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Commencement Speech at New York University
by Hillary Clinton
Thank you. Thank you
so much. Thank you. And does it get any better
than this, a graduation ceremony for
one
of
the
great
universities
in
the
world
in
the
home
of
New
York
Yankees?
Nothing
could
be
better.
(Applause.) And thanks to all of you
for cheering a visitor. I didn't realize that was
permitted in Yankee
Stadium.
I am honored to receive
this degree. And on behalf of the other honorees,
I say thank you. Thank you for
giving
us this singular privilege of being part of this
commencement ceremony. As I look out at this huge
crowd of graduates, family, and
friends, I can only reflect on what an
extraordinary moment in history you
are
receiving your degrees, a moment in time of our
country and the world where your talents and your
energy,
your
passion
and
commitment
is
more
needed
than
ever.
There
is
no
doubt
that
you
are
well
prepared for a world that seems
somewhat uncertain but which will welcome the
education that you have
received on
behalf of not only of yourselves and your
families, but your communities and your country.
As Secretary of State,
I am well aware of
the
challenges that we face. You, as new graduates,
and your
generation will be up against
those challenges: climate change and hunger,
extreme poverty and extreme
ideologies,
new diseases and nuclear proliferation. But I am
absolutely convinced that you and we are up to
the task. There is no problem we face
here in America or around the world that will not
yield to human
effort, to cooperation,
to positive interdependence that makes clear
humanity is going on, our challenges are
ones that summon the best of us, and we
will make the world better tomorrow than it is
today. (Applause.)
Now, I
know that it is fashionable in commencement
speeches to be idealistic, and that may sound so,
but
at the root of my conviction is a
strong sense of reality. Because you see, I don’t
think we have a choice.
We can sit on
the sidelines, we can wring our hands, we can
retreat into cynicism, and we know what the
results
will
be:
We
will
cede
the
field
to
those
whose
ideologies
are
absolutely
anathema
to
people
of
conscience and faith all over the
world. So our positive interdependence, which is a
fact, will prepare us to
meet these
challenges. But they can no longer be seen just as
government-to-government. There is a time
and an opportunity, and with the new
technologies available, for us to be citizen
diplomats, citizen activists,
to
solve
problems
one
by
one
that
will
give
in
to
hard
work,
patience,
and
persistence,
and
will
then
aggregate to the solutions we seek.
Now, I know we cannot send
a special envoy to negotiate with a pandemic, or
call a summit with carbon
dioxide,
or
sever
relations
with
the
global
financial
crisis.
To
confront
these
threats
and
to
seize
the
opportunities
that
they
also
present,
we
need
to
build
new
partnerships
from
the
bottom
up,
and
to
use
every tool at our disposal. That is the
heart of smart power. But smart power requires
smart people, people
who
have
gone
the
distance
for
their
education,
who
have
opened
themselves
up
to
this
increasingly
complex and interconnected world, and
this changing global landscape requires us to
expand our concept of
diplomacy.
Now, when I was graduating
so many
years ago, diplomacy was the
domain of privileged men working
behind
closed doors. Today, our diplomats are not
limited, and our diplomacy is no longer confined
to the
State Department or our
embassies. We are laying the foundation for 21st
century statecraft. Where? In the
classrooms of NYU, in the board rooms
of the businesses of this great city, in the halls
of academia, in the
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operating rooms of our great hospitals.
We are looking for those personal commitments and
connections,
and that is where all of
you come in.
The biggest
chal
lenges we face today will be solved
by the 60 percent of the world’s population under
the
age of 30. And already, young
people, like all of you, are using their talents
and ingenuity to help fashion
their own
brand of service and diplomacy.
A few examples: In the nation of
Colombia, two young college graduates, fed up with
the violence in their
country, used
Facebook to organize 14 million people into the
largest antiterrorism demonstrations in the
history of the world. (Applause.) In a
few short weeks, their peaceful efforts did as
much damage to the
terrorist networks
as years of military action.
I
know
that
one
of
your
graduates
spent
months
on
the
slopes
of
Mount
Kilimanjaro
searching
for
sustainable
development
models
to
bring
to
women
and
families
and
help
them
lift
themselves
out
of
poverty.
Another
of
your
classmates
was
studying
in
China
last
year
when
the
devastating
earthquake
struck, and that
has led to work ever since to deliver supplies and
assistance to villagers in remote areas.
International students have gone on to
fight for human rights in Rwanda, build civil
society in the nation of
Georgia,
run
businesses,
and
lead
governments.
And
many
of
you,
I
know,
used
social
networking
platforms to make Barack Obama the
President of the United States of America.
(Applause.)
President Obama
and I deeply understand how important it is for
the young people of our country, but the
young people of every country, to be
given the opportunity to translate your beliefs
and ideals into service
and action,
just as John Kennedy did when he created the Peace
Corps and as President Bill Clinton did
when he created AmeriCorps. This is in
the tradition of citizen service. (Applause.)
So we need to figure out
ways to prepare all of our institutions of
government, including and especially the
State Department, to harness the
efforts of those who do not enter the Foreign
Service but still engage in
your own
type of foreign service. Our State Department
personnel are skilled, dedicated, passionate, and
effective.
And
for
those
of
you
still
looking
for
jobs,
we
are
hiring
a
new
generation
of
diplomats.
(Applause.)
I hope many of you will
join our ranks in the Foreign Service and the
Civil Service, but I know that not all
will
choose
to
become
professional
diplomats,
and
I
also
know
that
the
State
Department
alone
cannot
tackle these great
problems. So my message to you today is this: Be
the special envoys of your ideals; use
the communication tools at your
disposal to advance the interests of our nation
and humanity everywhere;
be citizen
ambassadors using your personal and professional
lives to forge global partnerships, build on a
common commitment to solving our
planet’s common problems. By creating your own
networks, you can
extend the power of
governments to meet the needs of this and future
generations. You can help lay the
groundwork for the kind of global
cooperation that is essential if we wish, in our
time, to end hunger and
defeat
disease,
to
combat
climate
change,
and
to
give
every
child
the
chance
to
live
up
to
his
or
her
God-given potential. (Applause.)
This starts with
opportunities for educational exchanges, the kind
of dorm room and classroom diplomacy
that NYU is leading on. I want to
commend my friend, your president, the trustees of
this great university,
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