Be kind to our children for they graduate today.
They stand before you cloaked in promise; their faces awash with the unbridled determination to succeed; undaunted by doubt or fear. They are the fulfillment of their grandparents’ parents’ destinies, intensified through generations of painful longings and echoes of whispered dreams. They are armed with intelligence strengthened by integrity, with ambition softened by sensitivity, and with a clear and unadulterated sense of themselves. They are ready for you World and what becomes of them is all within your hand.
Treat them with bigotry and they will become bigots; treat them with tolerance and they will become tolerant. Show them hatred and they will hate; show them they are loved and they will love. Discipline their shortcomings with revenge and they will become vengeful; discipline them tempered with forgiveness and they will learn to forgive. Bring them back to reality when common sense fails them, but do not try to break them with your cynicism.
Do this not only for these graduates, but also for the entirety of the Earth’s sons and daughters, starting on this graduation day. Treat them all as if our very existence depends upon their cumulative success. Allow them to soar, and should they begin to stumble in the darkness, please help them find an open door. For if each of us ignites but one candle, surely the world can illuminate their way. And, lastly World, treat them gently with the kind of patience that is born out of the vastness of your love.
Be kind to our children for they graduate today.
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