Another Graduation Speech in the Wall

Dear graduates, esteemed faculty, families and friends,

It is with this sense of joy that we welcome you today to come and celebrate this great milestone of graduation. This moment is not only the end of one phase but the start of another phase which holds plenty of prospects as well as difficulties. It is both a new path that you are about to undertake and a sheet of paper on which you are about to write your own story, and it will require hardness, dedication and honesty.

I am in my fourth quarter of my life and with this stage perception is enhanced with the years that have been clocked. I have witnessed the growth of generations, the change of worlds, and the appearance and disappearance of prospects. In view of this, there are some lessons which I would like to pass on to you, some lessons that have been learned with the help of time and mistakes.

When I was a kid, learning was everything. Knowledge or the look of it was a way to get into society. An illiterate farmer could become rich and then buy a library instead of using the money for something else because he knew that education was the best gift he could give to his children. However, in the present world, people around us pretend that they do not know what they do not know, and people who are rude and lazy are admired and admired. I do not mean this at all, you should not be deceived like that. Learning is not just a process; it is a way to live. And let me emphasize, learning is not over once you are done with this graduation ceremony. On the contrary, you are just at the beginning of it all.

There is a saying: “Hard times makes for strong men and strong men make for good times, good times make for weak men and weak men make for hard times.” Although these lines may sound rather brutal, they describe the situation which my generation has failed to understand: the fact that the world is not an easy place, yet, difficulties are not obstacles – they are training grounds.

I know what I am talking about. I have seen the times of development and the times of peace, of the comforts which seemed to be endless. But, could it be that in the midst of this comfort we have overprotected ourselves and hence deny our children the fact that life is not just full of chances but also full of pain, loss, and disappointments. I am not trying to scare you, but to take you to something which is essential: to get ready for the worst.

In order to understand this, I will have to use an example from my own life. We played in the streets as children, I would fall and get a cut on my knee and my mother would say, “Get up. That mark will be part of your history.” These days, many parents get an ambulance to come and take their child to the hospital if they have a fever. Understandable, perhaps, but let me tell you this: in real life, you cannot always expect someone to be there to support you. There will be times when you are on your own, dealing with issues and decisions all by yourself, with no one to help you or to show you the way. And that is what it means to be grown up – to get up when you fall, to learn from your mistakes, to keep going.

It’s important not to be afraid of making mistakes. It is a great, if rather strict, educator – a failure. Look behind any great success and you will see a long list of failures that did not result in failures but rather strengthened the spirit and provided significant lessons. Every stumble will be one more lesson; every setback, one more reason to stay strong.

As you proceed, pay attention to those who have gone before you. Not to copy them, but to avoid their mistakes and to follow their example. As for our grandparents, they knew this: life is unpredictable and can be lost at any moment. It wasn’t a privilege to be kind, to be sympathetic, to have friends; it was a necessity. In today’s society, where people tend to focus on individuality, I call on you to adopt these values. Surround yourself with people and be surrounded by the same kind of people.

The last: people tend to talk a lot, and often just to spit out trends and opinions that are actually false. You should try to develop a critical thinking and to ask questions, even if you don’t get the answer right away, and to look for more profound meanings. As a man once said, ‘The greatest evil is not evil, but the lack of good.’ And there is only one way to protect oneself from stupidity – to be interested in learning and to study all the time.

The future that is in front of you is a clean sheet. Do not worry if your first attempt is not excellent. What matters is that you paint, and the process of painting is to keep on painting. In real life there are no straight lines; it is a process of many steps forward and at times even backward. Accommodate your dreams to the available opportunities, and yet never let go of them.

Today, you are graduating with the degrees that will help you to get into those rooms. But the keys to walk through those doors are: your decisions, your bravery, and your willingness to learn from every situation. So go out there. Enjoy yourself and make mistakes. Transform the world and yourselves whenever and as often as necessary. Because in the end, the only judgment that matters is not what you’ve done, but what you have had the nerve to go for.

Congratulations, Class of 2025. This is your moment, and don't let anyone or anything stop you from seizing it.

Note 1: No, this text is not related to Denzel Washington.

Note 2: No, it neither has been generated with https://elephant.ai/ai-graduation-speech-generator nor anything of its kind.