'Do Not Be Idiots,' Actor Rainn Wilson Tells New Trier Graduates

WINNETKA, IL — The newest group of graduates from New Trier High School were implored to use the advantages gained from their top-quality education to work for the greater good at a graduation ceremony Sunday at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates. In the commencement address, actor Rainn Wilson told Trevians to acknowledge their privilege and help those without it.

Wilson, a 1984 New Trier graduate known for portraying Dwight Schrute for nine seasons of the television show "The Office," spent two years living in Wilmette after his "hippie, Bohemian, Bahá’í" parents came to work at the Bahá'í Temple. He recalled being a "skinny, pimply" teenager living in the "only apartment building" in New Trier's attendance area when he discovered a love of acting.

"I would not be where I am today, I would not be who I am today without New Trier," Wilson said. He explained it wasn't New Trier's world-class facilities ("a dance wing, a full orchestra, eight theater productions a year and even a radio station") nor the institution's educational philosophy.

Instead, he said, it was the teachers it attracted, like retired drama teacher Suzanne Adams. (Wilson has described her ideas about theater as "mystical and spiritual" and recalled spending whole classes pretending to be animals, being told to "pray to the gods of the theater and that we're all made of stardust.")

Nearly 1,000 seniors attended the school's 118th commencement, Pioneer Press reported, as Wilson recalled how Adams gave him invaluable advice as he considered whether to pursue a career in performance. Go for it, she told him, but not before gaining some life experiences.

"See the world, read lots of books, fall in love, go to college, study everything you can," Wilson remembered Adams saying.

Wilson told the freshly minted high school graduates of New Trier's class of 2018 that they should not feel guilty for the opportunities they've been afforded.

Instead, he said, they should use their abundant resources and outstanding education to make the world a better place:

It it such a privileged place to get an education. In fact, next year the graduation is going to be at Soldier Field. And we're a privileged bunch in many ways.

Most of us have come from money, have some money. Most of us are white-skinned, come from families where there's been a tremendous amount of success. Most of us are going to get an amazing secondary education. And for most of us the doors to the business world, or the art world, or political world or science world will be wide open for us.

But I want to say something about this privilege. This is not something I ever want you to ever feel bad about. What privilege means is that we have an opportunity. We come from a life of abundance and our entitlement is not to be entitled, not to be superior, but to acknowledge our privilege and do whatever we can to help those who don't have it.

We come from abundance and we can use this abundance to help the poor to help the subjugated, to make the world a better place, we have an opportunity to create jobs, to create nonprofits, to help fund arts organization to help science make tremendous strives forward, and to use our education for the greater good rather than merely seeking personal comfort and personal status.

So as you continue your educational journeys, your emotional and spiritual journeys, carry this mission with you: I am going to use what I have been given to help relieve suffering, to fight injustice, to bring light to a dark world.

And not so long ago it seemed like enough to just simply want a comfortable life, a nice family, a house on the North Shore, to make a living doing something in a career you could at least tolerate, to take care of your immediate family and have a nice life. The mantra for a very long time in America was like, 'Be a good person and just don’t hurt anyone else.'

But it’s really not this way anymore, unfortunately. The world is hurting from disunity and from injustice. And we need to do more. As you grow on your journey, I beg of you to seek to move beyond comfort, status, material wealth and care of your immediate family, but to see the world as your immediate family, and yourself as a change agent. It is our privilege to be change agents in this world, to be of maximum love in this world, of maximum service, to make every school on this planet as great as the incredible New Trier High School.

After reading a short poem from Abdu’l-Bahá, the founder of the Bahá’í faith, calling on everyone to "do some good to every person whose path you cross," Wilson wrapped up with a quotation from his most famous character, Dwight K. Schrute.

"If an idiot would do a thing, do not do that thing," he said. "Trevians, do not be idiots."

» Full text of Rainn Wilson's New Trier High School commencement address