WEBVTT

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I'm sure

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many of you have had this experience.

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It's late at night

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and you start browsing Netflix looking for something to watch.

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You scroll through different titles,

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you even read a few reviews,

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but you just can't commit

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to watching any given movie.

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Suddenly, it's been 30 minutes and you're still stuck

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in infinite browsing mode,

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so you just give up.

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You're too tired to watch anything now.

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So, you cut your losses

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and fall asleep.

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I've come to believe that this

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is the defining characteristic of our generation. (LAUGHTER)

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Let's call it keeping our options open. (LAUGHTER)

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There's this

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philosopher, Zygmunt Bauman.

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He calls it "Liquid Modernity."

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We never want to commit to any one identity

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or place or community,

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so we remain

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like liquid

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in a state that can adapt

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to fit any future shape.

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Liquid modernity

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is infinite browsing mode,

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but for everything in our lives.

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I've been thinking about this recently because

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leaving home and coming here

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is a lot like entering a long hallway.

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You walk out of the room in which you grew up

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and into this place with thousands of different doors to infinitely browse.

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And throughout my time here, I've seen all the good that can come

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from having so many new options.

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I've seen the joy a person feels when they

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find a room more fitting for their authentic self.

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I've seen big decisions become less painful

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because you can always quit,

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you can always move,

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you can always break up in the hallway.

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We'll always be there.

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And mostly I've seen all the fun folks have had

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experiencing more novelty

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than any generation in history

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ever experienced.

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But

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as I've grown older here,

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I've also started

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seeing the downsides of having so many open doors.

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Nobody wants to be stuck behind a locked door,

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but nobody wants to live in a hallway either.

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It's great to have options when you lose interest in something,

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but

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I've learned here that the more times I do this,

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the less satisfied I am with any given option.

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And lately the experiences I crave

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are less the rushes of novelty

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and more of those perfect Tuesday nights

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when you eat dinner with the

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friends who you have known for a long time,

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who you've made a commitment to,

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and who won't quit you because they found someone better.

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I've

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discovered in my time here that the

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people who inspire me the most

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are those who have left the hallway,

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shut the door behind them and settled in.

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I think of Fred Rogers recording episode 895

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of Mister

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Rogers' Neighborhood because he was committed

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to advancing a humane model of moral education.

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I think of Dorothy Day sitting with the same outcast folks night

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after night after night because it was important

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that someone is committed to them.

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I think of Martin Luther King,

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but not just the Martin Luther King who confronted the fire hoses

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in 1963,

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but the Martin Luther King who hosted his 1000th tedious planning meeting

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in 1967.

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When Hollywood tells tales of courage,

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they usually take the form of slaying the dragon.

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It's all about the big brave moments.

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But I've

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been learning from these heroes that

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the most menacing dragons that stand in the way

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of reforming the system or repairing the breach

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are the everyday boredom

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and distraction and uncertainty

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that can erode our ability

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to commit to anything for the long haul.

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It's why I love that the word "dedicate"

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has two meanings.

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First,

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it means

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to make something holy.

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Second,

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it means to

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stick at something for a long time.

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I don't think this is a coincidence.

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We do something holy

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when we choose to commit to something.

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And in the most dedicated people I have met,

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I have witnessed

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how that pursuit of holiness

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comes with a side effect

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of immense joy.

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We

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may have come here

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to help keep our options open,

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but I leave believing that the most radical act we can take

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is to make a commitment

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to a particular thing,

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to a place,

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to a profession,

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to a cause,

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to a community,

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to a person,

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to show our love for something by working at it for a long time.

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And to close doors

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and forgo options for its sake.

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We often assume that some

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acute

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and looming threat,

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be it a foreign invader

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or a domestic demagogue

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will be our downfall.

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But if we were to end,

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that end is just as likely to come

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from something far less dramatic,

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our failure

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to sustain the work.

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It is not only the bomb or the bully

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that should keep us up at night.

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It is also the garden untilled

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and the newcomer unwelcomed.

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The neighbor unhoused,

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and the prisoner unheard,

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the voice of the public unheeded,

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and the long simmering calamity unhalted,

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and the dream

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of equal justice

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unrealized. (APPLAUSE)

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But

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we need not be afraid,

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for we have in our possession,

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the antidote

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to our dread.

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Our time

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free to be dedicated

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to the slow,

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but necessary work

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of turning visions into projects,

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values into practices,

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and strangers

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into neighbors.

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That is why

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in this age of

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liquid modernity,

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we should rebel

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and join up with a counterculture of commitment

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consisting

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of solid people.

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That is why in this age of

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infinite browsing mode,

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we should pick a damn movie

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and see it all the way through. (LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

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Before we fall

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asleep,

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let's get to work. (APPLAUSE)