Fuga dalla realtà. Ovvero Fantasmi 2

Ho visto per caso il discorso tenuto da Barack Obama al Commencement 2009 della Arizona State University, Phoenix AZ. Mi è subito ritornato in mente il mitico consiglio del Nostro alla giovane precaria.

Uno dei punti che più mi ha colpito è stato questo:

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That’s the great American story: young people just like you, following their passions, determined to meet the times on their own terms. They weren’t doing it for the money. Their titles weren’t fancy — ex-slave, minister, student, citizen. A whole bunch of them didn’t get honorary degrees. (Laughter and applause.) But they changed the course of history — and so can you ASU, so can you Class of 2009. (Applause.) So can you.

With a degree from this outstanding institution, you have everything you need to get started. You’ve got no excuses. You have no excuses not to change the world. Did you study business? (Applause.) Go start a company. (Applause.) Or why not help our struggling non-profits find better, more effective ways to serve folks in need. (Applause.) Did you study nursing? (Applause.) Understaffed clinics and hospitals across this country are desperate for your help. Did you study education? (Applause.) Teach in a high-need school where the kids really need you; give a chance to kids who can’t– who can’t get everything they need maybe in their neighborhood, maybe not even in their home we can’t afford to give up on — prepare them to compete for any job anywhere in the world. (Applause.) Did you study engineering? (Applause.) Help us lead a green revolution — (applause) — developing new sources of clean energy that will power our economy and preserve our planet.

But you can also make your mark in smaller, more individual ways. That’s what so many of you have already done during your time here at ASU — tutoring children; registering voters; doing your own small part to fight hunger and homelessness, AIDS and cancer. One student said it best when she spoke about her senior engineering project building medical devices for people with disabilities in a village in Africa. Her professor showed a video of the folks they’d been helping, and she said, “When we saw the people on the videos, we began to feel a connection to them. It made us want to be successful for them.” Think about that: “It made us want to be successful for them.”

That’s a great motto for all of us — find somebody to be successful for. Raise their hopes. Rise to their needs. As you think about life after graduation, as you look into the mirror tonight after the partying is done — (laughter and applause) — that shouldn’t get such a big cheer — (laughter) — you may look in the mirror tonight and you may see somebody who’s not really sure what to do with their lives. That’s what you may see, but a troubled child might look at you and see a mentor. A homebound senior citizen might see a lifeline. The folks at your local homeless shelter might see a friend. None of them care how much money is in your bank account, or whether you’re important at work, or whether you’re famous around town — they just know that you’re somebody who cares, somebody who makes a difference in their lives.

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Per chi volesse vedere tutto l’intervento, su YouTube.

Oppure leggerne il testo, sul NYTimes.