"I'd say, as a goal in life, you could do worse than 'Try to be kinder.'" In May 2013 George Saunders gave a commencement speech at Syracuse University. It was recently published as a book, Congratulations, by the Way: Some Thoughts on Kindness, published earlier this month by Random House, as well as, in abbreviated form, this animated video, narrated by Saunders himself.