在不確定性中，您的道路等待著，因為世界需要您

去年八月我返回UF總統時，我不得不重新學習如何再次擔任總統

Amid uncertainty, your path awaits, for the world needs you

在不確定性中，您的道路等待著，因為世界需要您

2025 Spring Commencement Keynote Address by UF Interim President Kent Fuchs

2025年春季開學主題演講，由UF臨時總裁肯特·福赫斯（Kent Fuchs）

Graduates, when I returned as UF president last August, I had to relearn how to be presidential again and to do the important things that presidents do.

畢業生，當我去年8月回到UF總統時，我不得不重新學習如何再次擔任總統並做總統所做的重要事情。

For example, put on a big orange traffic cone suit to be “Coney, the Friendly Neighborhood Traffic Cone.”

例如，穿上一件大型橙色交通錐套裝，成為“ Coney，友好的社區交通錐”。

And, issue the FXG, Foxy Gator, University of Florida meme coin.

並發行佛羅里達大學模因硬幣FXG，狐狸鱷魚。

I loved being Coney and having fun on April 1 — and I’ve loved all my time with you.

我喜歡成為康尼（Coney），並在4月1日玩得開心 - 而且我一直愛著你。

And now … graduates … we are here to celebrate! You are receiving your degree from the University of Florida, and I get to cheer your accomplishment and send you on your way.

現在……畢業生……我們在這裡慶祝！您正在從佛羅里達大學獲得學位，我可以為您的成就加油，並送您途中。

It’s celebration time!

這是慶祝時間！

However, I recognize that you may feel some anxiety about what comes next in your life.

但是，我認識到您可能對生活中接下來會發生什麼感到有些焦慮。

A quiet, anxious voice may be asking:

一個安靜，焦慮的聲音可能會問：

_What’s next? What have these years at UF been building up to?_

_接下來是什麼？這些年來，UF正在建立什麼？ _

When I graduated college, I thought I knew the direction of my life. I was graduating with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. However, in my last two years of college, I had been involved with other students in a local church.

當我大學畢業時，我以為我知道生活的方向。我正在獲得工程學學士學位。但是，在大學的最後兩年中，我曾與其他學生一起在當地的教會中參與其中。

I decided in my final year not to pursue a career in electrical engineering, but rather to attend seminary, divinity school, so that I could be ordained as a pastor, a fulltime minister of a church.

在最後一年，我決定不從事電氣工程職業，而是要參加神學院的神學院學校，這樣我就可以被任命為牧師，教堂的全職部長。

So, that is what I did or at least tried to do.

因此，這就是我所做的或至少嘗試做的。

After my engineering graduation ceremony, I drove to Chicago, where I took an intensive summer course on New Testament Greek.

在工程畢業典禮後，我開車去了芝加哥，在那裡我參加了新約希臘語的夏季課程。

That fall, I entered the three-year masters of divinity program, which went fine for the first year — but then I took my first homiletics class on writing and preaching sermons.

那個秋天，我進入了三年的神學碩士課程，該計劃在第一年表現不錯 - 但是後來我參加了我的第一屆Homiletics班，上面寫著講道和講道。

I discovered I couldn’t write or deliver a sermon in a way that stirred people’s emotions or touched their hearts. I could inform, but I couldn’t inspire. It’s hard to be a pastor, rabbi or imam if you can’t reach people’s hearts.

我發現我無法以激起人們的情緒或感動他們的心的方式寫或講道。我可以告知，但我無法啟發。如果您無法觸及人們的心，那麼很難成為牧師，拉比或伊瑪目。

To make things worse, my girlfriend at the time broke up with me. I was also struggling financially, despite working late nights and weekends as a security guard.

為了使事情變得更糟，當時我的女朋友和我分手了。儘管深夜和周末擔任保安人員，但我也在經濟上掙扎。

I was heartbroken and my career plans were shattered.

我傷心欲絕，我的職業計劃被打破了。

Graduates, if ever you feel this way about your life plans … or if, maybe, you even feel this way today… as your president, I predict that there will be an even better and richer life before you than you can possibly dream, in the midst of your uncertainty and disappointment.

畢業生，如果您對自己的人生計劃有這種感覺……或者，如果您今天甚至感覺這種感覺……作為您的總統，我預測，在您的不確定性和失望中，您可能會有比您夢dream以求的更好，更豐富的生活。

As I was worrying about my apparent failure in seminary, I came to realize that my shortcoming could be my strength.

當我擔心自己在神學院的明顯失敗時，我意識到自己的缺點可能是我的力量。

My seminary professors told me that I wasn’t good at reaching people’s hearts with my public speaking, but I could reach their heads.

我的神學院教授告訴我，我不擅長通過公開演講來吸引人們的心，但我可以觸及他們的頭腦。

I couldn’t preach, but I could teach. I came to realize I enjoyed teaching, and that being an educator could be as important as being a pastor.

我無法講道，但我可以教。我開始意識到自己喜歡教學，並且成為一名教育者可能和擔任牧師一樣重要。

This realization, of both my weakness and my strength, led me to return to engineering for graduate school, with a new goal of teaching students as a college professor.

這種意識到我的弱點和力量，使我重返研究生院的工程學，其新目標是教學學生作為大學教授。

Electrical engineering graduate school for me was also really hard since it had been several years since my last engineering class.

對我來說，電氣工程研究生院也非常困難，因為我上次工程課已經幾年了。

I discovered that the students for whom I was a Teaching Assistant knew more than me.

我發現我作為助教的學生比我了解更多。

But I survived, and with persistence and patience, eventually thrived in nearly six years of engineering graduate school.

但是我倖存下來，並保持了持久和耐心，最終在近六年的工程研究生院繁榮發展。

That moment of painful reckoning in divinity school …

在神學院的那一刻痛苦的時刻…

That time I thought I wasted three years and didn’t know what to do …

那個時候我以為我浪費了三年，不知道該怎麼辦...

It was awful.

太糟糕了。

It was great.

太好了。

It ended my path but directed me to a new path and purpose.

它結束了我的道路，但將我帶到了新的道路和目的。

Not only that, divinity school is where I met my partner and wife, Linda. She was returning an overdue library book, which I needed for a paper I had to write about infant baptism.

不僅如此，Divinity School是我遇到我的伴侶和妻子Linda的地方。她正在返回一本逾期的圖書館書，我需要寫一篇關於嬰兒洗禮的論文。

Here we are at this time on a date in Chicago. I worked really hard to get that crease in my jeans!

在這裡，我們在芝加哥約會。我真的很努力地穿上牛仔褲！

I lost my dream of serving as a fulltime pastor, but I gained much more.

我失去了擔任全職牧師的夢想，但我獲得了更多。

I got a library book, a life partner — Hi, Linda! — and a new direction to my life.

我有一本圖書館書，一位生活伴侶 - 嗨，琳達！ - 以及我生活的新方向。

There’s a saying that old men like to give good advice because they can no longer set bad examples.

有人說，老人喜歡給出好的建議，因為他們再也不能設定不好的例子了。

So, I’m going to tell you three things I’ve learned about not knowing what to do next, wrong turns, and not achieving my own expectations.

因此，我將告訴您我學到的三件事是關於不知道下一步該怎麼做，錯誤的轉彎，也沒有達到自己的期望。

The first thing is to not be afraid of uncertainty.

第一件事是不要害怕不確定性。

I have found over the 40 years of my career that uncertainty in the future has been a great part of my life’s path.

在我的職業生涯的40年中，未來的不確定性是我人生道路的重要組成部分。