The following is taken from Senator Barack Obama (D- Illinois) commencement address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois on Saturday, June 4. I have retitled his address: "What will be your place in History" http://www.alternet.org/story/23240/
"Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits -- like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We'll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs.
"It won't be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment.
And we need each of you.
"Now, no one can force you to meet these challenges. If you want, it will be pretty easy for you to leave here today and not give another thought to towns like Galesburg and the challenges they face. There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy.
"But I hope you don't walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It's primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."
Obama's speech concerns the decreasing job opportunities for American college graduates, who face international competition thanks to globalization. According to Obama, although we live in the global village, all peoples cannot be part of the human collective. Apparently, he suggests that it must be an attitude of America versus the rest. It is the basic concept of competition. He is rallying young Americans to strive to do better for their country, to reach beyond the material success story of America to something I understand as social justice. We have an obligation to ourselves to think, to change not just ourselves but our society, because it is no longer optional for us to care.
Material success is what immigrant parents strive for and achieve, however. The immigrant experience is one that is about overcoming social and economic adversity to be part of that "money culture." Our parents try also to instill these values of money into their children. They give them cars, and college, and whatever else they ask for in hopes that their children will see how comfortable money makes their lives. They find it unfathomable that their children would choose to be poor, or to devote themselves to causes that do not ensure monetary stability. I've never successfully classified my socioeconomic status to anything more specific than Middle Class, but I believe Obama and my parents would disagree about the merits of a money culture. The pressing question remains, What will be your place in history? If we strive for the material success of our parents, and give our money to the causes that we deem important, are we making that difference? Are we leaving our legacies? Is it enough? Ultimately, the onus is on individuals to figure out how much they are willing to sacrifice to realize their full potential to transform reality in some way.
"Every one of us is going to have to work more, read more, train more, think more. We will have to slough off some bad habits -- like driving gas guzzlers that weaken our economy and feed our enemies abroad. Our children will have to turn off the TV set once in a while and put away the video games and start hitting the books. We'll have to reform institutions, like our public schools, that were designed for an earlier time. Republicans will have to recognize our collective responsibilities, even as Democrats recognize that we have to do more than just defend old programs.
"It won't be easy, but it can be done. It can be our future. We have the talent and the resources and brainpower. But now we need the political will. We need a national commitment.
And we need each of you.
"Now, no one can force you to meet these challenges. If you want, it will be pretty easy for you to leave here today and not give another thought to towns like Galesburg and the challenges they face. There is no community service requirement in the real world; no one is forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and go chasing after the big house, and the nice suits, and all the other things that our money culture says that you should want, that you should aspire to, that you can buy.
"But I hope you don't walk away from the challenge. Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. You need to take up the challenges that we face as a nation and make them your own. Not because you have a debt to those who helped you get here, although you do have that debt. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate than you, although I do think you do have that obligation. It's primarily because you have an obligation to yourself. Because individual salvation has always depended on collective salvation. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential."
Obama's speech concerns the decreasing job opportunities for American college graduates, who face international competition thanks to globalization. According to Obama, although we live in the global village, all peoples cannot be part of the human collective. Apparently, he suggests that it must be an attitude of America versus the rest. It is the basic concept of competition. He is rallying young Americans to strive to do better for their country, to reach beyond the material success story of America to something I understand as social justice. We have an obligation to ourselves to think, to change not just ourselves but our society, because it is no longer optional for us to care.
Material success is what immigrant parents strive for and achieve, however. The immigrant experience is one that is about overcoming social and economic adversity to be part of that "money culture." Our parents try also to instill these values of money into their children. They give them cars, and college, and whatever else they ask for in hopes that their children will see how comfortable money makes their lives. They find it unfathomable that their children would choose to be poor, or to devote themselves to causes that do not ensure monetary stability. I've never successfully classified my socioeconomic status to anything more specific than Middle Class, but I believe Obama and my parents would disagree about the merits of a money culture. The pressing question remains, What will be your place in history? If we strive for the material success of our parents, and give our money to the causes that we deem important, are we making that difference? Are we leaving our legacies? Is it enough? Ultimately, the onus is on individuals to figure out how much they are willing to sacrifice to realize their full potential to transform reality in some way.
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