Graduation Speech: Knowledge is a Powder Keg, You are the Fuse :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Throughout the often murky and turbulent waters of life, we must set our sails towards the noble goal of just and civil society. On this trip we have only education as our compass whose needle guides us towards our humanity. We cannot assume that we are done with our education now that we enter adulthood. Instead, we must continue to strive towards that noble goal of civilization, by creating an educated and not an ignorant society. Although those who came before us were not perfect, we can learn from them without having to make the same mistakes ourselves. We know that between 1941 and 1945 America and the rest of the world was embroiled in a great world war, one which would test the endurance of the fighting forces worldwide. This was a war that would come to coin the term, genocide. We know about how the German people were misled because we have been told so; we know about apathy because our history classes found the books to teach us; and we know what kind of atrocities that apathy created because our classes gave us the skills to discover the truth and avow that something that horrid would never happen again. More recently global warming was recognized as a serious threat to our future. Through education society has changed its course by becoming more environmentally aware. This was and is civilization. So why on the night of something as wonderful and momentous as graduation, would I discuss some of the world’s darkest hours? Simple, it is today, in this spot we sit that we begin to wage another war. Not a war with guns and swords, or bulldozers and fires. No, together our generation is donning the armor to fight a war for civilization. Because it is by making choices today and tomorrow, it is through teaching the people how to think for themselves, and learning what really happened that keeps us from being mislead by falseness. Our fight is to teach the world about science so that we will understand our world, what is possible and what’s not. Why we cannot assume antibiotics will always work. To understand language so that we can read and comprehend, stay current and stay balanced. Language enables us to read the novel â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God,† and for the only time in some of our lives understand the coming of age of an African American woman.