名人英语演讲稿(7)

and it doesn’t mean that once having made that choice you will always succeed. in fact, you won’t. there are setbacks and you will experience difficult disappointments. you will be slowed down and sometimes the breath will just be knocked out of you. but if you carry with you the values and beliefs that you can make a difference in your own life, first and foremost, and then in the lives of others. you can get back up, you can keep going.

but it is also important, as i have found, not to take yourself too seriously, because after all, every one of us here today, none of us is deserving of full credit. i think every day of the blessings my birth gave me without any doing of my own. i chose neither my family nor my country, but they as much as anything i’ve ever done, determined my course.

you compare my or your circumstances with those of the majority of people who’ve ever lived or who are living right now, they too often are born knowing too well what their futures will be. they lack the freedom to choose their life’s path. they’re imprisoned by circumstances of poverty and ignorance, bigotry, disease, hunger, oppression and war.

so, dare to compete, yes, but maybe even more difficult, dare to care. dare to care about people who need our help to succeed and fulfill their own lives. there are so many out there and sometimes all it takes is the simplest of gestures or helping hands and many of you understand that already. i know that the numbers of graduates in the last 20 years have worked in community organizations, have tutored, have committed themselves to religious activities.

you have been there trying to serve because you have believed both that it was the right thing to do and because it gave something back to you. you have dared to care.

well, dare to care to fight for equal justice for all, for equal pay for women, against hate crimes and bigotry. dare to care about public schools without qualified teachers or adequate resources. dare to care about protecting our environment. dare to care about the 10 million children in our country who lack health insurance. dare to care about the one and a half million children who have a parent in jail. the seven million people who suffer from hiv/aids. and thank you for caring enough to demand that our nation do more to help those that are suffering throughout this world with hiv/aids, to prevent this pandemic from spreading even further.

and i’ll also add, dare enough to care about our political process. you know, as i go and speak with students i’m impressed so much, not only in formal settings, on campuses, but with my daughter and her friends, about how much you care, about how willing you are to volunteer and serve. you may have missed the last wave of the dot.com revolution, but you’ve understood that the dot.community revolution is there for you every single day. and you’ve been willing to be part of remarking lives in our community.