Graduates of the Class of 2020, family members, and friends : It is a privilege to be able to speak with you, even in this unusual way. I know you would rather be on campus, and I wish you could be here. but I am glad we can all do our part to rescue the transmission of COVID and stay healthy.
This crisis has been a wake up call for all of us. It has stretched health care systems to the breaking point. It has threatened economies, both household and global.
And, like many tragedies, it has exposed the vast gulf between the most fortunate and the most vulnerable. Long after the pandemic itself has subsided, we will need to commit ourselves to finding new and creative solutions to these long-term problems.
It may be too early to say what we have learned from all of this. But at the least, we see more sharply than before our interdependence as a human community. Our deep levels of connection and need for one another are a weakness that infectious diseases exploit. But our interdependence is also a source of strength and vitality in uncertain times- indeed, all of the time.
Many of us have found inspiration in the sacrifices of trontline hospital and health care workers; in the commitment of essential staff; and in the contributions of public health experts and legions of volunteers. All around us, we have seen ordinary people transformed into heroes.
When the crisis is over, this is the lesson I hope we will carry with us: That we must act with urgent concern and compassion for the neighbors we know personally and those we do not; for people down the street, and for those on the other side of the globe.
Yet in the face of disappointment and hardship, you have remained committed to your studies. You have continued to invent, imagine, and create. You have stayed connected with friends and family members. You have rejected isolation in favor of community. You have strengthened the ties that bind us together as a university and as a human family.
And today, I encourage you to think of the Good Samaritan in a new light: not how great or amazing he was, but how ordinary he was. Life calls each of us, average human beings, to acts of extrordinary courage.
These are no ordinary times. The world needs each of you, prepared to tackle whatever challenges come your way. I am confident that, with eyes open and hearts full of compassion, you will take Yale's mission of light and truth to neighbors near and far.
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