Mr Hamm was at the Saint-Louis University Commencement ceremony.
"your resilience in the face of continued discomfort and distraction is impressive" Hamm said.
Hamm joked that he was an odd choice to serve as commencement speaker at SLU. He notes that he is not an alum, having attended the University of Missouri, and has only a "tenuous" idea of what a Billiken is. He said he jumped at the offer to deliver the address because it came with an honorary degree, but as time drew closer, he wasn't sure what his message would be.
Eventually, he found it.
"It hit me_ I figured it out", he said. "I'm not here to deliver some didactic message about the wonder of education and why SLU is the best of the best and if you all follow these three simple rules," you too can pay off your debts by your mid-thirties. I'm not here for that. I'm here because I am a member of the community. And as such, I have insight and wisdom to offer, and maybe even some jokes."
Hamm said his membership in communities shaped him as a person. Initially, it was his St. Louis community _ the one that" nurtured me and provided a place to play and grow and wonder and learn". Watching the local sports teams allowed him to come together with others, cheer and celebrate. Later, his communities grew beyond his hometown.
While at Miszaou, Hamm began his foray into acting. He moved to Los Angeles and fell in with other actors _ other people trying to live out their dreams.
" To become one in a million, actually close to one in 15 million, attempting to wrestle that ridiculous probability into something attainable," he said. "I did it by finding my communities. Whether it was the community formed in the comedy clubs like Largo and M-Bar where for 5 bucks, I could sit in the back and laugh along with like-minded idiots, or the community of waiters and bartenders and restaurant people that I was a member of for a solid decade. "
Hamm encouraged the Class of 2024 to find their communities and, importantly, not seek out only like minded people.
" Finding the common ground in seemingly uncommon thoughts and ideas remind us that we are all part of a much larger community than we even thought",he said. "We all have far more in common than we think. We all at the end of the day, want to do something fulfilling with our lives and find people who will love us through the hard times and the good. These things, these ideas, cut across all kinds of communities. These things unite us. These are the things that we want to explore and tend to, and celebrate.
Hamm encouraged the graduates to embrace failure. Failure, he said, is how we ultimately succeed. "Every bad audition, every double shift, every setback in my life has moved me forward, made me better and brought me, ultimately here", he said. "Imparting to you that wisdom, I think I figured out, is why I am here."
Hamm closed his remarks by reminding the graduates that they are now part of a shared community.
"Be proud sons and daughters of St Louis," he said. "Be proud of where you're from, knowing that it made you. Be at peace with where you are, knowing it's transitory and is leading to something else on the path, but most importantly, be excited for where you're going _ the future is endless, it is ripe with possibility and it is all yours to make what you wish. With tat, welcome to the community".
https://m.slu.edu/madrid/device
.PNG)
