committed our wealth to promoting equal opportunity
these are the values of our whole
generation it was never a question of if
we were going to do this the only
question was
when Millennials are already one of the
most charitable Generations in
history in just one year more than three
in four us Millennials donated to
charity and more than seven in 10 raised
money for another
one but it's not just about giving
money you can also give time
and I promise you if you just take an
hour or two a week that's all it takes
to give someone a hand and help them
Reach their
potential now maybe you're thinking
that's a lot of time I'm not sure if I
have that much
time I used to think
that you know when Priscilla graduated
from Harvard she became a teacher and
before she'd do education work with me
she told me that I needed to get my own
experience teaching a
class at first I complained
said you know I'm kind of busy I'm
running this
company but she
insisted so I taught an after school
program at the local Boys and Girls Club on
entrepreneurship I taught those kids
lessons on product development and
marketing and they taught me what it was
like growing up feeling targeted for
your race and what it's like having a
I shared stories of my time in
school and they shared their hope that
one day they would get to go to college
too for five
years I've had dinner with those
students every
month one of them even threw Priscilla
and me our first baby
college every one of them
first generation and their
families we can all make time to give
someone a hand let's give everyone the
freedom to pursue purpose not just
because it's the right thing to do but
because when more people can turn their
dreams into something great we are all
it purpose doesn't only come from work
the third way we can create a sense of
purpose for everyone is by building
community and in our generation when we
say purpose for everyone we mean
everyone in the
world now quick show of hands how many
country all right now keep your hands up
how many of you are friends with one of these
these
folks now we're talking
we have we have grown up
connected in a recent survey of
Millennials around the world asking what
most defines our identity the most
popular answer wasn't nationality
ethnicity or religion it was citizen of the
the
world that's a big
deal every generation expands the circle
of people we consider one of us and in
our generation that now includes the whole
whole
world we understand that the great Arc
of human history bends towards people
coming together in ever greater numbers
from tribes to cities to Nations to
achieve things that we could not on our
own we get that our greatest
opportunities are now global we can be
the generation that ends poverty that ends
ends
disease and we get that our greatest
challenges need Global responses too no
country can fight climate change alone
or prevent
pandemics progress now requires coming
together not just as cities or nations
but also as a global
Community but we live in an unstable
time there are people left behind by
globalization across the whole world and
it's tough to care about people in other
places when we don't first feel good
about our lives here at home
there's pressure to turn
inwards this is the struggle of our time
the forces of Freedom openness and
Global Community against the forces of
authoritarianism isolationism and
nationalism forces for the flow of
knowledge trade and immigration against
those who would slow them
down this is not a battle of
Nations it is a battle of ideas
there are people in every country for
more Global Connection and there are
good people against
it and this isn't going to be decided at
the UN
either it's going to happen at the local
level when enough of us feel a sense of
purpose and stability in our own lives
that we can start to open up and care
about everyone else
too and the best way to do that is to
now we all get a lot of meaning from our
communities who hears from Elliot
house how about
lol I know you guys found Community
because you literally live right on top
of each other and Ma [Music]
[Music]
there whether our communities or houses
or sports teams churches or AC capella
groups they give us that sense that we
are a part of something bigger that we
are not
alone they give us the strength to
expand our
Horizons and that's why it's so striking
that over the past few decades
membership in all kinds of communities
has declined by as much as one quarter
that's a lot of people who now need to
find a sense of purpose somewhere
else but I know that we can rebuild
these communities and start new ones
are I met Agnes
SEO who's graduating today Agnes where are
you Agnes spent her childhood naviga in
Conflict zones with human trafficking in
Uganda and now she's trained thousands
of law enforcement officials to keep communities
safe I met Kayla Oakley and Niha Jane
we're graduating today too Stand Up
Guys Kayla Niha started a
nonprofit that connects people suffering
from chronic illnesses with people in
their communities who were willing to help
out and I met David razu aznar who's
graduating from the Kennedy school today
up David is a former city councelor who
fought to make Mexico City the first
Latin American city to pass marriage
and this is my story
too a student in a dorm connecting one
community at a time and keeping at it
until one day we can connect the whole
world change starts
local even Global change starts small
with people like us
in our generation the struggle of
whether we connect more whether we
achieve our greatest opportunities comes
down to this your ability to build
communities and create a world where
purpose class of
2017 you are graduating into a world
that needs purpose and it's up to you to create
create
it now maybe you're asking
this well remember when I told you about
that class I taught at the Boys and Girls
Girls
Club one day after class I was talking
to my students about going to college
and one of my top students raised his
hand and said that he wasn't sure he
could go to college because he's
undocumented he wasn't sure if they'd take
take
him last year I took him out to
breakfast for his
birthday and I wanted to get him a gift
so I asked him what he wanted and he
just started talking about struggles
that he saw other students in his class
facing and finally said you know I'd
really just like a book on social justice
justice
I was blown
away here is a young guy who has every
reason to be
cynical he wasn't sure if the country he
calls home the only one he's known was
going to deny him his dream of going to
college but he wasn't feeling sorry for
himself he wasn't even thinking of
himself he has a greater sense of
purpose and he's going to bring people
him it says something about our
situation today that I can't even say
his name because I don't want to put him at
risk but if a high school senior who
doesn't know what the future holds for
him can do his part to move the world
forward then we owe it to the world to
so before you walk out those Gates one last
last
time and as we sit here in front of
I'm reminded of a prayer
prayer
M that I say whenever I face a big
challenge that I sing to my daughter
thinking of her future when I tuck her
in at
night and it
goes May the source of
strength who's blessed the ones before
us help us find the courage to make our
lives a blessing
I hope you find the courage to make your
life a blessing congratulations class of
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