Stewart has a grander scope than Conan O'Brien did in his speech to Harvard four years ago, but then again, these are more trying times. Both comedians also drive home the point that taking risks, and failing occasionally, can lead to success, or at the very least, good comic material years down the road.
I suspect we won't get speeches urging risks -- and failure -- at med school graduation. For real nervous laughs, they might show us a slide of the malpractice van, parked outside a local hospital. Fear can be a powerful motivator, too.
Despite that -- or maybe because of it -- my definition of success is still in flux. Sometimes it seems there's nothing more rewarding than working up a case of Henoch-Schonlein purpura with pulmonary involvement. Other times, I get warm fuzzy knowing I host the #1 google result for the query "Dammit, Jim". I just hope I'm never forced to say, "I'm a doctor, not a blogger."