0:00:02.259,0:00:03.119
I'm sure

0:00:03.500,0:00:05.409
many of you have had this experience.

0:00:06.429,0:00:07.559
It's late at night

0:00:07.769,0:00:11.199
and you start browsing Netflix looking for something to watch.

0:00:12.079,0:00:14.029
You scroll through different titles,

0:00:14.359,0:00:16.068
you even read a few reviews,

0:00:16.399,0:00:17.850
but you just can't commit

0:00:18.200,0:00:19.629
to watching any given movie.

0:00:20.579,0:00:23.870
Suddenly, it's been 30 minutes and you're still stuck

0:00:24.280,0:00:26.180
in infinite browsing mode,

0:00:26.680,0:00:27.809
so you just give up.

0:00:28.450,0:00:30.389
You're too tired to watch anything now.

0:00:31.280,0:00:32.849
So, you cut your losses

0:00:33.169,0:00:34.189
and fall asleep.

0:00:35.630,0:00:37.669
I've come to believe that this

0:00:37.979,0:00:40.700
is the defining characteristic of our generation. (LAUGHTER)

0:00:43.319,0:00:46.189
Let's call it keeping our options open. (LAUGHTER)

0:00:48.389,0:00:49.060
There's this

0:00:49.590,0:00:51.450
philosopher, Zygmunt Bauman.

0:00:51.630,0:00:53.500
He calls it "Liquid Modernity."

0:00:53.909,0:00:56.830
We never want to commit to any one identity

0:00:57.189,0:00:58.470
or place or community,

0:00:58.560,0:00:59.500
so we remain

0:00:59.750,0:01:00.630
like liquid

0:01:01.229,0:01:03.060
in a state that can adapt

0:01:03.470,0:01:05.059
to fit any future shape.

0:01:05.709,0:01:07.000
Liquid modernity

0:01:07.349,0:01:09.129
is infinite browsing mode,

0:01:09.389,0:01:11.099
but for everything in our lives.

0:01:12.269,0:01:14.449
I've been thinking about this recently because

0:01:14.849,0:01:16.639
leaving home and coming here

0:01:16.930,0:01:19.160
is a lot like entering a long hallway.

0:01:19.730,0:01:22.040
You walk out of the room in which you grew up

0:01:22.330,0:01:27.400
and into this place with thousands of different doors to infinitely browse.

0:01:27.940,0:01:31.430
And throughout my time here, I've seen all the good that can come

0:01:31.760,0:01:33.930
from having so many new options.

0:01:34.279,0:01:36.669
I've seen the joy a person feels when they

0:01:36.919,0:01:39.629
find a room more fitting for their authentic self.

0:01:40.040,0:01:42.800
I've seen big decisions become less painful

0:01:43.250,0:01:44.470
because you can always quit,

0:01:44.589,0:01:45.750
you can always move,

0:01:45.959,0:01:48.029
you can always break up in the hallway.

0:01:48.480,0:01:49.599
We'll always be there.

0:01:50.290,0:01:53.050
And mostly I've seen all the fun folks have had

0:01:53.260,0:01:55.169
experiencing more novelty

0:01:55.459,0:01:57.250
than any generation in history

0:01:57.500,0:01:58.769
ever experienced.

0:02:00.029,0:02:00.470
But

0:02:01.800,0:02:03.669
as I've grown older here,

0:02:03.959,0:02:05.250
I've also started

0:02:05.559,0:02:08.869
seeing the downsides of having so many open doors.

0:02:09.199,0:02:12.179
Nobody wants to be stuck behind a locked door,

0:02:12.520,0:02:15.119
but nobody wants to live in a hallway either.

0:02:15.839,0:02:19.190
It's great to have options when you lose interest in something,

0:02:19.240,0:02:19.619
but

0:02:20.020,0:02:22.289
I've learned here that the more times I do this,

0:02:22.589,0:02:25.410
the less satisfied I am with any given option.

0:02:26.369,0:02:29.410
And lately the experiences I crave

0:02:29.979,0:02:32.050
are less the rushes of novelty

0:02:32.580,0:02:35.160
and more of those perfect Tuesday nights

0:02:35.809,0:02:37.309
when you eat dinner with the

0:02:37.660,0:02:39.649
friends who you have known for a long time,

0:02:40.320,0:02:42.169
who you've made a commitment to,

0:02:42.949,0:02:45.869
and who won't quit you because they found someone better.

0:02:47.960,0:02:48.729
I've

0:02:49.199,0:02:51.050
discovered in my time here that the

0:02:51.339,0:02:53.250
people who inspire me the most

0:02:53.539,0:02:55.289
are those who have left the hallway,

0:02:55.580,0:02:57.899
shut the door behind them and settled in.

0:02:58.619,0:03:03.449
I think of Fred Rogers recording episode 895

0:03:03.770,0:03:04.250
of Mister

0:03:04.289,0:03:06.679
Rogers' Neighborhood because he was committed

0:03:06.970,0:03:10.320
to advancing a humane model of moral education.

0:03:11.000,0:03:14.899
I think of Dorothy Day sitting with the same outcast folks night

0:03:15.149,0:03:18.009
after night after night because it was important

0:03:18.229,0:03:20.139
that someone is committed to them.

0:03:20.899,0:03:22.720
I think of Martin Luther King,

0:03:23.289,0:03:27.000
but not just the Martin Luther King who confronted the fire hoses

0:03:27.250,0:03:29.000
in 1963,

0:03:29.490,0:03:34.399
but the Martin Luther King who hosted his 1000th tedious planning meeting

0:03:34.649,0:03:36.130
in 1967.

0:03:38.330,0:03:40.880
When Hollywood tells tales of courage,

0:03:41.750,0:03:44.500
they usually take the form of slaying the dragon.

0:03:44.710,0:03:46.830
It's all about the big brave moments.

0:03:47.830,0:03:48.460
But I've

0:03:49.380,0:03:51.330
been learning from these heroes that

0:03:51.779,0:03:54.690
the most menacing dragons that stand in the way

0:03:55.059,0:03:58.320
of reforming the system or repairing the breach

0:03:58.899,0:04:00.500
are the everyday boredom

0:04:00.979,0:04:03.210
and distraction and uncertainty

0:04:03.550,0:04:05.130
that can erode our ability

0:04:05.410,0:04:07.929
to commit to anything for the long haul.

0:04:09.110,0:04:11.529
It's why I love that the word "dedicate"

0:04:11.889,0:04:13.440
has two meanings.

0:04:13.850,0:04:14.089
First,

0:04:14.130,0:04:14.869
it means

0:04:15.130,0:04:16.480
to make something holy.

0:04:17.488,0:04:17.808
Second,

0:04:17.819,0:04:18.808
it means to

0:04:19.209,0:04:21.358
stick at something for a long time.

0:04:21.688,0:04:23.479
I don't think this is a coincidence.

0:04:23.648,0:04:25.479
We do something holy

0:04:25.729,0:04:27.658
when we choose to commit to something.

0:04:28.489,0:04:30.950
And in the most dedicated people I have met,

0:04:31.670,0:04:32.779
I have witnessed

0:04:33.190,0:04:35.339
how that pursuit of holiness

0:04:35.630,0:04:37.019
comes with a side effect

0:04:37.869,0:04:38.980
of immense joy.

0:04:40.760,0:04:41.609
We

0:04:41.959,0:04:43.359
may have come here

0:04:43.760,0:04:45.790
to help keep our options open,

0:04:46.160,0:04:49.910
but I leave believing that the most radical act we can take

0:04:50.320,0:04:51.700
is to make a commitment

0:04:52.000,0:04:53.429
to a particular thing,

0:04:54.369,0:04:55.200
to a place,

0:04:56.079,0:04:57.010
to a profession,

0:04:57.910,0:04:59.079
to a cause,

0:04:59.750,0:05:00.779
to a community,

0:05:01.799,0:05:02.549
to a person,

0:05:04.119,0:05:07.559
to show our love for something by working at it for a long time.

0:05:08.339,0:05:10.720
And to close doors

0:05:11.079,0:05:13.989
and forgo options for its sake.

0:05:15.420,0:05:17.290
We often assume that some

0:05:17.540,0:05:18.220
acute

0:05:19.089,0:05:20.390
and looming threat,

0:05:21.149,0:05:22.839
be it a foreign invader

0:05:23.160,0:05:24.989
or a domestic demagogue

0:05:25.369,0:05:26.670
will be our downfall.

0:05:27.549,0:05:29.010
But if we were to end,

0:05:29.600,0:05:32.029
that end is just as likely to come

0:05:32.399,0:05:34.390
from something far less dramatic,

0:05:35.329,0:05:36.459
our failure

0:05:36.809,0:05:38.160
to sustain the work.

0:05:39.149,0:05:42.010
It is not only the bomb or the bully

0:05:42.380,0:05:43.700
that should keep us up at night.

0:05:44.500,0:05:46.799
It is also the garden untilled

0:05:47.709,0:05:49.739
and the newcomer unwelcomed.

0:05:50.720,0:05:52.649
The neighbor unhoused,

0:05:53.160,0:05:55.109
and the prisoner unheard,

0:05:55.640,0:05:58.660
the voice of the public unheeded,

0:05:58.760,0:06:02.350
and the long simmering calamity unhalted,

0:06:02.559,0:06:03.589
and the dream

0:06:03.839,0:06:05.190
of equal justice

0:06:05.399,0:06:06.709
unrealized. (APPLAUSE)

0:06:16.950,0:06:17.380
But

0:06:18.380,0:06:19.850
we need not be afraid,

0:06:20.619,0:06:22.290
for we have in our possession,

0:06:22.660,0:06:23.649
the antidote

0:06:23.859,0:06:24.730
to our dread.

0:06:25.890,0:06:26.720
Our time

0:06:27.679,0:06:29.390
free to be dedicated

0:06:29.760,0:06:30.989
to the slow,

0:06:31.239,0:06:32.750
but necessary work

0:06:33.160,0:06:36.239
of turning visions into projects,

0:06:36.720,0:06:38.609
values into practices,

0:06:38.839,0:06:40.239
and strangers

0:06:40.519,0:06:41.799
into neighbors.

0:06:43.190,0:06:44.140
That is why

0:06:45.329,0:06:46.880
in this age of

0:06:47.290,0:06:48.679
liquid modernity,

0:06:49.089,0:06:50.260
we should rebel

0:06:50.809,0:06:53.760
and join up with a counterculture of commitment

0:06:54.130,0:06:55.000
consisting

0:06:55.250,0:06:56.809
of solid people.

0:06:58.269,0:07:00.500
That is why in this age of

0:07:01.149,0:07:02.739
infinite browsing mode,

0:07:03.429,0:07:05.100
we should pick a damn movie

0:07:05.320,0:07:06.910
and see it all the way through. (LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

0:07:17.529,0:07:18.790
Before we fall

0:07:19.239,0:07:19.859
asleep,

0:07:21.269,0:07:22.170
let's get to work. (APPLAUSE)