Be The Change

I was asked to be the keynote speaker for the National Honor Society induction ceremony this year and a friend suggested that I post the speech. Here it is in it's entirety:

Be The Change



I would like to thank the members of the National Honor Society for inviting me here tonight. I am so moved by your faith in me and honored to be here this evening.

I have the privilege of working with so many talented students here in Guilderland. It is great honor to watch leadership grow and see students flourish in our small piece of the universe. Each and every one of you are in this room for a reason: you were chosen. You were chosen to be a part of the National Honor Society not only because you exemplify academic valor and not only because you volunteer in numerous community service projects. You were chosen because we believe in you. We believe you are already a leader and we believe you can be a stronger one. More importantly, you believe it.

You believe in yourself so deeply that you applied to the Honor Society. You've proven yourself to be a hard-working scholar of upstanding character who prides yourself on service to others. This is what a leader is.

When we hear the word leader, we often get images in our heads of famous leaders who continue to inspire decades after their passing. We remember these people and quote their words as goals for ourselves.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.

Malcolm X

Nothing will work unless you do.

Maya Angelou

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Helen Keller

We hear the words as they are echoed in movies, printed on magnets, written in graduation cards and quoted in keynote speeches.

But there is a reason: they move us, they inspire us, they remind us of the parts of ourselves that are sometimes buried under friendships, family, work and school commitments. We turn to these leaders in times of great difficulty because they are proof that we too will overcome. They remind us that we are infinite in our potential.

And each and every one of you is infinite in your potential to enact change. You do it every day in our school by modeling what it is to have integrity. You do it in your community service projects where you show us the depth of your commitment to helping others. You are a leader. You know this already but I would like to call on you for more. I would like to speak to each and every one of you as young men and women, mere months away from being full-fledged adults, if you aren't already. I would like to point out the great potential each of you has to change this world for the better and the responsibility of wielding that power wisely.

Change can happen on a minuscule scale and it can happen on the monumental one. Whether you are holding a door opened for someone or lobbying politicians to repeal an unjust law, you have the power and the responsibility to enact change.

April 9 is celebrated as Woman's Day in South Africa.

It wasn't always.

On that day, April 9, nearly sixty years ago, thousands of women marched to the union buildings in Pretoria to deliver a petition to the prime minister.

They had earlier requested a meeting with him to discuss their point of view on the pass laws that restricted black African's movement within their towns and country. The prime minister refused to meet with them. These laws required men to carry a pass and women to carry a reference book. If either were traveling without proper documentation, they could be arrested and detained. It was so restrictive that it also interfered with many citizens' ability to work and support their families.

So on April 9, 1956, more than 20,000 women of all races risked being arrested to take a stand to end the pass system for men and women. They signed petitions refusing to carry passes and they marched to the government buildings to hand those petitions to the prime minister. When he wasn't there, they left the petitions on the steps of the building and stood in silent protest for over a half an hour before singing their country's national anthem. The women then began singing an African song that, when translated, means 'If you strike a woman, you strike a rock.'

Just as those women were needed to march and show solidarity in the fight for justice, so too are you needed to fight for what is right in your own community, whether that community be Guilderland or another city where you find yourself in two or ten years. Throughout your lives, you will be expected to take a stand and stand as a rock.

I urge you to find your voice to fight for something worthy and just. And whether you fight small injustices in the world as I do, like teaching my students kindness towards one and another or whether you fight for large injustices like a call for the end of child soldiers, society calls on you to find your conviction and use all your power to enact change. To be the change you want to see in the world. It starts with each one of us doing all we can to be that change.

It starts with you.

June Jordan, a Caribbean-American poet and activist, wrote a poem entitled "Poem for South African Women" in honor of that march. And although 1956 seems like a distant time and here in upstate New York we do not have to march in protest against apartheid, there are many lessons that still resonate in 2014.

In that poem, June Jordan wrote:

And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea

we are the ones we have been waiting for


I would like to close by congratulating all the members of the National Honor Society, both the outgoing seniors and the inductees.

There is no one else to start change other than each and every one of us in our daily lives. Use all the tools you have at your disposal and find inspiration in the words of the inspirational. Use the rest of your time at GHS as a stepping stone for the change you want to see. Continue being the scholars of character and service that we know you to be and hold yourself to a high standard as you lead your fellow students.

And when you go out into the world start small and dream big. The changes that we need in our society start within each and every one of you. You do not have to wait for someone else to make something happen. YOU are the one you have been waiting for. Make something happen for yourself and make it count. Make the world a better place and be the change.

Thank you.