    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
    [June 6, 1997]
    [Pages 706-708]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Commencement Address at the Sidwell Friends School
    June 6, 1997

        Thank you. Well, Mr. Bryant, I may not hit a homerun today, but I
    won't be quite as off as Teddy Roosevelt was. Even good people have bad
    days. [Laughter]
        Mr. Harrison, Mr. Noe, friends, family, and guests, members of the
    Class of 1997: Thank you for inviting me. Hillary and I especially want
    to thank Sidwell's faculty and staff, students and families for making
    our family feel so at home here, when we came under somewhat unusual
    circumstances.
        Also, I thank the school for its superlative commitments to academic
    excellence, to diversity, and to service, to the welfare of all students
    here, to the maintenance of good character, good citizenship, and good
    spirits.
        In particular, I have come to appreciate the school's observance of
    the Quaker practice of meaningful worship--an hour spent in reflective
    silence, broken only when someone has something truly meaningful to say
    in a respectful way. After the parents had a chance to participate in
    meaningful worship this week, I left wishing that Congress were in
    control of the Quakers. [Laughter]
        I asked the senior in this class I know best what I should say
    today. Her reply was, ``Dad, I want you to be wise, briefly.''
    [Laughter] Last night she amended her advice, ``Dad, the girls want you
    to be wise; the boys just want you to be funny.'' [Laughter] That's what
    I get for asking.
        Members of the class of '97, you are not the only graduates here
    today. Even though we're staying home, your parents are graduating, too.
    Just as your pride and joy in this day must be tempered by the
    separation from Sidwell and the daily contact with the wonderful friends
    you have made here, our pride and joy are tempered by our coming
    separation from you.
        So I ask you at the beginning to indulge your folks if we seem a
    little sad or we act a little weird. You see, today we are remembering
    your first day in school and all the triumphs and travails between then
    and now. Though we have raised you for this moment of departure and we
    are very proud of you, a part of us longs to hold you once more as we
    did when you could barely walk, to read to you just one more

    [[Page 707]]

    time ``Good Night, Moon'' or ``Curious George'' or ``The Little Engine
    That Could.''
        We hope someday that you will have children of your own to bring to
    this happy day and know how we feel. Remember that we love you, and no
    matter what anybody says, you can come home again.
        We celebrate your passage into the world in a hopeful time for our
    Nation and for people throughout the world. For the first time in
    history, more than half of all the world's people live free, under
    governments of their own choosing. The cold war has given way to the
    information age, with its revolutions in technology and communications
    and increasingly integrated economies and societies. Scientific advances
    and a growing global determination to preserve our environment give us
    hope that the challenges of the 21st century can be met in ways that
    will permit us to continue the advance of peace and freedom and
    prosperity throughout your entire lives.
        Admittedly, we face serious threats to humanity's forward march,
    threats that go beyond the possible outbreak of disease or environmental
    catastrophe. They include the spread of weapons of mass destruction;
    terrorism; the worldwide network of crime and drug trafficking; awful
    ethnic, racial, tribal, and religious rivalries that unfortunately are
    most appealing to people your age throughout the world who feel poor and
    dispossessed. With vision, discipline, and patience, we can meet these
    challenges as well.
        Here at home, our economy is strong. Crime and welfare rolls have
    dropped steeply. We are on the leading edge of emerging technologies.
    People are living longer, fuller lives. America is leading the world
    toward peace and freedom and progress, but you know well that we, too,
    have our challenges.
        We still have yet to give all our children the chance you have had
    to develop their God-given capacities. We still have to deal with the
    coming retirement of your parents' very large generation and the
    appalling rates of poverty among young children. We have to develop the
    proper balance of discipline and freedom, of creativity and stability
    necessary to keep our economy growing, to make our society less crippled
    by crime and drugs, to help our families and communities to become
    stronger. And perhaps most important as you look around this class
    today, we have to make out of our rich diversity the world's first truly
    great multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious democracy. No one has
    ever done it before, and I hope our country can do as well as you have
    done with each other.
        Now, all these are formidable tasks, but we are moving in the right
    direction. What I want to say to you is that now that you're adults, you
    have to do your part to keep it going. There are decisions to be made by
    Americans and, in a democracy, citizenship is not a spectator sport.
        But what an exciting world awaits you--from cyberspace to the
    frontiers of artificial intelligence, from mapping our genetic
    structures to exploring other galaxies. With your ability and your
    education, your choices seem limitless. But you will have to choose. And
    you will have to choose not just what you will do but how you will live.
    No one else can make your decisions for you, and they will make all the
    difference--for you, for your country, and for the world. To make the
    right ones, you will need a lot more than knowledge and access to the
    Internet. You will need wisdom and resolve.
        For what it's worth, here is my advice. First, be brave. Dream big
    and chase your dreams. You will have your failures, but you will grow
    from every honest effort. Over three decades ago I sat where you are. I
    can tell you without any doubt that in the years since, my high school
    classmates who chased their dreams and failed are far less disappointed
    than those who left their dreams on the shelf for fear of failure. So
    chase on. Even if you don't get what you think you want, amazing things
    will happen.
        Second, be optimistic and be grateful. Some bad things are going to
    happen to you--to some of you, unfair things, perhaps even tragic
    things. Some of you have faced tragedy already. When these things
    happen, try to remember that each new day is still a gift, full of the
    mystery and magic of life. Try not to waste even one of those days
    trapped by hatred, the desire to get even, self-pity, despair, or
    cynicism. We all give in to them now and then, of course, but you need
    to work at snapping out of it and going on. Hatred and self-pity give
    victory to the very dark forces we deplore. Despair guarantees defeat.
    Cynicism is a cowardly cop-out. And no ever really gets even in life;
    that is God's work.
        No matter how bad it gets, don't forget there's someone who's
    endured more pain than you have. No matter how unfair it gets, remember
    that most of us are far better off than we would be if we only got what
    we deserve. And

    [[Page 708]]

    don't stop at admiring a Mandela or a Cardinal Bernardin. Strive to be
    more like them. Keep your spirits up. There is profound truth in the
    proverb, ``A happy heart maketh good medicine, but a broken spirit
    dryeth the bones.''
        Third, be of service to others. Much has been given to you already,
    and a lot more is coming your way. You owe it to yourself to give
    something back, to help to build a society and a world in which more
    people have your chance to live out their dreams, and all people in need
    at least know the touch of a caring hand and the embrace of a kind
    heart. From your service here, many of you already know that it not only
    gives more joy to others, it will bring more joy to you than you can
    even imagine.
        Fourth, be both humble and proud. Be humble because you're human,
    subject to error and frailty, incapable, no matter how intelligent you
    are, of ever knowing the whole truth. Show mercy as well as judgment to
    those with whom you disagree in life. Keep in mind Benjamin Franklin's
    adage that even our enemies are our friends, for they show us our
    faults.
        Be proud because your life is God's unique creation, worthy of its
    journey, graced with a soul the equal of every other person's. Eleanor
    Roosevelt once said that no one can make you feel inferior without your
    permission. Do not give them permission.
        I regret that in our time, the essential role of constructive
    criticism often degenerates into what Deborah Tannen has called ``the
    culture of critique,'' where too many brilliant minds and prodigious
    energies are spent simply putting people down. Do not be put down.
        Thirty-seven years ago, I was a student in Vernon Dokey's eighth
    grade science class. On first impression, Vernon Dokey, to put it
    charitably, was a very physically unattractive man. [Laughter] He knew
    it. He laughed about it. And he used it to teach us a valuable lesson in
    life I still remember. He told us that every morning when he woke up, he
    went to the bathroom and he shaved, and then he looked at himself in the
    mirror and he said, ``Vernon, you're beautiful.'' [Laughter]
        Well, Class of '97, you're beautiful. Go out and live like it. Be
    humble and be proud. Be of service. Be optimistic and grateful. Be
    brave, and dream your dreams.
        God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:07 a.m. in the gymnasium at the school.
    In his remarks, he referred to Ralph Bryant, chairman, board of
    directors, Earl Harrison, head of school, and Bernard Noe, upper school
    principal, Sidwell Friends School.