'Just swing the bat and pray': Seinfeld shares 3 keys to life with nearly 7,000 graduating Duke students
On Sunday morning, Duke University awarded nearly 7,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees during its annual commencement ceremony.
Legendary comedian Jerry Seinfeld was the commencement speaker. Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica, are the parents of a Duke alumna and a current Duke student. They also serve as national chairs of Duke’s Parents Committee.
When Seinfeld was introduced, around 30 students walked out of the stadium, some waving flags and shouting "Free Palestine!" Seinfeld has previously spoken in support of Israel.
One group shared a photo of a flyer on X, saying it was distributed on campus. The flyer said, "When you see students walking out, follow them."
Nathaniel Asia, a student graduating from Duke, sat through the ceremony and Seinfeld's speech, but said he supports the walkouts.
"I think it happened very well today," he said. "There wasn't any sort of disruption to the ceremony, and there was the opportunity for students to voice their opinions."
First generation college student Elc Biergan said the students had a right to be there, but is unsure if the ceremony was the place to protest.
"This was a happy moment that we needed to share, all of us," she said.
Seinfeld shares 'three real keys to life'
The protest didn't phase Seinfeld. After opening with a few jokes, Seinfeld shared his "three real keys to life," which boiled down to:
- Work hard.
- Pay attention.
- Fall in love.
"Whatever you're doing, I don't care if it's your job, your hobby, a relationship, getting a reservation at M Sushi," he said. "Make an effort. Just pure, stupid, no-real-idea-what-I'm-doing-here effort. Effort always yields a positive value, even if the outcome of the effort is absolute failure of the desired result. This is a rule of life. Just swing the bat and pray is not a bad approach to a lot of things."
He also suggested falling in love with, not just people, but anything and everything.
"Every chance you get," he said. "Fall in love with your coffee. Your sneakers. Your Blue Zone parking space. I've had a lot of fun in life falling in love with stupid, meaningless physical objects...I have truly spent my life focusing on the smallest things imaginable, completely oblivious to all the big issues of living."
He also pointed out that not all of life is fun and comfortable, and that everything will have some level of pain or struggle associated with it.
"Find something where you love the good parts and don't mind the bad parts too much -- the torture you're comfortable with. This is the golden path to victory in life. Work. Exercise. Relationships. They all have a solid component of pure torture, and they are all 1000% worth it," he said.
Seinfeld did not address the protesters or Israel's war with Hamas during his commencement address.
