Richard Durbin

With less than a year left in office, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin is reflecting on key moments from his career and offering advice to the next generation on how the steps he took may benefit them in the future.

Durbin, who will retire from the U.S. Senate next year after serving five terms, spoke at the Lake Forest College commencement ceremony May 9 at the Rosemont Theatre. After receiving an honorary degree, Durbin used most of his approximately 12-minute speech to offer recommendations to the 460-member graduating class.

While largely staying away from partisan politics, Durbin reiterated his longstanding support for the Dream Act, legislation that would provide a path to citizenship for people brought to the United States illegally as children by their parents.

Durbin said he has shared the stories and photographs of more than 150 people on the U.S. Senate floor, many of whom have gone on to careers in business, the military and nursing.

“By sharing their stories and showing their faces and photographs on the Senate floor, it became much more difficult for my critics to demonize them as rapists, murderers, terrorists and the worst of the worst,” Durbin said.

Durbin then pivoted to advocating for internships as a way for graduates to begin their careers, noting he once served as an intern for former U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas, who represented Illinois in the Senate from 1949-67.

“It was one of the most exciting things I have ever done. It changed the trajectory of my life,” he said.

Durbin added that he has had more than 3,000 interns during his time in office.

He also said showing kindness and empathy is important, recalling how former U.S. Rep. Lynn Martin would reach out to unsuccessful political candidates — regardless of party affiliation — with notes of encouragement after campaigns ended. He said he took up the practice as well and also reached out to a lawmaker facing an addiction issue and eight years later, he heard back from the person saying how much the message meant to him.

“Many times in life, the little things are the big things,” Durbin said.

Durbin also encouraged graduates to remain loyal to friends in all circumstances, alluding to a time when a controversial statement he made on the Senate floor led to both personal and political attacks.

He recalled hearing from some friends during that difficult period, but not all of them.

“Don’t ever miss the opportunity to stand by your friends when it really counts,” he said.

On the subject of mentorship, Durbin said people should seek role models who demonstrate “integrity, honesty and caring,” mentioning Douglas and former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, whom he looked up to throughout his career.

“Never hitch your wagon to someone who cannot say, ‘I was wrong, I’m sorry,’” Durbin said.

Durbin also encouraged graduates to pursue issues they care deeply about.

He noted the recent 36th anniversary of Congress banning smoking on airplane flights, legislation he championed while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Durbin tied his passion for the issue to the death of his father, who died of lung cancer at age 53.

“The issues you make the biggest impact on are the ones that affect you personally,” he said.

Durbin also referenced the modern political climate facing today’s graduates.

“As citizens, as voters and perhaps as elected leaders, your generation faces a political upheaval in America whose outcome will decide, after 250 years, whether the passions which gave birth to this democracy can endure,” Durbin said.

He later encouraged graduates to vote in elections.

“You come to this moment of battle with values honed by family and faith and an education which can give you wisdom and a weapon many before you died to protect,” Durbin said. “That weapon is your right to vote. Use it, don’t waste it.”

Durbin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 and to the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.