exceeds our national output. the federal government has made another $100 trillion of financial promises in the form of social security, medicare, and other programs. these links and are aware loaded every seven americans is either unemployed or underemployed. you're entering an economy where you are competing not only against your peers in this room across the nation, but your peers around the world. the competition for jobs in this economy has never been tougher. that is the bad news. the good news is that you guys are well-prepared to to take on these challenges. for 137 years, texas a&m has been educating, mentoring, and molding the best and the brightest.

aaron texas, and around the world. -- here in texas, and around the world. both of the classroom, and out of the classroom, uniquely prepared for the role that you are about to enter. texas a&m was ranked second in the nation by the "wall street journal" in a survey of top u.s. corporations, top profits, and government agencies aced on graduates preferred to hire. that is where the rubber meets the road. texas a&m is ranking the top 2025 nationally by washington monthly what colleges do for this country. he you graduates become part of an ever more competitive workforce that will distort the economy. firstur founding as the

public institution of higher education, a&m has awarded degrees and provided an experience for thousands more. because of texas a&m and your educational efforts, you have equip yourselves to hit the ground running. you've earned your education credentials that are economy needs today. you'll begin making a difference immediately. jordi future starts this weekend at the point that president lofton places your degree in one hand and shakes her other hand. what happens after that? that is up to you. i have some thoughts for you to reflect upon. on april 25, i attended the memorial service for the memo becausevors -- services of the explosions and west. the brother of one of the 12 men killed in that explosion talked about his brother's life in terms of the -- between his

brother date of birth and his brothers date of death. this is what i want you to do. i want you to think about the dash in your life. they will obviously see your date of birth, and your date of death. more portly -- more portly, what will they see in between? i want all of your -- is to beef dashes to be your rich. i'm talking about rich with texture. in our thoughts about the link -- building your dashes. lived or execute that plan. strive to become a leader. serve others. let's dig into the details. along the way, i will try to .uild in our aggie values

planning first. all of us know that without a plan, we do not know where we are going. take an inventory of your skills, weaknesses, and knowledge. take these attitudes and decide what you're going to go in life, and build a plan to take you there. start now, do it tonight so that right after that diploma is placed in your hand, you can start. always keep in mind that your plan is a dynamic set of aspirations. each constantly assess how you , andoing in achieving it adjuster plan to fit the changes and your goals. for what it is worth, i did have

a plan. it was written on a legal yellow pad, and it had one, 5, 19 your goals. i carried it with me everywhere i went. some may want to ask, how did i do versus my plan? that is a topic for another day. i want to tell you this. to prove my point about the need for constant reassessment, until the summer of 2009, 9 of my plans ever contemplated me running for congress. here i am today. i think i have done pretty well versus my plan. now that you have written your plan, and yet committed to follow it, and committed to revisit it, what is next? >just do it. go live your plan. go execute it. when you live your plan, do it

with aggie core values that you lived here -- learned here. for never some things when you're living your plan. do with self-confidence and gravitas. you build your plan in such a way to capitalize on your strengths and minimize her weaknesses. you should be confident in it. live every day. live it every day. oak and the mayor is day and say what am i going to blip my plan today? realize you are going to have setbacks along the way. some of these will be because of your mistakes, and the actions of others. learn from them, but do not well on them. ,hen others make mistakes remember you cannot control their actions. however you can control your actions and reactions. cases,r that in many

your ability to execute your plan will involve working with others. while working as a group or 18, room number a couple of moments. the stronger the team, the better the outcome. through unity, strength. strong teams are based upon that aggie core value of respect. the golden rule is to treat others the way you want to be treated. avoid distractions read avoid fixation. explaineasiest way to this is finding analogies. sometimes of people are flying, some minor thing will go wrong. this distraction can keep the pilot from paying attention to what he should, and they have an accident. this would not happen if they forget about the distraction until they are sure they have a plane flying in a stable manner.

then they can deal with the distractions. there are numerous examples where pilots have become overly fixated on one or two other instruments. they have crashed because they have failed to see the warning signals from the other instruments they were ignoring. keep your field of view wide open at all times. you'll find opportunity there. remember that we do not control the number of days we have to live rate we do control -- we have to live. we do control how we live them. day is yourf the last. been living your plan. you are doing well enough that somebody notices you. ,t could involve being a mentor becoming a new department manager.

now what? again, we turn to our aggie core values of excellence. you should take these values and your leadership style. how -- i had a few things for you to think about. always been willing to do what you ask others to do. if you will not do it yourself, they will not follow you. lead with integrity. if you do not have integrity, others will not bother you. -- others will not follow you. if credit to others when you or your team does well because of them. this is the most important. watch out for pride. you have and probably been asked to lead at this time. do not let go to your your head. excessive pride leads to arrogance, and arrogance leads to narciso. the only person that likes arrogant or narcissistic person is themselves. if this happens to you, you'll be like the folks i work with in

congress. can line up with the 12% approval rating but congress today. putys a member that you your pants on one leg at a time like everybody else. you're not anyway more important that another person. let's take an assessment of where we are now. you have updated from time to time your plan. you're living your plan every day. based on the way you have done these things, you'll been asked to leave and you're doing it well. you are a success. now what? before we answer that, let's make sure we have a clear understanding of what the success means in my view. success should not explicitly be measured in monetary terms. it can be measured by children raised, students taught, people comforted, lives saved, broken

hearts heal. discoveries made, inventions created, and nation defended, local threats mitigated by first responders, and dozens of other actions. let's talk about serving. in my mind, some he can take a couple forms. they can include paying back others who helped you get to where you are, or paying it forward to help others get to where you are now. for this part of our conversation, it is important to remember our aggie core values. it is these values that have this value that has many times impacted the others. living, planning. when it comes to service, you can serve in a number of ways.

by volunteering, by mentoring, and by sharing resources. it is also important to remember that while serving, our attitude is even more important. if you're serving but you are grumpy, the people that you are helping are going to know that. they're not going to know that you are doing it with an open heart. a you're smiling, genuinely, will understand that. even though you are genuinely serving from your heart. i want to conclude with a conversation with an observation. life a consider my success in many ways. one of the areas i consider mike success to be the most the filling is the way that gina and i have helped others. some of my are my -- more meaningful days have been when i helped others. dash that is that

bold, and meaningful. it will be the dash you are happy to leave as a legacy. before iraq that our conversation tonight, i would like to share a few other thoughts. us first that god has given the 10 commandments. decision treese when you make your decisions, you will always make the right ones. i next got is that god put each of you on this earth for a purpose. please find that purpose. live it. before i close, please river to pray for our country during these difficult times. pry from and women who protect our country from threats abroad. these men and women sacrifice and serve 24/7 to that uni can enjoy -- you and i can enjoy evenings like this.

we have lost 24 brave americans in the military and first responders, including the 12 who were killed last month in west. these men each exemplified the names -- the names of jesus. these 24 man each have bold and meaningful dashes. when i look at this crowd, everybody, but the long -- young graduates in particular, i see a bunch of potential for meaningful dashes. will you go build those? will you? we signify with a strong aggie whoop? thank you. god bless you.

god bless texas aggies everywhere. [applause] mark warner was the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremony at george mason university in fairfax, virginia. the governor talked to the class of 2013 for 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. members of the board of visitors, mason faculty, staff, family, graduates, good morning.