‘LETTING THE WEEDS GROW’ (Mt 13:24-30): 20 July 2008 (Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)
It’s not easy to find a commencement speech that’s both wise and witty. But I think that’s exactly what J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the “Harry Potter” series, delivered at Harvard last June 5, 2008. The title she gave the speech gives you a fairly good idea of the gems of wisdom that she offered the Harvard graduates: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.” Even for non-Harry Potter fans, the speech is worth reading in full–and thanks to technology, we can even watch the delivery itself (see below).