--- title: George Saunders Commencement Speech Be Kind Animated description: Just a reminder to be kind canonical: https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-25T12:30:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:07.086Z og:title: This Animated Version of a Viral Commencement Speech Will Inspire You All Over Again og:description: Just a reminder to be kind og:url: https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Animated Version of a Viral Commencement Speech Will Inspire You All Over Again twitter:description: Just a reminder to be kind twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch an Animated Version Of George Saunders' Amazing Commencement Speech by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 25, 2014 12:30 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 25, 2014 12:30 PM UTC Be kind. That’s the gist of the speech that author George Saunders delivered to the graduating class of Syracuse University last year. In his commencement speech, the author urged the students to be kind to each other. “What I regret most in my life are _failures of kindness_,” Saunders said in the speech. “To the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.” The sentiment echoes both Kurt Vonnegut’s line from _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_ (“There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — God damn it, you’ve got to be kind”) and, of course, George Carlin’s sage saying in _Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure_ (“Be excellent to each other”). It’s advice that resonated with the graduates and the world at large thanks to a reprinting in the New York Times that helped the speech go viral. Now, the heartwarming speech has been animated in new video by [Above Average](http://aboveaverage.com) and may spread across the internet again, which is just fine, when it comes to reminding people to be kind (especially in internet comments). **MORE**: [Be Kind: George Saunders’ Advice to Graduates Goes Viral](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/08/04/be-kind-george-saunders-advice-to-graduates-goes-viral/) **MORE**: [George Saunders Wins Folio Prize for Literature](http://time.com/18888/george-saunders-wins-folio-prize-for-literature/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/"},"headline":"Watch an Animated Version Of George Saunders' Amazing Commencement Speech","datePublished":"2014-04-25T12:30:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:07.086Z","description":"Just a reminder to be kind","url":"https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Books","author","Culture","Commencement"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/76602/watch-an-animated-version-of-george-saunders-amazing-commencement-speech/","name":"Watch an Animated Version Of George Saunders' Amazing Commencement Speech"}}]}] ```