Jon Fisher - I Took the Only Path To See You

Salesforce built the greatest skyscraper in the land just two miles from here for a reason. It was in San Francisco where my father taught physics at both San Francisco State and Stanford, and often it was easier to get the great physicists of the century to speak in San Francisco. This place stimulates drive and achievement.

About 80 percent of you graduating today do not call San Francisco your home city, but more of you will stay. You understand the feeling I am describing in your years here. San Francisco is a unique city in many ways, and you were lucky to have been here. Bring its vibe wherever you go.

Returning again today, I know the opportunity to speak to you in this place and time may be my apex at age 46 for a variety of reasons, including both sets of parents are still relatively happy and healthy and get to be a part of this. My family is here today. My mother-in-law is here, who believes all of this – career, family, inspiration, all of it, is due to grand design. My mother believes this is all due to chance. I think it's somewhere in the middle.

By the way, this was also the exact opening of my wedding vows. I continued, promising my wife that I would meet her in the middle of our disagreements, whether or not they were about our mothers. And while I think having a loving family creates memorable moments that may result in chemical changes in the brain to make us more creative, I think we should also follow Jack Warner's advice to Einstein, paraphrasing “you have your theory of relatively and I have mine – don't hire a relative.”

I have a house on a hill now that's built into a cliff – into the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall …” Matthew 7:24. And Amen to that. The house will not fall, and I remember that to give me strength when bad things happen, which they inevitably do. I am a human, not a house, but still …

I see these guys eulogizing their fathers from time to time on CNN, and it's so tough not to cry, and my own father is right here. And he is, not was, a great father. He's really a good guy, you know? I aspire to that. I aspire to that first before anything else.

And my mother is great – she literally stood in front of me to protect from the world at times.

And my wife – I couldn't have imagined winding up with such a loving and patient and good person in my life like her mother. And it is with such humility that I witness all of this passed down to our little girl. Maybe you'll see her at the reception – she shines. I took the only path to see you along Tiburon Blvd, where some of the most well-meaning and resourceful people in town can't seem to change daily driving habits to fix the traffic problem. My daughter and I ride an electric tandem bicycle to her school. I may get funny looks from passing drivers, but we try to do our bit to be environmentally correct. No worry.

So it is in most towns. How do we do what has to be done to save the planet if we can't even sacrifice a little? My daughter's future depends on a healthy planet, and I will work as hard as I can to make it happen for her and future generations. Love may be the greatest motivation we humans have, greater than success or money.

The Union of Concerned Scientists just forecasted that nearly 4,400 homes in Marin County will be underwater in less than 30 years because of sea level rise, so we'll have to do something. My generation, yours, we will have to do something. For now, I keep searching for ideas. Think about these things. Ideas will come to you, and act to make this a better planet. Together, we can make it happen. Angry and divided, I fear we cannot.

We named our daughter after Emerson, who wrote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail.” What a trail to leave, a healthy Earth and good will among men (and woman).

Your degrees today and your work to come are the means to leave a trail. Your family is another. I will look for you in this church in the years to come as you build and find your happiness.

Thank you USF and Go Dons!

Our country is not doing well. In the last several years, intense negative emotions such as hate, fear, resentment, and distrust have dominated the headline news. Toss in problems from pandemics and politicians fighting over scientific facts and we have a divided, often dysfunctional society. This makes effective action to combat global warming, job loss, economic stagnation, virus outbreaks, and other threats next to impossible.

To reverse this negative and dangerous trend, we will need a social revolution. People don't necessarily need to love their neighbor, but they should at least respect their neighbors through simple acts of consideration, kindness, and even compassion.

When someone receives respect and compassion, life can change dramatically in an instant – for both the recipient and the sender. Caring can spread quickly and be just as contagious as a disease, but in a good way. Ultimately, this spreading of kindness can create a society that can act and work together for the common good.

The USA should become the United States of Affiliation, not Antipathy. This needed social revolution may take time to counteract the negative forces omnipresent today, but that's the reason for this book. This book is my way to help the process along and make the world a better place for everybody.

Inside, you'll read about people I personally know or have heard about from the people closest to me. Many of these people are famous and household names, like President Joe Biden, whom I first met when he visited my company for a pre-election fundraiser. These are troubled times, and Biden seems to understand that coming together can accomplish things that disunity will impede or make impossible. It is too soon to know if he has the magic to do this.

Others I write about are like Larry Ellison of Oracle fame, who bought my software company where I worked as an Oracle executive for a time. His domain was not as large as Biden's, but he built a powerful and lasting company. Some have referred to Ellison as a modern-day Genghis Kahn, but he has certainly done very well for his children financially.

Part of this story includes Nobel Prize winners as part of this story, along with many ordinary people whose stories deserve to be told because they all showed kindness. Their caring provides plenty of evidence that you don't have to be a bastard to succeed. In fact, being a nice person can actually enhance your chances of success.

Kindness and caring only needs to start with one person, and it can spread to many others, one person at a time, crossing international borders and leaping across entire continents and oceans. Caring and kindness can spark the next revolution, because in the end, we are all our brother's keepers. We just need to learn that compassion is never a weakness but a strength, and the best way to learn how to change the world is to see how others have done it first.

Imagine you're a kid in a candy store. Everywhere you look, there's a treat you'd like to try. Paralyzed with indecision, you can only look from side to side, fearing if you choose one candy, you'll miss out on the opportunity to choose another one.

With so many tempting choices, you'd think it should be easy to choose something. After all, if everything looks appealing, how can you possibly lose? Yet there is a way to lose – by being afraid to choose anything. When the candy store owner finally closes the doors, that's when you'll realize you wound up getting nothing, despite being surrounded by everything, all because you couldn't make a decision.