I want our young people to know that they matter. That they belong. So don't be afraid. You hear me? young people don't be afraid. Be focused. Be determined. Be hopeful.
Be empowered. Empower yourselves with a good education. Then get out there and use that education. To build a country worthy of your boundless promise.
Lead by example with hope; never fear. Our greatness has never ever come from sitting back and feeling entitled to what we have. It's never come from folks who climb the ladder of success.
Or who happened to be born near the top and then pull the ladder up after themselves. No, ah ah.
Our greatness has always come from people who expect nothing and take nothing for granted. Folks who work hard for what they have, then reach back and help others after them.
Success isn't about how your life looks to others. It's about how it feels to you. We realize that being successful isn't about being impressive. It's about being inspired and that's what it means to be your true self. It means looking inside yourself and being honest about what you truly enjoy doing because graduates. I can promise you that you will never be happy plodding through someone else's idea of success. Success is only meaningful and enjoyable. If it feels like your own.
You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead it's important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages. and I know that because I've seen it myself not just as a student working my way through school; but years later when I, after I came, before I came to the White House and I worked as a dean at a college. In that role I encountered students who had every advantage.Their parents paid their full tuition, they lived in beautiful campus dorms
They had every material possession a college kid could want; cars, computers, spending money. But when some of them got their first bad grade, they just fell apartThey lost it.
Because they were ill-equipped to handle their first encounter with disappointment or falling short. But graduates, as you all know life will put many obstacles in your path that are far worse than a bad grade. You'll, you'll have unreasonable bosses and difficult clients and patients. You’ll experience illnesses and losses, crises and setbacks that will come out of nowhere and knock you off your feet; but unlike so many other young people you have already developed the resilience and the maturity that you need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and keep moving through the pain keep moving forward.
You may be feeling some real anxiety about venturing out into the world beyond these walls and I'm not gonna lie to you. For many of you this is going to be a pretty big transition.
In fact, I think Dr. Martin Luther King described it well in his commencement address in 65 when he declared quote
“today you bid farewell to the safe security of the academic environment you prepare to continue your journey on the clamorous highways of life.”
We all feel at times a little bit lost and we all have some kind of emptiness that we're searching to fill and often it is only through serving others that we find what's been missing in our own lives and like so many of you.
And in the face of all that clamor, you might have an overwhelming instinct to just run the other way as fast as you can.
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