Commencement
June 05, 2011
I am a sentimental slob. I cry when I am happy and when I am sad. I weep at weddings, and have been known to cry at Hallmark commercials. I cry every year at the NBC Nightly News feature on college graduations. And this one was no different.
For those of you unfamiliar with this annual event that lasts about three minutes, NBC shows snippets of commencement speeches interspersed with graduates jumping with joy. Messages written in tape across their caps say things like "Thanks Mom." Toothy smiles are everywhere. Pride is everywhere.
This year graduates heard from Tom Hanks, "The jig is up; the clock's run out."; Thomas Friedman talking about the Arab Spring and urging graduates to, "get out of Facebook and into someone's face"; Amy Poehler noting that this year's graduates were young when planes flew into the Twin Towers and reminding them that they quickly understood what it was like to be out of control.
Like graduates of all times, they face an uncertain future. In a year of tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes and uprisings, it's impossible to predict what lies ahead.
But this year's graduates are going to make a difference. We depend on it.
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