Just one word. Plastics.

化学業界では結構有名な逸話のようで１９６７年の映画『卒業』でプラスチックの将来性を熱弁している年長者の一コマです。時代は変わるものですね。。。

プラスチック: 自動車メーカーと化学企業の未来
映画「卒業」で、大学の卒業証書を手にダスティン・ホフマン扮するベン・ブラドックが、はるかに年長で経験豊富 なマクガイア氏に呼び出され、成功の秘密を聞かされるシーンが印象的だ。「言いたいことはたったひとつだ。聞いて いるか?」「はい、聞いています」とベンが答える。「プラスチックだ。プラスチックにはとてつもない未来がある。 よく考えろ。考えてくれるな」「はい、考えます」ベンがもぐもぐと言うと「よし、話は終りだ」とマクガイア氏はきっ ぱりと言った。

社会の変化のスピードが速くなっているなかで、どのようなアドバイスを新社会人に与えるべきかというNYTのOpEdでこのエピソードが触れられていました。

Arthur C. Brooks
How to Avoid Commencement Clichés
MAY 12, 2015

NATIONWIDE, commencement speakers are preparing remarks to deliver to this year’s crop of college graduates. I was one, and frankly I was a little worried. I wanted to inspire and uplift, but I was well aware that, more often than not, graduation addresses are met with blank stares and tepid applause.
Would I encourage the young people to pursue their professional dreams, to find a fun job, to become an entrepreneur or teacher? All of that seemed like solid guidance. But when I asked a few of my 20-something colleagues, they warned me that, while this might sound great to a baby boomer at the podium, to a millennial audience it’s just product advice. It sounds more or less like the famous unsolicited counsel in the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” in which a middle-aged businessman told the young Ben Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman): “I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics.”

この方の結論は安定した職業というのもないのだから、各自が自分の人生の目的を見いだすべきだという、結局クリシェじゃないのという結論に落ち着いています（苦笑）

As I prepared to give my remarks — I spoke on Saturday to graduates of Ave Maria University, a Catholic institution in southwestern Florida — I thought about the words of Bach. If anyone had the right to dispense product advice, it was Bach, the creator of more than a thousand published works and considered by many to be the greatest composer who ever lived. But when asked his approach to writing music, he said, “Music’s only purpose should be the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.” Bach was a true man on a mission, and the two ingredients of his mission were sanctification and service. It is hard to find a better life purpose than the pursuit of higher consciousness and benevolence to others.

So here’s my advice for anyone asked to give a commencement speech: Avoid plastics; put purpose ahead of product; emphasize sanctification and service. Also, keep it under 30 minutes.

プラスチックの万能性を熱く語っていた時代があったんですよね。時代の先を見通すことなんて、結局無理なんでしょうね。