Starfleet Academy Commencement Address, 2357

One Hundred Ninety-Sixth Commencement Ceremony

STARFLEET ACADEMY

San Francisco – California – United States of America – Earth – Sol System

Admiral Leonard H. McCoy, Commencement Speaker

I'm no Federation president or galactic celebrity. I'm just a country doctor who has become sort of important, if at all, simply because I've managed to outlive all of my enemies. And some of my friends, too, I'm sorry to say. And I guess that's what I'm here to talk to you about today.

You've finished your time at the Academy, which is a hell of an accomplishment, and you've every right to be proud of yourselves. But don't sprain your arms pattin' yourselves on the back, because what you've really done is just the first step in a long process. Like a lot of Starfleet officers before you, including my best friend in the world, James Tiberius Kirk, some of you will be asked to give your lives in the service of Starfleet. Nobody wants to make that sacrifice – nobody wants to ask you to make it, either – but when they do, when the time comes, if it does, I hope you'll do it in the spirit of the great Starfleet officers who went before you.

Your chosen career is one in which violence sometimes plays a part. As a doctor and I hope some kind of humanitarian – though if you ever call me that to my face I'll knock you on your keister – I abhor violence. I detest it, and I have always tried, and will always try to find a way avoid it, like a barn mouse tryin' to keep away from the farmhouse cat. But I also recognize that there are times when it's necessary, and when it has been, then I've tried to face it head-on. I hope you'll do the same.

I started out saying that I was just a country doctor. And that's true. But unlike some others, I'm a country doctor who has seen some incredible sights. I've seen sunrise on Jupiter and sunset on New France. I've danced with a woman who was born on Rigel VI, and I've listened to an orchestra made up entirely of nonhumanoid, energy-based life-forms whose instruments were part of their own anatomy. I've set foot on a hundred planets, and been nearly killed, kidnapped, or knocked in the head on almost half of those. For all the trouble I've seen, all the war and strife and danger, I wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's, anywhere, country doctor or no. I trust, when you've reached the end of the career that you're just beginning today, you'll be able to say the same thing, and mean it.

Keep that in mind as you take your next step, as you become Starfleet officers, and as you grow into the men and women that you will be. The best thing to say at the end of your life is that you don't regret a thing. Tomorrow, that new life will start, for each of you – you woke up this morning students, and you will wake up tomorrow officers. It's a big change, don't kid yourself into thinking it's not. And I have one more thing to say about that.

Congratulations, graduates of 2357! You've earned yourselves a party!

(transmitted by Jeff Mariotte, from the novel Deny Thy Father, ISBN 0743464095)