Ryan Reynolds shares his best piece of advice for graduating students of his alma mater
Ryan Reynolds recently shared some words of wisdom for graduating students at his alma mater, Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver.
The actor, 43, told the students that he attended the public school for grades 11 and 12 and the school was "the best thing" that happened to him at that time.
"To this day I'm still friends with so many people I graduated with, so that says something," he shared. "Now I'm probably not going to drop any mics here -- if you want a real commencement speech check out David Foster Wallace because 'Wow, that's a commencement speech.'"
He said that he could tell the students "one little chestnut of wisdom" that's helped him throughout his life.
"One thing that's worked for me is practicing some form of compassion every day," he said. "Whether it's for yourself or someone else, especially for someone else, is good."
"You've heard the expression 'divide and conquer', you see it everywhere and dividing people is just a means to distract them, disarm them, whereby giving one an opportunity to conquer, and the world seems to subsist on this idea more and more and more," he continued. "And it's getting really f------ boring."
He advised the students to practice empathy in place of this. "Some of you may consider me successful. I don't know, some of you may have seen 'Green Lantern' ... but I'll tell you this -- empathy has gotten me so much farther in not only my life, but in my career," he said.
"Mirroring, empathizing, validating someone else's experience or point of view is just about the most radical act of ambition that you can ever demonstrate," he continued.
Reynolds said he found that practicing empathy has helped him make, "money, friends, priceless memories."
"It's allowed me to fully accept and provide love," he added. "It's helped me recognize the mistakes I've made and learn from them. Above all, it made me happy."
The star also announced in his message that he was treating each graduate to a large pizza on him from a local pizzeria to commend them for their work.
