This is continued from Thomas Friedman Commencement 2003.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has always been a favorite speaker at college graduation ceremonies. But after September 11, 2001 his stock on the commencement circuit rose as dramatically as the Twin Towers fell.

You may read more about his extensive background by viewing his official website. Click on his name in the opening paragraph here.

Like most Americans, Thomas Friedman cannot get away from the war that began on September 11, 2001. It dominates his lectures, speeches and reflections. Here are some excerpts from his 2003 Class Day Address to the students at Yale University {you can go to the beginning of our piece on Mr Friedman].

"So whatever you plan to do, whether you plan to travel the world next year, go to graduate school, join the workforce, or take some time off to think, don't just listen to your head. Listen to your heart. Sometimes your heart knows you better than your head. Do what you really love to do and if you don't know quite what that is yet, well, keep searching, because if you find it, you'll be good at it. And as a result, you're sure to be well paid, either emotionally or financially. . . .

"My third rule is to be a good listener. It's amazing how many journalists aren't. My friend and colleague, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, used to say to me, 'The biggest stories I missed as a journalist happened because I was talking when I should have been listening.' The ability to be a good listener is one of the most under-appreciated talents a person or a country can have. But this is particularly true in the post 9/11 age. We Americans need to be good listeners more than ever before. Why? Well, firstly because when you have as much overwhelming power in the world as America has today, the world is always going oscillate between respecting you and resenting you. People who have power often don't think about it, but people who don't have power think about it all the time. America is so powerful today that it affects many people around the world, directly or indirectly, more than their own governments. This can breed resentment and humiliation. I have found as a reporter the best antidote for that is trying to be a good listener. 'For everything there is a season, a time to speak and a time to listen.' America has spoken a lot after 9/11 with its power; now should be our season for listening. . .

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"Lesson #4, penultimate, is be a naïve optimist. The world really needs more of them after 9/11. Whenever students ask me what it takes to succeed in journalism, I always tell them, well, it's important to be able to type fast and know English and know how to write a news story, but the skill you actually need most is you have to like people. Because if you like people and communicate that in how you deal with them, they will always open up to you, sometimes in the most remarkable ways. And liking people is an act of optimism. It means always believing in the other person's better angels. To me, optimism is more important than ever in the post-9/11 age for a very strategic reason. What we learned on 9/11 is there are no walls high enough or thick enough to protect an open society from terrorists who would do us ill. The reason I supported regime change and nation-building in Iraq is not because I think it will be easy. It is because I am convinced that it was the status quo in that part of the world that produced the anger and humiliation that brought us 9/11 and a perpetuation of that status quo there would bring us even more 9/11s. And there is no way our open society can remain an open society in the face of more 9/11s. . . .

"My last and final message, or lesson, is very brief. It's called "Call Your Mama." For me, the most searing images and stories of 9/11 were the tales of all those people who managed to use a cell phone to call their loved ones to say a last goodbye from a hijacked airplane or a burning tower. But think of the hundreds of others who never got a chance to say goodbye or a final 'I love you.' . . .

"Well, that just about does it for me. I'm fresh out of material. So let me sum up everything I've tried to say this afternoon with a final bit of advice, a few last words to live by that were sent to me recently by an Egyptian friend. Again, I'm sorry to say, I don't know the real author. But the words sure spoke to me, and they go like this: "Always work like you don't need the money. Always fall in love like you've never been hurt, and always dance, always dance, like nobody is watching."