Summer, it's a time to say goodbye, and a time for life to have a new start.

Ever since George Marshall announced his European Recovery Program for post-war Europe at the Harvard University commencement in 1947 and made big news, the choice of commencement speaker at Harvard has become an annual event in the academic world, enjoying the same spotlight as the choice of the host of the Academy Award. So far, the esteemed list includes Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Bill Gates of MicroSoft, comedian Will Farrell of Saturday Night Live, J.K. Rowling the creator of Harry Potter, Conan O'Brien the new host of the Tonight Show, and the current Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, etc.

With a roster of commencement speakers covering such a spectrum of interests, undoubtedly Harvard University tried to give the graduates a last boost of confidence before they left school, but, how many students really followed this ten-minute advice?

Gloria Steinem, a pioneer feminist, was smart; she conducted a survey before her speech and found that half of the people surveyed didn't even remember who their commencement speaker was. Consequently, instead of taking the high road of professing forgettable theories, she decided to give the graduates some real advice. Her topic was "What I Know Now that I Wish I'd Known Then".

What she "wished she had known" was neither foreseeing posing for the Playboy magazine, nor becoming a reporter for equality of the sexes or an important figure in a social movement. She wished she had come to the realization of seven important thoughts, four of which were about life's value and three about concepts of politics and human rights. Here we will look at the four thoughts on the value.

First, life is not black and white, and there are no wrong choices, though our choices will determine the path our life will take. Steinem wished she had known that it takes courage not to do things by the books. School education may be valuable and irreplaceable, but book-learning can also trap us in a corner. Original ideas need to be acted on, despite what others think or what the books say. You should do what you want to do without worrying about making a fool of yourself.

Steinem's second thought took her 20 years to realize. Success and failure are not determined by the end result, but by the intention and the process. She used social movements as an example. Less advantaged groups don't usually get their voices heard, but when they share a common goal and unite to fight for their rights, even if they do not reach their ultimate goal, the process will make them grow stronger. The process gives them the strength to say: "Do not ignore us."

Our sights shouldn't be so narrow that we only see the tiny dots of darkness and miss the bright lights in the background.

The third thought: if you have to choose character or intelligence -- in a friend or a candidate, choose character. Intelligence without character is dangerous, but character without intelligence only slows down a good result.

The fourth thought: all the stocks, designer goods, mansions and jewels in the world are empty. Give 10% of what you earn back to the society and it's the best investment you'll ever make. If you are really happy in your life and work, you won't have that much time to shop. All the money you invested may not be worth much two years down the road, but your investment in benefiting your community will one day reward you in ways that no money, designer goods or mansions can.

Gloria Steinem gave this speech at the Tufts University commencement in 1987. At the time her ideas were quite new. Philosophers, revolutionaries and inventors are often lonely people because they are often not understood. I wonder how many graduates at that commencement truly appreciated Steinem's speech and changed the course of their lives as a result?

Author David Foster Wallace's commencement speech was also full of wisdom and vision. At the start, he told a story: an old fish swam by two young fish and said, "Good morning, kids! Isn't this water wonderful?" A moment later, one young fish asked the other, "What the heck is 'water'?"

Three years later, Wallace answered the question by killing himself. Swimming in this water was too much for him.

Wallace's will to fight was obviously not as strong as Steinem's, and he ultimately could not free himself from the grip of depression. There was no anger or self-pity in his commencement speech though at Kenyon College. I hope those graduates who heard his speech could hear it again and find their own survival through Wallace's struggle.

Wallace told the graduates that, life was full of helplessness and confusion, but there were answers. Some see them while others don't.

Two people were arguing if God existed. The non-believer said, "I was once lost in a blizzard and I yelled for God's help."

The believer said, "But you are alive and sitting here having a drink with me. Isn't that the perfect proof that God does exist?"

The non-believer said, "Heck No! Several Eskimos heard me and saved me."

Sometimes bad things happen to make us see the truth. Those who see it will go on and survive, while the ones who don't will continue to struggle and never learn. Regrettably, Wallace knew the truth but somehow still lost the battle to himself.

Unlike Wallace, who suffered from depression and ended his own life, Randy Pausch lost his life to pancreatic cancer. He gave his last lecture to the graduates of Carnegie Mellon University, his alma mater. At the time he was already very weak and the entire speech lasted around three minutes, but in this last lecture Pausch said something most unforgettable. Having outlived his doctor's prediction by three months, Randy Pausch said, "I cheated death, not by living longer, but by living better."

Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computer, who recently received a liver transplant, also cheated death repeatedly with his will to live. His 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University has become one of the most widely viewed on the internet. It's true to life and inspirational. The most important message Jobs conveyed to the graduates was how he took advantage of the turning points of his life.

Gloria Steinem told the graduates what she wished she had known; Wallace surrendered to life in a most tragic way, yet Randy Pausch gave a ray of hope. The lesson is about making choices and taking actions. We must choose to face life and take actions to give life meaning. Jobs proved to us that, as long as you are willing to act, you may get a chance to live longer. Living longer is not to prolong life's suffering, but to make life more beautiful!