The real thing

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North doesn't remember much of what the commencement speaker said at his graduation ceremony from the Naval Academy. "I reflect back on those things now, and I think, 'Do I remember anything of what he said?' Not really. Do I remember what is really important about life? Yes I do."

Lt. Col. North, famously involved in the Iran-Contra affair in 1986 and more recently an author and journalist, was this year's commencement speaker at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., on Saturday.

"Things like duty, honor, and integrity meant a lot to me then, and they mean a lot today and they were reinforced by the commencement speaker," he said recently. "Do I remember specific words? No. I remember a couple of key phrases and if that's what the graduates of Patrick Henry College take out of their commencement that day, then that will be good. Most of what you need to know about life you've learned from mom and dad."

His most important accomplishment, he said, is that he is "husband of one, father of four, grandfather of twelve at last count."

"The great thing about getting to be an old man is that if you haven't learned something along the way that's valuable enough to impart to the ones who come behind you, then you probably wasted whatever years the good Lord gave you. I hope that I have not wasted mine. My hope is that I can impart some of what I learned in life to the students who are graduating and to encourage them in a way that is important for their future."

"I have had a very exciting life," he added. "And it's still exciting. I will be leaving three days after commencement for what will be around my twentieth trip to cover our troops deployed overseas. This trip will be to Afghanistan, as have been the last half dozen or so. I usually go out about twice a year for FOX, usually for about a month to a month and a half on average. The purpose is to let the American people hear their stories, and their stories are heroic."

He described his own decision of faith in 1978, "when I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior." North concluded: "Most importantly, my hope for you all is that at the end of your days, people will say of you that, as graduates of Patrick Henry College, you have fought the good fight, have finished the race, and have kept the faith."

North currently works as a correspondent for FOX news, as well as hosting his own doc­umentary series, "War Stories," on the network. For the past ten years he has interviewed soldiers and law enforcement personnel. North appreciates not having to depend on celebrity gossip for his stories. Instead, he gets to "keep company with heroes."

"Last Friday I had the opportunity to go down to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, a Marine base, and welcome home a unit that I covered in Afghanistan last August and is now home, and I like to remind them that there are some people who read history, some people, like I do, who write history, and some people who make history. And FOX has given me the opportunity to keep company with people who make history, and who are heroes, by virtue of the classical definition of hero. I am very grateful for that," North said.

"The classical definition of a hero," he said in his commencement address, "isn't a comic book figure; it's not the guy who caught the winning pass at a football game or the guy who scored the winning run at a baseball game. A hero, a much abused word in our language, is actually a person who puts him or herself at risk for the benefit of others. And there's lots of ways of putting yourself at risk. That's the definition of a hero."

With reporting by David Halbrook.

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