Words. It is not what you say, it is what you do that people will remember you for. The story of america is the story of men and women of action. George washington, susan b anthony, the roosevelts, rosa parks, these icons of American History changed our world, not by what they said but by what they did. Even those words that we remember so well, the letters and speeches and governing documents we still revere me what they do to us today because of the deeds we know they represent. Thomas jeffersons declaration of independence would simply be an elegant letter and not a founding document if it was not for the courage of he and his fellow revolutionaries who put not just their freedom but their lives on the line in the war against britain. The gettysburg address, a mere 272 words still talk to every school child 150 years after they were spoken, derive great power from abraham lincolns towering strength. I strength that enabled him to stand behind those words, do what was right and free the slaves. Even Martin Luther kings i have a dream speech, perhaps the most important piece of american rhetoric in the 20th century would mean less if we did not know he spent his entire life working each day to make that dream a reality. His words mattered of course, but they mattered so much more because he lived them. It is not what you say but what you do that will ultimately define your life. Live with that understanding knowing that your words matter far less than the actions that you take and that those actions are the greatest window into the person that you are. Whatever you do, be great at it and make sure people remember you for it. I know ive quoted a few giants today, this comes from a place much closer to home. My mother. It was her mantra and she drilled it into me from a young age. Growing up, my parents had an upscale Womens Clothing store. It was truly a family business. We all participated one way or the other, either after school or on weekends or during free time. When i was 13 years old, our bookkeeper decided it was time for her to move on and she asked my mother who she should train as a replacement. My mom grabbed my arm and said train her. The outgoing bookkeeper was out of sorts, a 13yearold could not keep the books for a growing retail business. My mother was insistent, teach her, she will be great. It is that philosophy to always be great that i carried with me through every stage of my life because if something is worth doing, it is worth doing great. It is worth being remembered for. Finally, remember that after today you represent more than just yourself. You represent the entire university of South Carolina. Be proud of the university that is propelling you forward along the path to adulthood. It is an amazing place, one that has given you experiences and friendships you will no doubt treasure for the rest of your life. Make the University Just as proud of you as you are of it. Act with integrity, be honest, work hard, take risks giveback, be joyful. You are again cut now for many of you im sure this feels like the greatest day of your life and it should. It is an amazing accomplishment no matter what hath brought you here. What makes me so excited for you and profit a chance to play a role in your celebration today is that i know if you want them there are far greater days in your future. Enjoy today, hug your mom or dad, your brother or your sister. Thank a professor. Call your grandmother. Share it with your friends and tomorrow, get back to work because we cannot wait to see what the university of South Carolina class of 2015 does next. Thank you. God bless you and may he continue to bless the entire state of South Carolina. [applause] senator James Lankford gave remarks at the Commencement Ceremony for Oklahoma State university. Senator lankford was elected to u. S. Senate in november. He previously served as a u. S. Representative for oklahomas fit congressional district. This is 15 minutes. [applause] mr. Lankford good morning to you. This is our anniversary. Number 23. Isnt this romantic . I took her to a commencement. We will later tonight be able to have a romantic inner romantic dinner and cuddle on the tv and watch whether like everyone else watch the weather like everyone else. Graduates, congratulations. It is a big day for you and your family. I hope you take this in in the moments ahead and youre able to remember well what happens here. There are a couple moments in your life that you will get free advice from random change or. Random strangers. If anyone finds out you are gradually, graduating, total strangers will say, great i have something to tell you. It will happen again when you get married and when you get pregnant. At that point you just smile and nod. You want to say, do i know you but you dont. Just filter out what is helpful and junk what is not because in all likelihood, 20 years from now you will do it to some graduate. Youll find out they are about to graduate and you will randomly in the produce aisle start telling them advice. Enjoy. As the nice thing about being neighbors. I will throw a couple things of you. Free advice that you can filter as you choose to. I want to be able to say these are things that are significant. Get out of debt. I know the irony of someone currently serving the United States senate talking about us getting out of debt. I get that. [applause] mr. Lankford i would say this is one of those things you will want to get off your back as quick as you can. If you have any debt, do whatever you can to start knocking that out as fast as you can. I know you want to get a real car, real furniture. All those things in the days ahead as you start to land a job in a mortgage and wonderful responsibility. Knockout the debt as fast as you can. Youll be grateful to be able to have that off your back and be able to focus on other things. Reconnect with your faith. Im amazed at the number of students that i interact with that had a practicing faith up until they got midway through college and somehow drifted. I understand this is the United States, not everyone has to have a faith but for those who choose to have faith, i encourage them to actually live the faith they had and be able to walk the faith in that. If youve grown cold in your faith, reengage. There are a lot of terrifying moments that are both terrifying and exciting in your life, including today. For some of you as you graduate you suddenly realize, theres adulthood coming monday. For some of you, you have successfully postponed that by getting a masters degree soon. [laughter] mr. Lankford that terrifying moment of realizing im about to take the next step and i do not know what is there, you should have that moment also be a moment where you walk in your faith. How many of you have been to the United States capital before . When you get to the capital there is a series of paintings that are down in the rotunda under the big castiron dome that is our United States capital which looks like it currently has an iron maiden around it for construction that is happening. The dome itself is our second dome. The first was wood and copper. That rotunda and the paintings actually predates the dome above it. The dome was built during the civil war but the paintings underneath it were built the last were put in about the 1840s. My favorite is called the embarkation of the pilgrims. Paintings are depictions of the beginnings of america. One of them dumb by robert weir one of them done by robert weir depicts the moment america began. A painting of a group of individuals on the deck of a ship huddled around an open bible praying as their ship is leaving from europe. That moment that was captured is this terrifying moment for them of not knowing where they are going but this reassuring reconnection to their something very important to us. We know god will be there. I would encourage you to reconnect with your faith. [applause] mr. Lankford third, i would encourage you to heal family hurts. They get more personal as they go. In the days ahead come your relationship with your family will be more important to you than what your diploma is today and that diploma is extremely important. I have met many students that as they went through high school and college got more and more disconnected with their family there was a broken relationship and they thought i am leaving im heading out it does not matter anyway because im moving out. I would leave that broken relationship behind. It is too much work to fix that family hurt. For the rest of your life, every birthday, everythings giving every christmas, every mothers day, every fathers day, you will regret that decision. My mom was a librarian. I dont know how smart your parents were but my mom was a librarian. I librarian knows everything and what she does not know she knows where to find it. I grew up with my mom being the smartest woman on the planet but somewhere around ninth grade she bumped into a wall or took a fall or something happened because she just started deteriorating. It got worse and worse as i went through high school. About my sophomore year of college, she started gaining from my academic wisdom. About my sophomore year of college on she started getting smarter again. She is back to genius level