"I'm sorry," Academy-Award winning actor and filmmaker
Kevin Costner said, apologizing for his generation to about 150 students in DU's Village Commons Tuesday.
Costner, 53, said the generation that came of age in the '60s and '70s promised to change the world.
Instead, "so little has changed. Now my son is out there, and I haven't done enough to make his life better. Or yours, for that matter...I'm here to work on making good on the promise of my generation," he said.
He said throughout his life, he's seen two different kinds of people in the world and that students today need to choose to be the kind of people who make a difference.
"I don't get a report card any more. When I look at my life and analyze it, was a participant or an observer?" Costner asked in an interview following the talk.
His purpose on Tuesday, he said, was to encourage
more students to know their answer and be participants in the process.
He never mentioned Colorado's battleground status, but instead focused
on how, no matter what, participation is important.
Jarred
Olson, a first-year, is a participant. He has cast his early ballot for
the McCain ticket. Although Costner was stumping for Obama, Olson was
curious as to what the actor had to say.
"If I were going to listen to anybody speak about Obama, it has to be Kevin Costner," Olson said.
Unlike Olson, sophomore Abby Brown, an Obama voter, didn't need to hear about politics.
"I'm really a huge fan of [him]. If this were Dennis Quaid, I wouldn't be here," Brown said.
Kirsten
Cangilla, a sophomore, said that she identified as a Republican, but
that she decided to vote for Obama this year. Besides seeing Costner,
she was curious what Costner had to say about the campaign.
After the speech, Cangilla said she was surprised to learn that Costner is an independent.
"It adds more credibility to his message. It takes off the partisan
spin. We just wanted information, and that's what we got," she said.
"I really like that he said, 'just vote,' and not who we had to vote for," Olsen said said.
Costner took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of voting.
"Notice I haven't told you who to vote for...because you know who to vote for. So, let's vote," he said.
He said he hoped that young voters wouldn't find an excuse not to show up and would recognize how significant their vote is.
"It's not an uncool thing to do, it's uncool not to," he said.
He
described the generation currently in college as "the most powerful
interest group in America" : in a position to have real influence, if
they make it to the polls.
Toward the end of his 20-minute speech, he reminded students of this influence and compared it to his experience.
"My
generation was united once for a little while...then it ended, and so
did our power. The world suffered, and so did we...if I could go back
to my young self, I would say, 'don't leave it up to somebody else.'
So, I'm promising you, if you stand as one next week, you will
experience your power, and you will change the world. You should change
the world. It needs you," he said.
Before the speech, Senior Shea Scott said he wondered what Costner would possibly have to say to DU students.
"I'm curious why [he] is doing something like this, especially on our campus," he said.
Costner reflected on his "report card" after the speech.
"Today, I was a participant...that's the most important part," he said.
"I'm sorry," Academy-Award winning actor and filmmaker Kevin Costner said, apologizing for his generation to about 150 students in DU's Village Commons Tuesday. 
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