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[ Pause ]
>> Mr. President, members of the Board of Trustees, faculties,
honored guests, family and friends, to the class of 2012,
I [inaudible] with my honor and gratitude,
not only to be here before you but also
to share my joy and excitement.
Your curiosity and courage, your versatile talents and commitment
to intellectual thinking have guilded the work of Baker Berry
with pride and are sure to shine in the way ahead of us.
We have been waiting for this day for a long time.
When we were freshmen, not many
of us could have foreseen how the four year would be.
We met different people here.
People come into our life to teach a lesson, to help figure
out who we are or who we want to become.
We overcame a lot of adversities and moments of crestfallen
and then became stronger.
This is Young's "In The Middle of Nowhere"
but in the center of everywhere.
It's probably the privilege of young people
to embrace the following without being criticized:
A dream of wonderland; the sweet amazement at the stars
and constellations and their tales;
and the undaunting challenge of events;
the unfolding childlike appetite for what comes next;
and the joy in the game of life.
Youngs is the most beautiful stage in life.
It's not a matter of beers, [inaudible], or parties.
It's a nature of exploration, an eagerness
of imagination, a vigor of emotion.
It's a freshness of the deep spring of life.
Youngs means a growing predominance of courage
over timidity, an appetite for adventure over a life of ease,
an unlimited desire to conquer the unknown world
yet remaining humble.
No one grows old by merely living a number of years.
People grow old by deserting their ideals.
So years may wrinkle the skin but giving
up into the [inaudible] will wrinkle the soul.
Confusion, doubt, hesitation, self-distress, self-denial,
these are the long, long years that both [inaudible] and tend
to grow in spirit back to dust.
Failing, injury, lost moments of faith
and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of our soul.
In reflection today, without overcoming these obstacles we
would have never realized
of our potential strengths, willpower or hurt.
Life will be like a smoothly paved road: flat, straight.
It will be safe, comfortable and easy or dull
and utterly pointless.
We are young as long as we have faith.
We're old as long as we distrust.
We are young as long as we believe in ourself.
We're old as long as we fear like a coward.
We are young as long as we are long-term determined.
We're old as long as we are shortsighted.
And we are young as long as we dream and hope.
We're old as long as we're lament and succumb to this fear.
Today we may leave Hanover but we now possess a spirit
of [inaudible] in each of us.
A spirit that will keep us invulnerable
from the erosion of pessimism.
A spirit that will carry the voice crying in the wilderness
to the world fight discrimination and injustice
and make smart but significant change to our civilization.
A spirit that so long as we possess it we are young forever.
And last, to my family and to you, thank you for being
with me when I need you.
I hope today is somewhat a small part of the testament
to your love and devotion and to a love
which I can never complete repay.
You honor the three words that I always want to tell you:
"Thank you" and "Congratulations."
[ Applause ]