I Wish You Bad Luck: The Unconventional Advice of Chief Justice John Roberts

At most graduation ceremonies, you’ll hear familiar messages: “Follow your dreams,” “Believe in yourself,” and of course, “Good luck.”

But when US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts addressed the graduating class at Cardigan Mountain School, he broke the script—and delivered something far more honest, even radical.

He didn’t wish the students good luck. Instead, he wished them discomfort. Misfortune. Betrayal. Loss.

Why? Because in his view, it’s through struggle—not in its absence—that we develop resilience, character, and empathy.

Here’s the unforgettable excerpt from his commencement address:

"Now the commencement speakers will typically also wish you good luck and extend good wishes to you. I will not do that, and I’ll tell you why. From time to time in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that you will come to know the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty. Sorry to say, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friends for granted. 

I wish you bad luck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role of chance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved and that the failure of others is not completely deserved either. And when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponent will gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. I hope you’ll be ignored so you know the importance of listening to others, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. 

Whether I wish these things or not, they’re going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend upon your ability to see the message in your misfortunes.

                                                                                                          Courtesy: Cardigan Mountain School

Now commencement speakers are also expected to give some advice. They give grand advice, and they give some useful tips. The most common grand advice they give is for you to be yourself. It is an odd piece of advice to give people dressed identically, but you should—you should be yourself. But you should understand what that means. Unless you are perfect, it does not mean don’t make any changes. In a certain sense, you should not be yourself. You should try to become something better. People say ‘be yourself’ because they want you to resist the impulse to conform to what others want you to be. But you can’t be yourself if you don’t learn who are, and you can’t learn who you are unless you think about it.

The Greek philosopher Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And while ‘just do it’ might be a good motto for some things, it’s not a good motto when it’s trying to figure out how to live your life that is before you. And one important clue to living a good life is to not to try to live the good life. The best way to lose the values that are central to who you are is frankly not to think about them at all."

Concluding Remarks

This isn't just advice; it's a profound truth that challenges us to grow. Because the real aim isn't to avoid life's storms, but to emerge from them wiser, humbler, and truly transformed

References:

Speech: Cardigan's Commencement Address by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.