Robert Redford Urges Graduates to Take Risks; 'Don't be Afraid of Failure'

Academy award winner Robert Redford on Sunday urged Colby College graduates to take risks despite this "rough world" we're currently facing.

"You're stepping into a world that's, well, pretty rough. It's pretty chaotic, pretty divisive...You've got climate change, you've got debt, you've got wars, you've got political paralysis. It's kind of a grim story. But the story, I think, can be retold, and I really believe that you're the ones to do it," the actor, film maker told hundreds of graduates (according to Associated Press via Page Six)

"You're the ones to retell this story, and God knows it is a story that needs to be retold. If we're going to have any kind of future at all, it has to be retold," he continued.

One of the highlights of his speech was when he encouraged the graduates to be "bold" and to take risks.

"You may have some heartaches, things may not go right, but you have to be using methods to keep moving forward, and I think taking a risk is one...I think not taking a risk is in fact a risk, so don't be afraid to take a risk. Don't be afraid of failure," Redford was quoted as saying by the Bangor Daily News.

The 78-year old actor also emphasized that the world currently needs "collaboration and connection" between people and between people and the environment.

Colby College President David Greene has told Bangor Daily News that Redford's environmental commitment is one of the reasons they picked him as speaker.

Redford recalled that he was not a good student in his time but he stressed that education and teachers are indeed very valuable.

"I didn't know it then, but the school system was pretty poor, because we had substitute teachers. It was the end of the Second World War, and so I didn't know that the teachers were substitute teachers...So it left me uninspired. It left me more interested in what was out the window and sketching underneath the table - things like that...I loved to to draw stories for myself and entertain myself...It was kind of like having a companion," he said (via Bangor Daily News).

Redford recalled one particular experience during his third grade. It was that time when his teacher caught him drawing during their lesson. He had bad thoughts of what was going to happen. He was called in front and he was asked to show in class what he had drawn. The class liked it so the teacher provided him 15 minutes for his drawing/storytelling every week.

"Had she not made that move, my life...could have gone in a different direction...That's just an example of how a teacher can maybe affect your life, and it certainly changed mine and certainly for the better...So I was not a good student, but I learned a valuable lesson about what a really good teacher could do, and it only takes maybe two or three in your academic lifetime to make a difference," he said.