Valedictorian: Let Us Improve the World

Fellow classmates, family, friends, teachers, administrators, and esteemed guests, thank you. It is a great honor to be given the opportunity to speak today.

First, I’d like to take the time to thank my mom, my dad, and my brother Jason. I certainly would not be standing here if not for the support that you have provided me. I love you all so much.

Graduation is a special day: a day for parting, sorrow, tears; a day for celebration, joy, laughter. It is a day to reflect upon our past, and it is a day to consider who we are and who we want to be in the future.

Thinking about the last four years, I’ve realized that my proudest accomplishments do not involve academics. Rather, I am most satisfied to have been one of many participants in Shelter from the Storm, Unplugged for Haiti, and the numerous other charity fundraisers that our school has conducted. We raised thousands of dollars for the relief efforts in Haiti and Japan. We supported the education and empowerment of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We fought for the causes of wounded soldiers, homeless shelters, and clean water for all. Together, we were able to make a tangible difference in the lives of others, and that is the best feeling in the world.

The speed of our cars, the size of our houses, and the abundance of our money will not define the value of our lives. Life is meaningful because of human connections. According to clinical researchers, the strength of our relationships and our willingness to help others are more accurate gauges of happiness than level of education, health condition, or even material wealth. This makes a lot of sense. As the Dalai Lama once wisely stated, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

Although almost everyone professes to believe in the virtues of love and compassion, in our society, there is a strong tendency to be dismissive of the plight of people who live in countries other than our own. Some of our own teachers boycotted Shelter’s internationally focused fundraisers because they felt that we should only help Americans.

Growing up in the small town of Xinyi in Jiangsu Province, China, I witnessed entire families of beggars, covered in dirt and bounded by desperation, going from door to door to plead for leftover food. As serious as the problems are in America, let us not forget that 1 billion people in this world live on less than $1 a day, that there are more than two hundred million cases of malaria each year, and that one person dies every three and a half seconds from hunger and starvation.

In education, academic knowledge pales in value to the virtues and perspectives that we acquire. I hope that all of us leave Hillsborough High School with empathy and a global frame of mind. I hope we recognize that people are people, regardless of where they reside, that love and compassion do not have national boundaries, and that injustice anywhere serves as a threat to justice everywhere not just within the confines of our local borders, but within the expansive reach of all humanity.

Today, we embark into different directions. Some of us will continue our studies, some of will serve our country, and some of us will enter the workforce. However, all of us have the ability to help others. All of us can be aware of the problems that face our global society, volunteer a little bit of our time, and make manageable donations to charitable causes. With the support of our family and friends, under the auspices of our teachers and mentors, let us, the Hillsborough High School Class of 2011, improve the world.

Thank you. Congratulations on completing high school, and I wish you all the best of luck, happiness, health, peace, and prosperity in the future.