Delivered Speeches
UCSC Graduation Speech | June 17, 2006Bienvenidos a todos, y especialmente a las familias.
Now is the time of our great going-forth.
Let me first get this out of the way: the best decision I ever made was to continue my education at UC Santa Cruz. I have never been prouder to be a part of any institution or community as I am to be a part of this school, and especially of
We have joined the ranks of the college-educated, and our time here has endowed us with infinite opportunity. A question is now posed to us: what do we do with our education?
I can’t speak for everyone, but I think that I’d like to be a hero. What is a hero? I don’t think it’s someone who can fly and dodge bullets. Lloyd Alexander, that wonderful children’s author, wrote, “Every man is a hero if he strives more for others than for himself alone.” I am content with this definition. Let us strive for others.
And if I ask you to remember this day, then I implore you to remember what made it possible. Our path was paved by heroes, by faculty, by staff, by the people who clean our buildings and remove our trash, by the people who serve us food or who sleep by day and work by night so we can buy groceries, by the bus drivers, by the temp workers and interns, by everyone working for less than they deserve.
They strive more for others than themselves. They are all my heroes, and I ask not for them to share our honor, but for us to share theirs. I ask us to share their nobility, for the wonder of a hero is not contained within the hero, it is not inside the hero. A hero’s magic is drawn from the relationship that hero has with other people.
It is my deepest belief that every one of us is connected to each other and the rest of humanity in a fundamental way, and that with this comes a responsibility, to care for one another and bring joy to each other. Remember today, but remember also that every day brings with it another opportunity to fulfill that responsibility. Countless opportunities, in fact.
We are in the process of inheriting the world from our forebears, and we will soon begin the process of gifting it to our children. Let us wrap it in wisdom, generosity, kindness, and peace. Our great power is the ability to do so. Never forget that every person has that power, and so every person deserves the highest respect. I’ve no doubt we will change the world, and so I am eternally grateful and proud to call myself a member of
Thank you.
