It's graduation time on American college campuses. And that means a new batch of commencement speakers have fanned out across the nation to impart crucial advice.

There have been a good number of celebrated graduation speeches this year, including one by President Barack Obama at Arizona State University (where officials declined to give him an honorary degree because the first African-American president in U.S. history had not yet achieved enough in life...) and anothery by First Lady Michelle Obama, who spoke to graduates at an unlikely venue: The University of California, Merced campus.

At Reed College in Oregon, graduates heard from NPR's Eric Westervelt, a friend (in photo, below, at the Gaza-Egypt border in 2008 with our colleague, Ahmed Abu Hamda, after Hamas toppled the border walls) who just left his post as Jerusalem bureau chief for a new NPR posting in Berlin.

In his entertaining address to the Reed students, Eric imparted sage wisdom gained from years of covering war, tragedy and chaos around the globe.

You can listen to the 15-minute speech by clicking on this link:

Download ReedCommence09Westervelt

Like any good commencement speaker, Eric doled out his advice in easy-to-digest tidbits:

1. "Always have an exit strategy. This certainly applies to melees, riots, revolutions and general uncontrolled violent street chaos. I would advise you to maintain situational awareness at all times of an escape path. Think: If this little thing turns vicious and the high velocity tear gas rounds start flying, the bullets start flying, the truncheons are going everywhere, how will I get out of here? What wall will I hide behind? What little alleyway will I go to? How will I get out? Exit strategy. Of course, the need for an exit strategy also very much applies to bad jobs, bad relationships, bad loans and disastrous foreign policy wars of choice."

2. "Think very, very hard before you spend any significant amount of time in a conflict or combat zone.  War can be heady, powerful, intense and addictive. It can also prove to be a toxic, soul-sucking beast that can start to deform your spiritual and emotional world. A veteran photographer friend of mine who lives in the region full time observed: If you're not a little screwed up after years in the Middle East, you didn’t see enough. You didn't get close enough."

3. "Always take time to drink the tea." The real joy is likely to come from friends and family... Slow down and take stock of what you you see and hear.

Eric's final bit of advice revolves around a true story of dropping his cell phone down a toilet while on deadline during the recent Israeli military offensive in Gaza. To hear the wisdom gleaned from that absurd moment you will have to listen for yourselves...

Eric's advice reminded me of one of the more famous commencement speeches, "Wear sunscreen," by author Kurt Vonnegut.

Among the tips offered in the speech: Wear sunscreen. Floss. Sing. Do one thing every day that scares you.

As it turned out, the Vonnegut speech was an Internet hoax that spread far and fast. The hilarious words were actually penned by a Chicago Tribune columnist and later turned into a music video (below) by Baz Luhrmann...