Graduation Speech: Who Are We? :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

We are the Class of 2012. But who are we really? In truth we are nonhing except ourselves. We are the sons and daughters of baby-boomers, farmers, veterans, ex-hippies and civil righters. We cast off slid out of Generation X into our own. Appropriately coined Generation Y, we are the ones who enquire for faster, longer, safer, fairer and better. Some of our questions include Why are people starving when we direct more than enough food? Why do we have atomic weapons if we arent going to use them? Why is the smoking age 18 and the drinking age 21? Why are drive-through liquor stores ratified when drinking and driving is not? Why dont you same my music? Why jackpott I have a faster computer? Why did the CIA put top secret randomness in a laptop anyway? And why does Mr. Sharples sing march tunes when he walks down the hall? These questions, and many others, will define not only ourselves, but the world from which we get the answers. Despite historys trend of world conflict, my class has never cognise a fight where military service was automatic. We now join the services for an education, not unavoidably to fight. We have never felt the impact of widespread, deep-seated injustice and discontent. Oh, we whitethorn complain about the president, and hear individual cases of prejudice, but we dont feel as if the problem is getting worse. We have never known the terror of possible nuclear war. The Cold War ended before we could understand what it was about. We have not suffered famine, global catastrophe or unpreventable, epidemic diseases. Even AIDS, which we have learned how to avoid, is being beaten back, slowly but surely. However, we are close enough to those in age who have experience these trials. We are close enough through communication advances to see them misadventure in poorer countries around the world. Close enough to ask why it happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again. We are a diverse group, and accept that mixed bag wh ole-heartedly. We all have our own beliefs. We hail from the East edge, the West Coast and all stops in-between infinity and beyond. We are actors, artists, writers and musicians. Some are mechanics, carpenters, engineers and programmers. We are runners, jumpers, hitters, throwers, kickers and catchers. And some are designers, cashiers, clerks and chefs. We are doctors, vets, entrepreneurs and therapists.