing boat and controls
its direction (RO: cârmaci)
• dingy /ˈdɪn.dʒi/ = dark and often also dirty (RO: murdar)
• surf zone = the zone where waves break as a consequence of depth
limitation and surf onshore as wave bores
• to paddle = to push a pole with a wide end through the water in order to
make a boat move (RO: a vâsli)
 • to plunge = to (cause someone or something to) move or fall suddenly and
often a long way forward, down, or into something
• to exert = to use something such as authority, power, influence, etc. in
order to make something happen (RO: a exercita)
• unceremoniously /ʌnˌser.ɪˈməʊ.ni.əs.li/ = in a way that is unceremonious
(rude, sudden, or informal)
• to toss = throw something carelessly

For the boat to make it to its destination, everyone must paddle. You can’t change the
world alone — you will need some help — and to truly get from your starting point
to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong
coxswain to guide them.
• coxswain = the person who sits in the back of a rowing boat and controls
its direction (RO: cârmaci)
If you want to change the world, find someone to help you paddle.
Over a few weeks of difficult training my SEAL class, which started with 150 men,
was down to just 35. There were now six boat crews of seven men each. I was in the
boat with the tall guys, but the best boat crew we had was made up of the little guys
— the munchkin crew we called them — no one was over about five-foot-five.
• munchkin /ˈmʌntʃ.kɪn/ = a very small person (RO: pitic, prichindel)

The munchkin boat crew had one American Indian, one African American, one Polish
American, one Greek American, one Italian American, and two tough kids from the
midwest. They out-paddled, out-ran and out-swam all the other boat crews. The big
men in the other boat crews would always make good-natured fun of the tiny little
flippers the munchkins put on their tiny little feet prior to every swim. But somehow
these little guys, from every corner of the nation and the world, always had the last
laugh — swimming faster than everyone and reaching the shore long before the rest
of us.
• to outpaddle = to paddle faster
• good-natured = pleasant or friendly
• flipper = a type of large, flat rubber shoe used for swimming, especially
underwater (RO: înotătoare)
• to have the last laugh = to finally get an advantage from an argument or
disagreement, when it seemed that you would not
SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not
your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.
• equalizer = something that makes things or people equal
If you want to change the world, measure a person by the size of their heart, not the
size of their flippers.

Several times a week, the instructors would line up the class and do a uniform
inspection. It was exceptionally thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly starched,
your uniform immaculately pressed and your belt buckle shiny and void of any
smudges. But it seemed that no matter how much effort you put into starching your
hat, or pressing your uniform or polishing your belt buckle — it just wasn’t good
enough. The instructors would find “something” wrong.
• to line up = to arrange people or things in a row or to stand in a row
• thorough = detailed and careful
• starch = a white substance that exists in large amounts in potatoes and
particular grains such as rice (RO: apret)
• buckle = a piece of metal at one end of a belt or strap, used to fasten the
two ends together
• void of= without; lacking in
• smudge = a mark with no particular shape that is caused, usually by
accident, by rubbing something such as ink or a dirty finger
across a surface (RO: pată)
For failing the uniform inspection, the student had to run, fully clothed into the
surfzone and then, wet from head to toe, roll around on the beach until every part of
your body was covered with sand. The effect was known as a “sugar cookie.” You
stayed in that uniform the rest of the day — cold, wet and sandy.

• to roll = to (cause something to) move somewhere by turning over and over
or from side to side
There were many a student who just couldn’t accept the fact that all their effort was
in vain. That no matter how hard they tried to get the uniform right, it was
unappreciated. Those students didn’t make it through training. Those students didn’t
understand the purpose of the drill. You were never going to succeed. You were never
going to have a perfect uniform.
• drill = practice involving repetition of an activity in order to improve a
skill, or a particular occasion for such practice (RO: instrucţie)
Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you perform you still end up
as a sugar cookie. It’s just the way life is sometimes.
If you want to change the world get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving
forward.
Every day during training you were challenged with multiple physical events — long
runs, long swims, obstacle courses, hours of calisthenics — something designed to
test your mettle. Every event had standards — times you had to meet. If you failed
to meet those standards your name was posted on a list, and at the end of the day those
on the list were invited to a “circus.” A circus was two hours of additional calisthenics
designed to wear you down, to break your spirit, to force you to quit.
• calisthenics = simple physical exercises that are done to make the body
firm, able to stretch easily, and more attractive
• mettle = ability and determination when competing or doing something
difficult
• to wear someone down = to make someone feel tired and less able to deal
successfully with a situation
No one wanted a circus.
A circus meant that for that day you didn’t measure up. A circus meant more fatigue
— and more fatigue meant that the following day would be more difficult — and
more circuses were likely. But at some time during SEAL training, everyone —
everyone — made the circus list.
• to measure up = to be as good as something else or as good as expected
• fatigue = extreme tiredness
But an interesting thing happened to those who were constantly on the list. Over time
those students — who did two hours of extra calisthenics — got stronger and stronger.
The pain of the circuses built inner strength, built physical resilience.
• resilience = someone’s ability to become healthy, happy, or strong again
after an illness, disappointment, or other problem
Life is filled with circuses. You will fail. You will likely fail often. It will be painful.
It will be discouraging. At times it will test you to your very core.
• to the core = to an extreme degree
But if you want to change the world, don’t be afraid of the circuses.
At least twice a week, the trainees were required to run the obstacle course. The
obstacle course contained 25 obstacles including a 10-foot high wall, a 30-foot cargo
net and a barbed wire crawl, to name a few. But the most challenging obstacle was
the slide for life. It had a three-level 30-foot tower at one end and a one-level tower
at the other. In between was a 200-foot-long rope. You had to climb the three-tiered
tower and once at the top, you grabbed the rope, swung underneath the rope and
pulled yourself hand over hand until you got to the other end.
• cargo net = a type of net
• barbed wire = a type of strong wire with sharp points on it, used to prevent
people or animals from entering or leaving a place,
especially a field (RO: sârmă ghimpată)
• three-tiered tower = turn cu trei etaje
• to grab = to take hold of something in a rough or rude way
• to swing = to move easily and without interruption backwards and forwards or
from one side to the other, especially from a fixed point, or to cause something
or someone to do this (RO: a se balansa)
• underneath = under or below
The record for the obstacle course had stood for years when my class began training
in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable, until one day, a student decided to go down
the slide for life head first. Instead of swinging his body underneath the rope and
inching his way down, he bravely mounted the TOP of the rope and thrust himself
forward.
• to inch = to move very slowly or in a lot of short stages
• to mount = to go up or onto
• to thrust himself = to push suddenly and strongly
It was a dangerous move — seemingly foolish, and fraught with risk. Failure could
mean injury and being dropped from the training. Without hesitation the student slid
down the rope perilously fast. Instead of several minutes, it only took him half that
time and by the end of the course he had broken the record.
• fraught with = full of unpleasant things such as problems or dangers
• to slide down = to fall
• perilously /ˈperələsli/ = in a way that is dangerous or that can cause serious
problems

If you want to change the world sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head
first.
During the land warfare phase of training, the students are flown out to San Clemente
Island which lies off the coast of San Diego. The waters off San Clemente are a
breeding ground for the great white sharks. To pass SEAL training there are a series
of long swims that must be completed. One is the night swim.
• to be flown = to leave for somewhere by plane
• breeding ground = an area where birds, fish, or other animals habitually
breed
Before the swim the instructors joyfully brief the trainees on all the species of sharks
that inhabit the waters off San Clemente. They assure you, however, that no student
has ever been eaten by a shark — at least not recently. But, you are also taught that if
a shark begins to circle your position — stand your ground. Do not swim away. Do
not act afraid. And if the shark, hungry for a midnight snack, darts towards you —
then summon up all your strength and punch him in the snout, and he will turn and
swim away.
• joyfully = in a very happy way
• to stand your ground = not retreat or lose one's advantage in the face of
opposition
• to dart = to move quickly or suddenly
• to summon up = to officially order someone to come to a place, especially
a court of law

There are a lot of sharks in the world. If you hope to complete the swim you will have
to deal with them.
So, if you want to change the world, don’t back down from the sharks.
• to back down = to stop supporting a position

As Navy SEALs one of our jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy
shipping. We practiced this technique extensively during basic training. The ship
attack mission is where a pair of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an enemy harbor
and then swims well over two miles — underwater — using nothing but a depth
gauge and a compass to get to their target.
• gauge /ɡeɪdʒ/ = a device for measuring the amount or size of something
During the entire swim, even well below the surface, there is some light that comes
through. It is comforting to know that there is open water above you. But as you
approach the ship, which is tied to a pier, the light begins to fade. The steel structure
of the ship blocks the moonlight, it blocks the surrounding street lamps, it blocks all
ambient light.
• comforting /ˈkʌm.fə.tɪŋ/ = making you feel less sad or worried
• pier = a low structure built at the edge of water, used especially for getting
into and out of boats (RO: ponton)
• to fade = to (cause to) lose colour, brightness, or strength gradually
• ambient /ˈæm.bi.ənt/ = (especially of environmental conditions) existing
in the surrounding area
To be successful in your mission, you have to swim under the ship and find the keel
— the centerline and the deepest part of the ship. This is your objective. But the keel
is also the darkest part of the ship — where you cannot see your hand in front of your
face, where the noise from the ship’s machinery is deafening and where it is easy to
get disoriented and fail.
• keel = the long piece of wood or metal along the bottom of a boat that forms
part of its structure and helps to keep the boat balanced in the water
(RO: chilă)
• deafening = extremely loud
• disoriented /dɪˈsɔː.ri.ən.tɪd/ = confused and not knowing where to go or
what to do

Every SEAL knows that under the keel, at the darkest moment of the mission, is the
time when you must be calm, composed — when all your tactical skills, your physical
power and all your inner strength must be brought to bear.
• composed = calm and in control of your emotions
• to brought to bear = to concentrate on with a specific purpose
If you want to change the world, you must be your very best in the darkest moment.

The ninth week of training is referred to as “Hell Week.” It is six days of no sleep,
constant physical and mental harassment, and one special day at the Mud Flats. The
Mud Flats are area between San Diego and Tijuana where the water runs off and
creates the Tijuana slues, a swampy patch of terrain where the mud will engulf you.
• harassment = behaviour that annoys or upsets someone
It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend
the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing cold mud, the howling wind and the
incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. As the sun began to set that Wednesday
evening, my training class, having committed some “egregious infraction of the
rules” was ordered into the mud.
• to paddle = to push a pole with a wide end through the water in order to
make a boat move
• egregious /ɪˈɡriː.dʒəs/ = extremely bad in a way that is very noticeable
• infraction = an occasion when someone breaks a rule or law

The mud consumed each man till there was nothing visible but our heads. The
instructors told us we could leave the mud if only five men would quit — just five
men — and we could get out of the oppressive cold. Looking around the mud flat it
was apparent that some students were about to give up. It was still over eight hours
till the sun came up — eight more hours of bone-chilling cold.
• apparent = able to be seen or understood (RO: vizibil)

The chattering teeth and shivering moans of the trainees were so loud it was hard to
hear anything. And then, one voice began to echo through the night, one voice raised
in song. The song was terribly out of tune but sung with great enthusiasm. One voice
became two and two became three and before long everyone in the class was singing.
We knew that if one man could rise above the misery then others could as well.
• to chatter = if your teeth chatter, they knock together repeatedly because
you are very cold or frightened
• moan = a long, low sound of pain, suffering, or another strong emotion
(RO: geamăt)
• to echo = if a sound echoes or a place echoes with a sound, you hear the
sound again because you are in a large, empty space
• out of tune = singing or playing notes that are at the wrong pitch (= level)
or that do not agree with others being sung or played
The instructors threatened us with more time in the mud if we kept up the singing but
the singing persisted. And somehow the mud seemed a little warmer, the wind a little
tamer and the dawn not so far away.
• to persist = to continue to exist
• tame /ˈteɪ.mər/ = something that is tame is slightly boring because it is not
exciting, interesting, powerful, or dangerous enough
• dawn = the period in the day when light from the sun begins to appear in
the sky
If I have learned anything in my time traveling the world, it is the power of hope. The
power of one person — Washington, Lincoln, King, Mandela and even a young girl
from Pakistan, Malala — one person can change the world by giving people hope.

So, if you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in
mud.

Finally, in SEAL training there is a bell. A brass bell that hangs in the center of the
compound for all the students to see. All you have to do to quit is ring the bell.
• brass bell = clopot de alamă
• compound = an area surrounded by fences or walls that contains a group
of buildings (RO: complex)

Ring the bell and you no longer have to wake up at 5 o’clock. Ring the bell and you
no longer have to do the freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and you no longer have
to do the runs, the obstacle course, the PT — and you no longer have to endure the
hardships of training. Just ring the bell.
• to endure = to suffer something difficult or unpleasant in a patient way
over a long period

If you want to change the world don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

To the graduating class of 2014, you are moments away from graduating. Moments
away from beginning your journey through life. Moments away from starting to
change the world — for the better. It will not be easy.

But, YOU are the class of 2014, the class that can affect the lives of 800 million
people in the next century.

Start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect
everyone.
Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if take you take some risks,
step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden
and never, ever give up — if you do these things, then the next generation and the
generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today.
• lift up the downtrodden = to improve socially, culturally, morally,
And what started here will indeed have changed the world — for the better.
Thank you very much.