this pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country's deep-seated problems from massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic health care for people who need it it's woken a lot of young people up to the fact that the old ways of doing things just don't work that it doesn't matter how much money you make if everyone around you is hungry and sick and that our society and our democracy only work when we think not just about ourselves but about each other you know all those
adults that used to think or in charge and knew what they were doing turns out they don't have all the answers a lot of them aren't even asking the right questions so if the world is gonna get better it's gonna be up to you because with so much uncertainty but everything suddenly up for grabs this is your generations world to shape America has gone through tough times before slavery civil war famine disease the Great Depression in 911 and each time we came out stronger usually because a new generation young people like you learn from past
mistakes and figured out how to make things better doing what feels good what's convenient what's easy that's how little kids think unfortunately a lot of so-called grown-ups including some with fancy titles and important jobs still think that way which is why things are so screwed up but if we're gonna get through these difficult times if we're gonna create a world where everybody has opportunity to find a job and afford college if we're gonna save the environment and defeat future pandemics and we're gonna have to do it together so be alive to one another struggles stand
up for one another's rights leave behind all the old ways of thinking that divide us sexism racial prejudice status greed and set the world on a different path the truth is you don't need us to tell you what to do because in so many ways you've already started to lead congratulations class of 2020 keep making us proud
