Last year was a tumultuous year for commencement speakers. Some speeches were canceled while others were relocated. There were walkouts, protests and sharp repercussions. On May 11, Harrison Butker, an orthodox Catholic who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs, was roundly vilified for his thoroughly Catholic presentation at Benedictine College, a thoroughly Catholic college. He pointed out, “Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world. But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Denunciations were swift and severe.

In that same month Jerry Seinfeld gave the commencement address at Duke University. But before he could utter a word, about 40 students walked out chanting “Free Palestine” amid boos and cheers. Seinfeld’s speech was essentially innocuous: “Pay attention. Fall in love. And most importantly, you gotta laugh,” he told the gathering.

At Harvard, more than 1,000 graduates walked out rather than listen to Maria Ressa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Both Israeli and Palestinian flags were raised. Even the university president was booed.

At the beginning of her 23-minute speech, she indicated how difficult it is to avoid being smeared.

“Because I accepted your invitation to be here today, I was attacked online and called antisemitic by power and money because they want power and money, while the other side was already attacking me because I had been on stage with Hillary Clinton. Hard to win, right?”

Author Michael Smerconish was disinvited from giving a commencement address at Dickinson College after some students objected to a book he wrote 20 years ago in the shadow of 9/11. Had he given the address, he would have said to the graduates, “It’s time for a national coming together. We have to surrender our superficial differences and reestablish social and economic connectedness.” Controversial, right?

At Ohio State University, entrepreneur Chris Pan delivered a commencement speech that he later confessed he had written while on ayahuasca, a psychedelic drug that can cause hallucinations. At the University of California at Berkeley, dozens of students stood up from their seats inside Memorial Stadium with signs reading “Divest.” At Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, groups of students walked out during the graduation ceremony to protest the commencement address given by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had dared to criticize diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Humorist Garry Trudeau once remarked, “Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.” Last year’s graduation season emphatically proved otherwise.

There is a consensus of sorts agreeing that the very best commencement address was given by Steve Jobs at Stanford University in 2005. Jobs, the founder of Apple, never graduated from college and his extraordinary life was a series of dramatic ups and downs. His advice to the graduates was this:

“Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.”

In his closing words, he said, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

In bygone years, there were a few gold nuggets contained in various commencement addresses. Alan Alda, in his commencement address at Connecticut College in 1980, said, “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.”

Denzel Washington at Dillard University (2015) and Stephen King at Vassar College (2001) were on the same page when they alluded to human mortality. Washington said to the graduates, “You will never see a U-Haul behind a hearse,” while King asked, “What will you do? Well, I’ll tell you one thing you’re not going to do, and that’s take it with you.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger reminded the graduates of the University of Southern California (2009), “Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.” George W. Bush provided some unassailable advice when he said to the graduates of Calvin College in 2005, “The future success of our nation depends on our ability to understand the difference between right and wrong and to have the character to make the right choice.”

In contrast with the many protesters who were trying to accomplish things that are far beyond their control, Mitt Romney offered some down-to-earth, sensible advice to the 2024 graduates of Johns Hopkins University:

“I would suggest that, instead of defining yourself by career, you choose to define yourself by things that are entirely in your control — your love for your family, your friendships, your faith, your service to others.”

Commencement speakers for 2025 will face a daunting challenge. They can be tepid and avoid controversy or say something of substance, no matter how it may be perceived. A commencement speaker, if only for a few minutes, assumes the important role of a teacher — one who stands at the midpoint between the past and the future. And as a teacher, he must not only be wise, but heroic in this time of tumult.

God bless the next platoon of commencement speakers who face a throng of people they do not know to advise them about a future they cannot predict.